Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
strated enhanced abiotic stress tolerance to drought, salinity, temperature,
soil pH, and drought stress, and have provided validation to the concept of
enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants via biotechnology. Bio-
technology is thus providing new solutions to old enigmatic problems. We
are discovering and understanding how to optimize metabolic pathways
and physiological processes in plants to increase crop yield potential and
crop production under challenging agricultural environments. Efforts are
also under way to improve crop quality and nutritional value for human
consumption as well as animal feed.
Climate change is expected to have major effects on population
thresholds of microorganisms and disease vectors. The dynamics affect-
ing host-pathogen interactions lead to the selection of new pathotypes or
pathogens. They also determine the emergence of new diseases and pests.
Increases in yield per unit of area will continue to depend largely on more
efficient control of (biotic) stresses rather than on an increase in yield po-
tential. Integrated crop management is therefore the basis for sustainable
agriculture. The range of options for adapting to the changes increases
with technological advances. Breeding for pest and disease resistance us-
ing molecular tools is critical and will remain an essential part of crop
improvement programs in horticultural crops.
It is now apparent that the recent advancements in biotechnology are
providing the research communities with new tools such as genomics and
proteomics that will allow researchers to discover new genes and under-
stand their function in higher numbers, and with greater speed and more
precision. The knowledge gained from these technologies has helped
bringing more opportunities and tools to solve agricultural problems that
once were hard to approach or understand. Several transgenic varieties
of horticultural crops showing resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses are
available today (Kaur and Bansal, 2008; Mou and Scorza, 2011). How-
ever, molecular biology tools will never replace the input and role of crop
breeders in improving agronomic traits, but these tools will enable them to
be more responsive in both time and breadth of environmentally sensitive
traits to meet agricultural market needs and opportunities. Biotechnology
tools combined with conventional breeding should position us to be able
to take greater care of the production environment and allow us to achieve
adequate food production and security for the growing world population.
