Question

Explain the application of biotechnology in agriculture.

Hint:

Think of three kinds of benefit: fighting insects, fighting nematodes, and improving nutrition.

Answer 1

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Agricultural biotechnology uses genetic engineering tools to give crop plants new, useful traits that they do not have naturally, aiming to raise yield, cut losses, and reduce the need for chemical inputs.

Step 2: Pest resistance.
Bt crops, such as Bt cotton and Bt brinjal, carry a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that makes a protein toxic to specific insect larvae, protecting the crop without needing heavy chemical pesticide spraying.

Step 3: Other useful traits.
Biotechnology has also been used to engineer resistance to plant nematodes (for example, using RNA interference against the root-knot nematode in tobacco), and to improve nutritional quality, as in golden rice, which is engineered to make beta-carotene, a source of vitamin A.

Final Answer:
In agriculture, biotechnology gives crops pest resistance (Bt cotton), nematode resistance (RNAi based), and better nutrition (golden rice), reducing losses and improving crop quality.