A number of advancements in agricultural biotechnology have been made recently, heralding the beginning of a new "Green Revolution" and improving crop yields, reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, assisting people in adjusting to upcoming climatic changes, and providing more nutrient-rich food for the ever-growing population.
A New Wheat Strain Ignites the First "Green Revolution"
The first "Green Revolution" occurred in the 1960s as a result of a number of scientific and technological developments that led to a sharp rise in food production. The development of a high-yielding, semi-dwarf, disease-resistant wheat variety by American agronomic Norman Borlaug, which doubled grain output and was an important answer to the global food crisis, is perhaps most notable. The "Green Revolution" was the name given to this agricultural innovation.
Other plant breeders later expanded on Borlaug's work, considerably increasing the yields of other common grains. Since 1961, global grain production has increased by 400%, exceeding the 260% increase in world population. For his accomplishments, Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
Borlaug developed the high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat strain after two decades of laborious hybridization work. Crop yield, drought tolerance, and pest and disease resistance are all being considerably increased by crop breeders today thanks to the use of cutting-edge biotechnology methods.
For crops to produce more during the first phase of the "Green Revolution," fertilizer application needed to be increased. However, some fertilizers may have detrimental effects on the environment's ecological balance.
For instance, hazardous algae can grow more quickly in rivers, lakes, and coastal areas when nitrogen and other unneeded fertilizers from crops seep through the surface. The decomposition of excessive nitrogen fertilizer by soil bacteria can result in a steady increase in the amount of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere. Nitrogen dioxide is 300 times more likely than carbon dioxide to contribute to global warming. Additionally, it takes a lot of energy to convert atmospheric nitrogen into commercial ammonia; by 2050, it's predicted that 2% of the world's energy will be used to produce nitrogen fertilizer.
The good news is that two modern plant breeding teams have made crucial advancements that will significantly lower the quantity of nitrogen fertilizer needed for agricultural production.
Chinese researchers revealed in the journal Science in July of this year that the rice gene OsDREB1C functions as a "molecular switch" and greatly enhances photosynthesis and nitrogen consumption efficiency. Additional field tests have shown that increasing the expression of this gene in rice cultivars can enhance yield by over 30% and nitrogen use efficiency by over 25%. The crucial gene has also been shown to be extensively distributed in the genomes of other crops, including maize and wheat. It has not just been found in rice.
Although plants cannot directly transform nitrogen gas in the air into a form that they can use, nitrogen is crucial for plant growth. Leguminous plants, such as peanut and soybean plants, have nodules in their roots that allow them to use bacteria that fix nitrogen as a source of nitrogen fertilizer. However, because they lack this ability, cereal crops like rice and wheat must rely on absorbing inorganic nitrogen from soil fertilizers like ammonia and nitrates.
The genome of a rice variety was successfully modified in July of this year by University of California, Davis researchers to make it compatible with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Because of this, the genetically modified rice variety yields 20% to 35% more than normal kinds when grown in low soil nitrogen environments. The journal Plant Biotechnology published the findings.
According to the experts, this discovery could help the environment and save American farmers billions of dollars annually on fertilizer costs. They think that other cereal crops could benefit from the use of this gene editing approach.
Using a gene associated with animal obesity to "fatten up" plants
An article in the magazine Rational claims that a scientific team from Peking University, Guizhou University, and the University of Chicago has "fattened up" plants using an animal obesity gene. In order to regulate gene expression and boost crop yields, scientists introduced the animal obesity gene FTO into rice cells. Agrobacterium tumefaciens was used to enter plant cells with the FTO gene fragment linked to circular DNA. The m6A RNA methylation alterations are removed by the protein produced by the FTO gene in rice cells, which also has an impact on the production of RNAs with similar functions.
A new kind of rice produces three times as much under experimental settings as its predecessor. Longer roots and more effective photosynthesis enable higher tolerance to drought stress, as shown in field trials, which show an improvement of 50% in both the quality of the crops and their yield.
Importantly, despite the distance between rice and potatoes, equivalent results have been obtained utilizing this method in both crops. According to a research in the journal Nature Biotechnology, this shows that a variety of plants can use the questioned gene.
According to Rational Magazine, this "Green Revolution" brought on by new biotechnology portends a future in which agricultural yields would improve while requiring less fertilizer, increasing food production, restoring farmland, reducing water pollution, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
