Biotechnology in Agriculture

A Lot More than Just GM Crops

 In many countries, the debate surrounding the use of biotechnology in agriculture is often solely associated with genetically modified (GM) crops. As a result, many believe that biotechnology is only about developing these products. What many do not realize is that there are many other important applications of biotechnology that have made (and will continue to make) a tremendous impact on agricultural productivity. Biotechnology encompasses a number of tools and elements of conventional breeding techniques, bioinformatics, microbiology, molecular genetics, biochemistry, plant physiology, and molecular biology.

The present applications of biotechnology that are important for agriculture and the environment include:

• Conventional plant breeding

• Tissue culture and micropropagation

• Molecular breeding or marker assisted selection

• Genetic engineering and GM crops

• The ‘Omics’ - Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics

• Plant disease diagnostics

• Microbial fermentation

What is Biotechnology?