What is biotechnology, and how is it different from traditional plant breeding?
What is biotechnology, and how is it different from traditional plant breeding?
What is biotechnology, and how is it different from traditional plant breeding?
Re: What is biotechnology, and how is it different from traditional plant breeding?
Biotechnology is the use of modern scientific techniques, including genetic engineering, to improve or modify plants, animals, and microorganisms.
In agriculture, crop improvement is not new. For centuries, farmers, nurserymen, and others have crossbred (intermingled the genes of) various plants in an effort to produce more and better foods. Using advanced scientific methods, biotechnology greatly expands our capabilities to introduce new traits into food crops.
Traditional breeding techniques typically involve the repeated mixing of thousands of genes over several years and many generations of plants to achieve a desired trait. Thanks to science, biotechnology accelerates this lengthy process by allowing scientists to insert selected genes directly into a plant. This brings about the desired results much more efficiently. Although traditional breeding has been able to overcome some natural barriers to crossbreeding plants of different species, and sometimes even of different genera, biotechnology greatly expands that capability.
In agriculture, crop improvement is not new. For centuries, farmers, nurserymen, and others have crossbred (intermingled the genes of) various plants in an effort to produce more and better foods. Using advanced scientific methods, biotechnology greatly expands our capabilities to introduce new traits into food crops.
Traditional breeding techniques typically involve the repeated mixing of thousands of genes over several years and many generations of plants to achieve a desired trait. Thanks to science, biotechnology accelerates this lengthy process by allowing scientists to insert selected genes directly into a plant. This brings about the desired results much more efficiently. Although traditional breeding has been able to overcome some natural barriers to crossbreeding plants of different species, and sometimes even of different genera, biotechnology greatly expands that capability.