Biotechnology is a rapidly developing area of contemporary science. It can bring new ideas, improved tools and novel techniques to traditional breeding methods.Biotechnology is a potent tool available with mankind to develop new crop varieties in response to changing need of agriculture.
Biotechnology is any technological application that uses living organism to make or modify a product,to improve plant or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.
APPLICATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN VEGETABLE BREEDING INVOLVES
- Multiplication of selected/elite clones from hybrid or specific parental lines and rapid production of disease free propagates through conventional micropropagation or somatic embryogenesis.
- Development of plant varieties, in conjunction with whole plant breeding, through genetic engineering of plant species.
- Application of genetic mapping techniques based on the use of molecular markers, as an aid to conventional plant breeding programmes.
- In vitro culture of zygotic embryos (embryo rescue) has enabled to overcome barriers to interspecific crosses from zygotic failure.
ADVANTAGES IN VEGETABLE CROPS
- Production of high quality, disease free, super elite, planting material for commercial seed production
- The combined use of recombinant DNA technology gene transfer method and tissue culture technique has led to efficient transformation and production of transgenic in wide variety of crop plants.
- Plant breeder is inserting desirable traits in crop and undesirable traits are eliminated.
- Best variety crop is obtained through genetic engineering.
Biotechnology operates at tissue, cell, protoplast, or molecular level, for genetic modification of crop plant. It comprises of technologies ranging from plant tissue culture to recombinant DNA technology. It also allows a genetic change made at cellular level, to become an establish trait of whole plant. Through this we get healthy seeds which is directly proportional to healthy food we eat today.