Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Examples in food crops include resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental conditions, reduction of spoilage, resistance to chemical treatments (e.g. resistance to a herbicide), or improving the nutrient profile of the crop. Examples in non-food crops include production of pharmaceutical agents, biofuels, and other industrially useful ...
The majority of these species contain genes that make them either tolerant to herbicides or resistant to insects. Other common traits include virus resistance, delayed ripening, modified flower colour or altered composition. In 2014, 28 countries grew GM crops, and 39 countries imported but did not grow them. [1]
Farmers have manipulated plants and animals through selective breeding for decades of thousands of years in order to create desired traits. In the 20th century, a surge in technology resulted in an increase in agricultural biotechnology through the selection of traits like the increased yield, pest resistance, drought resistance, and herbicide resistance.
The first crops developed were used for animal or human food and provide resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental conditions, spoilage or chemical treatments (e.g. resistance to a herbicide). The second generation of crops aimed to improve the quality, often by altering the nutrient profile.
Pesticide application can artificially select for resistant pests. In this diagram, the first generation happens to have an insect with a heightened resistance to a pesticide (red) After pesticide application, its descendants represent a larger proportion of the population, because sensitive pests (white) have been selectively killed.
Genetically modified crops are genetically modified plants that are used in agriculture. The first crops provided are used for animal or human food and provide resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental conditions, spoilage or chemical treatments (e.g. resistance to a herbicide). [16]
Primary work is focused on developing tomatoes with new traits, such as increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses. [3] Other projects aim to enrich tomatoes with substances that may offer health benefits or be more nutritious. As well as aiming to produce novel crops, scientists produce genetically modified tomatoes to understand ...
Plants with transgenic/GM disease resistance against insect pests have been extremely successful as commercial products, especially in maize and cotton, and are planted annually on over 20 million hectares in over 20 countries worldwide [49] (see also genetically modified crops). Transgenic plant disease resistance against microbial pathogens ...