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Jack bearing the largest edible fruit in the world, is a tropical evergreen tree belonging to the family Moraceae. Previously, it was known as Artocarpus integrifolia.It is an indigenous fruit crop, probably originated in Western Ghats of India (Santapau, 1966) and is widely cultivated in South Asia, East Indies and other warm areas of both the hemispheres. Jack tree is commonly grown in Burma, Malaysia and Brazil. It is hardly recognized as a commercial fruit crop in India even though it is widely distributed in Southern states viz,. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh. It is also cultivated in other states like Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. It is an invariable component of Kerala’s homesteads and also grown as a shade crop in coffee, arecanut and cardamom plantations. It is also grown as a standard crop in pepper plantations. The crop has got a rare distinction of being used as the staple food of Kerala tribals and also in some African countries like Uganda.

The mango is one of the choicest fruit crops of tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Its popularity and importance can easily be realized by the fact that it is referred as ‘King of fruits’ in the tropical world. India ranks first, both in area (2.51 million hectares) and production (15.02 million tonnes) of mango and it contributes to 42.1 per cent of world’s mango production. Presently, India is home to more than 1000 mango cultivars differing in taste, aroma, size, fibre content and pulp characteristics.

Though more than 1000 mango cultivars are reported, only 25-30 are of commercial importance. Most of the important cultivars are not amendable to hi-tech cultivation practices and do not meet the requirements of modern horticultural production systems like precocity in bearing, dwarfing, regularity in bearing with high yield, resistant to diseases, pests, physiological disorders and good keeping quality. Hence, breeding attempts to develop an ideal mango variety would be dwarf, regular bearer with medium size fruits (250-300g). Additionally, it should be highly tolerant to various fungal and bacterial diseases. A variety suitable for pickling is also gaining the attention of the breeders. An ideal pickling type should have high acidity, high fibre, good texture and characteristic raw mango flavour.

The first and foremost step in developing an ideotype is to explore the vast diversity and systematic characterization for utilization in the breeding programme.

Considering the importance of conserving the available gene pool, systematic exploration works are being carried out by National Institute like Indian Institutes of Horticultural Research (IIHR, Bangalore), National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR, New Delhi) and others to collect and conserve the germplasm in Field Gene Banks. Recently, in addition to the traditional germplasm conservation methods, cryopreservation is also gaining importance especially in the conservation of nuclear gene (pollen parent) diversity for future breeding.

Utilizing the conserved germplasm in the breeding programme requires precise information on the genetic relationships within such germplasm. Information on the genetic distance among the germplasm accessions will also help to avoid the duplicates, widen the genetic base of the core collections and ultimately help in preserving the valuable diversity.

Pomegranate is one of the popular fruit crops of tropical and sub tropical in India and enjoys high reputation for its dietetic and medicinal properties. The fruit is native of Iran and is extensively cultivated in Mediterranean countries like Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan. It is also grown to a lesser extent in Myanmar, China, Japan, India and U.S.A.

The area under pomegranate cultivation has increased several folds in the recent past after the introduction of soft seeded varieties. Out of 30,000 hectares under this crop in India, Maharashtra state alone grows over eighty per cent of area with an average production of 8000 kg ha^-1 (Mote et al.,1992). The export of pomegranate fruits was 1790.3 tonnes in 1991-92 valued at rupees 215.3 lakhs which was more than two fold over the previous year’s export earnings (Chadha, 1994). The utility of the crop is gaining importance and at present new orchards of pomegranate are being planted on large acreage. Because of its versatile adaptability, hard nature, low maintenance cost, steady and high yields, fine table and therapeutic values, better keeping quality and very good export potential, there is greater scope for extending its area and increasing the production especially in the hot and semi arid regions of India.

In pomegranate, market preference is for the attractiveness of the fruit which are exhibited through better size, colour with bold and deep coloured arils besides possessing high juice-content. However consumers prefers the softness of the arils with low acidity. While, there are number of cultivated types available with these desirable characters, there are hardly cultivar having a combination of all or atleast a majority of them. Pomegranate improvement work, therefore has to be oriented towards the production of soft seeded type with other desirable characters (Phadnis, 1974).

Rice (2n = 24) is an annual grass (family: Graminae) with terminal panicles bearing the grains. It originated in Asia between the fourth and fifth millennia B.C. A substantial portion of the people in south and Southeast Asia and the southern part of China are depending on rice as staple food (Chang, 1976). Rice is planted in the most diverse environmental conditions of any major food crop, from sea level to around 3000 m altitude and from 30°S to 49°N. Temperature and day lengths are therefore quite diverse in the rice growing areas. Rice is also grown under water regimes ranging from dry land to deepwater fields where water may reach 5 m depth. The wide geographical distribution of rice and its early history of cultivation have resulted in the development of a great diversity of varietal types (Vergara, 1985).

Rice has been used as food by man for over 10,000 years and has fed a great number of people for a longer period than has any other crop. “Rice is life” for almost four billion people of the world contributing over 20 per cent of the total caloric intake of human population (Chaudhary and Tran, 2001). Rice is cultivated in 113 countries and on all continents except Antarctica and it is the staple food for 17 countries in Asia and the pacific, eight countries in Africa, seven countries, in Latin America and the Caribbean and one in the near east (IRC, 2003).

Globally rice is grown in around 155 million ha occupying one tenth of arable land, with an annual production of 579 million tonnes of rough rice (Iiyas Ahmed, 2003). The average productivity of 3.89 t ha^-1 of rice provides a per capita. Consumption of 100 to 240 kg per year across the globe. Over 90 per cent of the world’s rice is produced and consumed in Asia and more than half of it from India and China exploiting maximum arable land. More than two billion people obtain their 80 per cent calorie from rice and its derived products from 90 per cent of world’s rice area (FAO, 1999). Rice based on production systems and their associated post harvest operations employ nearly a billion people in rural areas in developing countries (IRC, 2003).

In recent years, we are just experiencing marginal surplus production in cereals leading to self-sufficiency through green revolution. However, the shortage of production in edible oils has drawn the attention for the increased cultivation of oil seeds, and increased productivity per unit area to provide sustainable food and nutrition security (Swaminathan, 1989).

The importance of oil seeds cannot be over emphasized in the Indian economy. Oilseed occupied nearly 19 million hectares, next only to food grains, in 1986-1987. Yet, the domestic production in the country has lagged far behind the increasing demand for edible oils, necessitating a massive import of edible oils which lead to the drain of the valuable foreign exchange. The total import bill on edible oil has increased from 1.41 per cent in 1970-71 to 3.05 per cent in 1986-87. Even then, the annual per capita availability of edible oils registered only a nominal increased from 3.5 kg to 5.9 kg during the same period, against the nutritional norm of 14 kg (Suresh Pal, 1989). Due to the concerted efforts made through the ‘Technology Mission on Oilseeds’, oil seeds production reached a peak of 178.9 lakh tonnes during 1988-’89 in India (GOI, 1990a). This is an impressive achievement in Indian Agriculture, to reduce the bill on the import of edible oils from 4.11 per cent (1987-’88) to 2.58 per cent (1988-’89) (Gill, 1990). Further efforts in increasing oilseeds production definitely will go a long way in drastically reducing the present import bill.

Among the oilseed crop, sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), “The Queen of Oil Seeds”, is one of the important ancient and traditional crops occupying third position in terms of acreage on the oilseeds map of the country. It is commonly known as Gingelly, Til, Benniseed and Simsim. It is an important source of edible oil for the nutritional refugees of most part of the world, especially for India. The oil is rich in oleic and linoleic acid. In addition, it serves as a good source of proteins, vitamins and minerals (Nagaraj, 1990). Its high keeping quality deserves special mention.

ABSTRACT

The investigation aimed at to examine the diversity among nineteen wild and cultivated germplasms of the genus Vigna namely, V. trichuriensis, V. hainiana, V. radiata, V. aconitifolia, V. minima, V. sinensis, V. radiata var. sublobata, V. radiata var.setulosa, V. umbellata, and allopolyploid of BR3x T9 at DNA level follwing Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Ten random decamer primers were used in amplification reactions, five of that were reproducible and clear. The five primers constituted 55 bands of, which 9 are polymorphic. The similarity index based on 0 and 1 matrix of banding was calculated and dendrogram following UPGMA was constructed. The germplasms formed altogether 4 clusters on the basis of 0.375 linkage distance. The first and second cluster consisted of single genotype of V. hainiana. and V. minima respectively. The third cluster comprised wild and cultivated types of V. sinensis. The 4th cluster on the otherhand, consisted of genotypes belonging to V. radiata, V. radiata var. sublobata, V. mungo, V. radiata var. setulosa, V. trichuriensis and allopolyploid of BR3 and T9. The wild forms of different species were found to exist in the same cluster as their cultivated form. The three mungbean genotypes namely B105 (V. radiata), B1 (V. radiata) and BR3 (V. radiata )are crossable within themselves and they belonged to the cluster -IV.The intercluster cross between different clusters would like to generate new genotypes with wide variability. Based on limited range of accessions tasted in the present investigation, the approach holds promise for the classification of Vigna germplasm, identification of Vigna and marker assisted breeding in Vigna.

Introduction

Genetic resources are the building blocks for new varieties. The Indian gene centre is floristically extremely rich. Most of the tropical and sub-tropical fruits believed to have originated from Hindustan and Indo Malaya-Region. Hindustani gene centre possess a rich diversity of 152 crop plants distributed in different agro-ecological regions of India (Arora, 1985). The Indian sub-continent is one of the centers of origin and diversity of vegetables crops. Around 80 species of major and minor vegetables occur in wild forms (Choudhury, 1967, Seshadri 1987). Among the 118 genera belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family Cucurbita, Cucumis, Citrullus and Lagenaria genera are of great importance. There is tremendous genetic diversity within the family, genera and even within species level. The adaptation range varies from tropical and subtropical regions to extreme arid desert and in temperate regions from Tarai belts to higher altitudes. Extreme germplasm collections are maintained at different centers of the world which represents valuable resources for breeding even in wild form, primitive cultivars, landraces/ folk varieties/ farmer’s selection in a much localized pockets. Now we have very good strains for highly nutritive value, multiple disease resistant and extended shelf lives from our local material through intensive breeding.

Indigenous plant germplasm are adapted component of plant biodiversity. Such adapted components are more valuable resources either as a cultivar or as a parental line in hybridization programme. It might be also a putative material for biotechnological treatment for tolerance to biotic, abiotic factors or nutritional and quality components. Indigenous germplasm can be basically of two types, one which has been domesticated and subjected to human intervention, the other one may be called wild plants or wild relatives and still in the process of evolution without the human intervention. Biochemically the cucurbits are characterized by bitter principles, called cucurbitacins. Great variety of cucurbits contains bitter principle in portion of the plant at some stage of development. Cucurbitacins are tetracyclic triterpenes having extensive oxidation level. Bitter principals found in roots differ from those in fruits. Seedlings specially radicals contains cucurbitacins which are considered primary. The pollen also carries bitter principles and hence when bitter pollen fertilized non-bitter ovule the resulting fruit will be bitter known as metaxenia effect. Cucurbits are consumed in various forms i.e. salad (cucumber, gherkins, longmelon), sweet (ash gourd, pointed gourd), pickles (gherkins), deserts (melons) and culinary purpose. Some of them (e.g. bitter gourd) are well known for their unique medicinal properties. In recent years, abortifacient proteins with ribosome-inhibiting properties have been isolated from several cucurbit species, which include momorcharin (from Momordica charantia), luffaculin (from Luffa operculata), trichosanthin (from Trichosanthes kirilowif) and beta-trichosanthin (from Trichosanthes cucumeroides). Among these, Trichosanthin is of particular interest because its ribosome-inhibiting properties have been found to be effective in inhibiting the replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), indicating its potential as a therapeutic agent for AIDS. In cucurbits three conditions are found (i) fruit and vegetative parts bitter (ii) fruit not bitter but vegetative parts bitter (iii) bitterness absent in both vegetative parts and fruits. Hence some kind of co-evolutionary relationship between cucurbits found and they are very helpful during evaluation of germplasm.

Introduction

Diversity connotes multiplicity of variety. In a given ecosystem, diversity refers to presence of number of different species of ?ora and fauna that have ecological niches in agreement with the environment. Scaling up, there exists diversity between different ecosystems. All life forms of ?ora and fauna on earth contains genetic material, that is the repository of an immense amount of genetic information in the form of traits, characteristics, etc. Focusing on the species level, genetic diversity refers to genetic variation that is observed in a population. Thus, genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. This provides in built latitude to the nature and/or the livestock breeders (including farmers) to manoeuvre/ manipulate so as evolve an improved population of desired qualities and traits. Further, genetic diversity is essential because the presence of adequate and appropriate genes in a population will make the species tide over adversaries owing to climate change and other emerging threats like new disease outbreaks. The ‘desired’ divergent gene pool provides the inherent resilient mechanism that equip the species to cope with likely challenging situation.

Over the years, with human interventions, the genetic diversity has been interfered with to meet specific needs; mostly with respect to garnering higher production and productivity. In the process, the diversity has been compromised for achieving the unitary goal. In certain cases, geographical barriers and other bio-physical constraints have also led to loss of diversity within a population. Studies on impact of climate change especially the effect of rise in environmental temperature on milk production of dairy animals indicate that global warming will negatively impact milk production. During 2020, the annual loss in milk production of cattle and buffaloes due to thermal stress will be around 3.2 million tonnes of milk costing more than Rs 5000 Crore at current price. Similarly, there would be prevalence of many emerging diseases including those with zoonotic implications owing to change in climatic conditions. Thus, the present day society is confronted with an imminent development dilemma of ecology vs. economics more specifically genetic diversity vs. higher production. It has led to volume of debates and discussions on the livestock development agenda to be pursued. The apparently con?icting interests has also generated antipathy amongst two schools of development.

Ralstonia solanacearum is a phytopathogenic bacterium belong ing to the b subdivision of the Proteobacteria (Yabuuchi et al., 1995) having a wide geographical distribution ranging from tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions (Liu et al., 2009). It has broad host range and infects around 54 plant families and 450 plant species (Hayward, 1991; Wicker et al., 2007). 

Early attempts to study the diversity present in the R. solanacearum species complex resulted in separate race and biovar systems. R. solanacearum has been phenotypically classified into 5 races based on the host range at the plant species level and into five biovars based on the metabolic profiles related to the ability to reduce three disaccharides and three hexose alcohols (Wicker et al., 2007).

Vegetables are of short duration, have higher productivity and give more return per unit area, besides giving nutritious food to human being and can be fitted in different farming systems. They also play a major role in balancing human diet, thereby helping in alleviating hunger, poverty and malnutrition. Because of the public awareness for the significance of vegetable consumption, the demand of vegetables in the global market has increased immensely. Thus, vegetable farming is becoming profitable venture globally, opening avenues of self employment and revenue generation (Anon., 2009). At global level, India holds second position, next only to China in vegetables production with a share of about 14%. The present annual vegetables production of country is about 175 million tons from an area about 10.3 million ha with a productivity of 17.1 t/ha. India grows largest number of vegetables in the world, as having a spectrum of wide range of agro-climatic situations, ranging from dry temperate to humid tropics between the altitudes from sea level to snow line.

The Indian hot arid region is one of the most important arid ecosystems of the world in terms of biodiversity it possesses. This arid region spreads over 31.7 mha, occupies major part of north western India including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, which together contribute 73% of arid region. High temperature, wind velocity, low humidity, low and erratic rainfall and high potential evapotranspiration are important characteristics of this region which narrowed down the choice for vegetables, besides permit their low productivity.

Abstract
Understanding genetic diversity is essential for achieving genetic improvement and conservation of grain legumes. These crops serve as important pulses grown and consumed all over the world, especially in Africa, South East Asia and America. Legumes serve as a good source of carbohydrates, oil, fibre and proteins. Grain legumes are a major source of food and nutrition globally. However, it has not been possible to enhance gain legume production to the required level, primarily due to the narrow genetic base of most of the legume crops, coupled with changing climatic conditions. Most grain legumes are lacking in desired plant ideotypes and resistance sources for various biotic and abiotic stresses. The genetic diversity conserved in gene banks globally is a major resource for crop breeding programs, but it
is utilized only marginally. Therefore, in order to broaden the genetic base of grain legume crops and enhance the genetic gains made in improvement programs, conventional approaches and modern scientific tools should be integrated in a phased and carefully judged manner. The first phase should focus on the search for desired traits and the infusion of diversity into the cultivated gene pool through use of landraces and CWRs. The second phase should focus on the utilization of advanced selection tools, such as genomics, high-throughput precision phenotyping, and artificial intelligence, to exploit the hidden potential of the available genetic diversity; and the third phase should involve technologies such as mutational breeding, genome editing, and transgenic technologies to improve, modify any novel or alien traits that are not available in the entire crop gene pool. We presume that enrichment of the genetic diversity of cultivated grain legume gene pools, along with simultaneous improvements in their yield and plant type with the aid of advanced scientific tools, will enhance grain legume crop yields to the required level.
Keywords: Crop improvement, Genetic diversity, Genome editing, Legume, Phenotyping

Dairy buffalo production has been a tradition in Asian region and some other parts of the world where fresh  buffalo milk, dahi (cultured sour milk), ghee (butter oil) and yoghurt are very popular. In Italy, the dairy buffalo industry is flourishing; thanks to the popularity of buffalo mozzarella cheese. Because of the market for Mozzarella, buffalo farming is a profitable enterprise and is carried out in an organized manner with modern equipment.

Development of sophisticated procedures for the isolation, manipulation and expression of genetic materials is a field called genetic engineering. Genetic engineering has applications in both basic and applied research. In basic research, genetic engineering techniques are used to study the mechanisms of gene replication and expression in prokaryotes, eukaryotes and viruses. For applied research, genetic engineering used for development of microbial cultures capable of producing valuable products such as human insulins, growth hormones, interferons, vaccines, enzymes etc. The commercial application of genetic engineering is sometimes referred as Biotechnology. In broad sense, Biotechnology refers the use of living organisms to carry out defined chemical processes for industrial application.

The process of isolation, purification and replication of specific DNA fragment is called molecular cloning or gene cloning. Molecular cloning is the base of most of the genetic engineering procedures. The purpose of molecular cloning is to isolate large quantity of specific genes in pure form. Thus molecular cloning is very important in genetic engineering and can be divided into several steps depends on the purpose. The steps are as follows:

Introduction

One of the main environmental problems is the improper disposal of agricultural waste, which has a negative impact on ecosystems when it is carelessly dumped into the environment. According to the majority of publications, burning, dumping, or storing the untreated and unused agro-industrial waste in a landfill are the methods used for disposal (Neh, 2020). Untreated trash increases the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, which in turn aggravates climate change in a number of ways. This has detrimental consequences on the climate in addition to releasing more unwanted gaseous byproducts (Toop et al., 2017). As a result, substantial interventions are needed to use agro-waste sustainably. This can be achieved through the development of bioproducts with added value and sustainable energy technologies. Increased garbage output worldwide has put more stress on the environment, causing harm to soil, air, and water resources (Rao and Rathod, 2018). These effects jeopardize population health and the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. According to Zeidabadi et al. (2018), the agriculture sector produces between 21 and 37 percent of greenhouse emissions. A sustainable development paradigm that advocates for significant changes to traditional agricultural production techniques and waste management has emerged in response to this new reality. According to Torres-león et al. (2018), agro-wastes contain high amounts of complex carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, polyphenolic components, bioactive substances, etc. Organic compound wastes can be used as a raw material for a variety of agricultural, food, and pharmaceutical products, even if they are hazardous to the environment (Uzodinma et al., 2007). Because of their high nutrient content, agro-residues are not seen as trash; rather, they are exploited as a source material for new goods. The cost-effectiveness of conversion procedures for the development of bioproducts can be increased by using efficient pre-treatment technologies for agro-waste biomass, as well as by utilizing its biochemical properties and sophisticated conversion processes (Yusuf, 2017). The bioconversion of agricultural waste into enzymes and other bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical industry, vermicompost, organic fertilizers, and biofuels for the agriculture sector, as well as nutraceuticals and food products, is greatly aided by microbial biotechnology and nanotechnology (Beltrán-Ramírez et al., 2019: Samborska et al., 2019). In the food and healthcare sectors, nanotechnology is being studied more and more because of its numerous potential uses. As previously indicated, the increased bioavailability and quantities of bioactive compounds significantly improve the potential for targeted delivery of bioactive compounds to particular tissues or organs. Nano-structured materials’ distinctive qualities and vast surface area make them potentially revolutionary for the food industry. Although the potential advantages of nanotechnology for society at large have been well acknowledged, food science has only lately started to investigate its uses (Del Rio Osorio et al., 2021).

Introduction
Genetic engineering is the process of modifying an organism’s genome, frequently to add or eliminate desired features. This field is developing quickly and has many uses in biological sciences, the agricultural sector and medicine. Gene therapy is a medical application of genetic engineering that corrects or replaces malfunctioning genes using beneficial ones to alleviate genetic illnesses. It is used in gene therapy and medicine to treat hereditary illnesses by introducing therapeutic genes into the body or fixing defective genes. Generating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture as crops enhanced to withstand pests or environmental conditions also depends significantly on it. Over the last 10 to 20 years, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been incorporated into the system of agriculture and products for the consumer sector. This developed in the USA but has since spread to poorer nations. Since genetic engineering was discovered, its ability to alter the genetic material of living things’ DNA has been identified. The debates have taken place worldwide but have gained the most traction in the European Union due to mistrust in scientists, regulatory bodies and technology decisions. The genetic hinders can potentially enter a new cell through bacteria or viruses. Transgenic plants are those created using transformation techniques (such as Agrobacterium-mediated transformation or direct gene transfer) that insert specific foreign nucleotide or gene sequence regions into their genome (Grifths et al. 2005).
Agrobacterium rhizogenes and A. tumefaciens are common vectors used in plant-to-plant gene transfer. The desired gene inserted into the bacteria’s DNA will be transferred to the plants by the bacteria when they infect them with an individual plasmid in the soil. Vector transmission of genes is a natural environmental alteration, the favored modification technique. A curious field at the intersection of biotechnology and genomics is the field of genetic engineering. To put it bluntly, it’s the process of modifying an organism’s DNA to introduce new or altered features. Altering the DNA is a technique that allows for inserting, deleting or modifying particular genes to modify property or add new functions. Genetic engineering has many valuable and significant applications. It is used in agriculture to produce crops with better nutrient content and increased resilience to pests, diseases and environmental stress. According to studies, tissue-specific, promoters-especially stress-inducible promoters, which limit transgene expression to the stress period-improve the phenotypes of transgenic plants when compared to constitutive promoters (Shavrukov et al., 2016). Biotechnology also involves genetic engineering in producing illicit substances, enzymatic agents and bioenergy.

Preternatural development of recombinant DNA technology has established genetic engineering in animals the most important field in application of biology for human benefit, from production of genetically modified animals to providing crucial technologies to medical science sector. On the basis of the nature of the target tissues, genetic engineering may target single cell line, particular tissue sectors or the organism as a whole. The purpose of transformation may be basic research involving elucidation of gene function, study effect of directed mutations, examination of physiological and developmental processes in animals or may be target oriented, such as production of proteins or metabolites in large quantities in a cell line, incorporating rDNA in the germline cells, gene therapy, use of rDNA in disease diagnostics, or production of transgenic animals for specific purposes.

Since floricultural and ornamental crops are grown for aesthetic purpose and are non-edible there is likely to be less concern in bio safety issues compared to other food crops. Hence there is considerable potential for developing transgenics in ornamental crops. Advances in transgenic technology provide new opportunities for manipulation of the genome. These will have significant impact on expanding and diversifying the gene pool of crop plants, introducing specific genes and shortening the time required for the production of new varieties or hybrids. Molecular breeding is beneficial to increase the production and quality by creating plants with enhanced resistance to diseases, insects or viruses and increased tolerance to environmental stresses like salinity, temperature or drought. Through this technique genes for shelf life, flower colour and architecture may be directly transferred to develop new varieties that are tailor made to customer preferences. Bioluminescent orchids and blue roses are the significant outcomes of the genetic transformation studies in ornamentals (Swarnapiria, 2009).

GENETIC ENGINEERING VS. TRADITIONAL BREEDING

Breeding with transgenic plants is only justified when genetic variation within the primary and secondary gene pools of a species is too small or gene transfer by conventional techniques is difficult and time-consuming. There are a number of different means for increasing or even creating new genetic variation, like species hybridization, mutation induction and protoplast fusion, which have been frequently used to breed new varieties. It is worth mentioning that neither plant cultivation nor commercialization of commodities has any legal requirements and a public discussion about these plants is also lacking. Therefore, a breeder must carefully assess the different constraints of transgenic breeding before starting a breeding program which are the legal aspects and acceptance by farmers, consumers and stakeholders (Jung, 2010).

Since floricultural and ornamental crops are grown for aesthetic purpose and are non-edible there is likely to be less concern in bio safety issues compared to other food crops. Hence there is considerable potential for developing transgenics in ornamental crops. Advances in transgenic technology provide new opportunities for manipulation of the genome. These will have significant impact on expanding and diversifying the gene pool of crop plants, introducing specific genes and shortening the time required for the production of new varieties or hybrids. Molecular breeding is beneficial to increase the production and quality by creating plants with enhanced resistance to diseases, insects or viruses and increased tolerance to environmental stresses like salinity, temperature or drought. Through this technique genes for shelf life, flower colour and architecture may be directly transferred to develop new varieties that are tailor made to customer preferences. Bioluminescent orchids and blue roses are the significant outcomes of the genetic transformation studies in ornamentals (Swarnapiria, 2009).

INTRODUCTION

While the world has been changing during the last few years both politically and economically in unexpected and remarkable way, food security remains an unfulfilled dream of billions of people. With the world population crossing six billion marks, the demand for food grains is increasing at an alarming rate. Increasing population, on the other hand, has led to decrease in cropping area. In order to meet the global food demand we have to increase the productivity. Insects have always been a major cause of yield-loss in agriculture. They account for 20-30% of crop-loss. Several approaches e.g. physical, chemical and biological have been used with varying degree of success to reduce such losses.
 
The insect pest management is one of the most important yield destabilizing factors in almost all the crops. While for some insects, genetic sources of resistance are available in the respective plant germplasm, for many others germplasm is almost devoid of effective resistance genes. It is because of this factor that conventional breeding strategies have not been successful in breeding insect pest’s resistant varieties. The only means available at present for managing the insect is extensive application of insecticides and pesticides. Excessive usage of the pesticides causes, on one hand, environmental pollution and on the other, it forces the insects to develop resistance against these chemicals. Application of the pesticides also imposes additional economic burden on the farmers.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a rapid way of amplifying (duplicating) specific DNA sequences

Method was devised by Kary Mullis of Cetus Corporation, Emeryville He recieved a $20,000 bonus and later a Nobel Prize

DNA heated to high temperature is not destroyed; separates into single strands, but reforms helix when cooled

PCR Method:

DNA to be amplified is put into solution containing: