Transcript Biotechnology

Biotechnology
AFNR – BAS – 8
How is biotechnology used in agriculture?
Biotechnology
• Using biological processes to get new or
better plants and animals. All of the
applied operations in producing food, fiber,
and shelter
– Synthetic Biotech – Creating life
characteristics with chemicals
Biotech in Agriscience
• Developing and using new forms of plant
and animals
• Modifying plants and animals to improve
their life processes
• Making substances from natural biological
processes
• Improving the quality and kind of foods
Issues in Biotech
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Uncertainty
Dangers in new life forms
Keep organisms natural
Unhealthy food
Harm to handlers
Labeling
Ethics of joining plants and animals
Lack of information
Two major areas of biotech
• Organismic level
– Organismic biotechnology deals with intact or
complete organisms
• Molecular
Cloning
• Process of asexually reproducing organisms
• Plant tissue culture
– propagating plants using single cells or small groups
of cells
• Embryo splitting
– When an embryo or a few cells are split into two parts
which develop into a complete animal
• Apomixis
– Asexually reproducing plants by seed
Greater Fertility
• Various methods used to increase the
reproductive capacity of superior animals
• Superovulation
– Increasing the reproductive potential of a
female
• Embryo transfer
– Removing an embryo from its mother and
placing it in another female
Increased Production
• Milk hormones
– Bovine somatotropin (bST) is a metabolic protein
hormone used to increase milk production in dairy
cows
• Meat hormones
– Porcine somatotropin, abbreviated as (pST), is a
growth hormone naturally produced in pigs
• Growth implants
– Small pellets that are placed under the skin of
animals
Biotechnology in aquaculture
• Spawning
– Process of producing eggs that are fertilized with
sperm from male fish
• Hatching
– Process of getting baby fish from fertilized eggs
• Nursery Management
– Caring for fry (tiny newly-hatched fish)
• Sex changes
– Some species of fish don’t grow well when the males
and females are left together. Researchers have
developed ways to change the sex of newly hatched
fish
• Tilapia
Ultrasonics in Ag
• It is used in assessing product quality and fetal
development in pregnant females
• Product quality
– Used to assess the amount of fat on cattle and other
animals
• Pregnancy assessment
– Can be used to determine the development of an
embryo and fetus in a pregnant female
• Locate fish
– Ultrasonics are used to locate objects under water,
such as wild fish in the ocean
Improving Growth
• Ammoniating hay
– Low quality grass hay may be treated to make
it more nutritious
• Digestibility testing
– May involve direct intervention in the digestive
system of cattle
• Controlled feeding
– Improving nutrition and feeding involves
careful study of animal feed consumption and
growth
Predicting Life
• Plant growth chambers
– Used to study the effects of changes in the
environment on plants.
• Computer simulations
– Gather information to answer questions about
growing the crop
Molecular Biotech
• Involves changing the structure and parts
of cells
– Cells – Various materials that direct life
processes
– Genomes – The heredity material in a cell
– Chromosomes – Thread like parts inside a
cell nucleus that contain genetic material and
protein
Molecular Biotech
– Genes – Parts of segments of chromosomes
that contain the heredity traits of organisms
– Genotype – Genetic makeup of an organism
– Phenotype – the appearance of an organism
– Mutation – Change that naturally occurs in the
genetic material of an organism
Genetic Engineering
• A molecular form of biotechnology
• Recombinant DNA – Taking a tiny amount
of DNA from one chromosome and moving
it to another
– Vectors carry new DNA into a cell
– Ligatim – Uniting or attaching the two DNA
fragments
Genetic Engineering in Ag
• Herbicide - resistant plants
– Roundup ready cotton
• Insect - resistant plants
– Bollgard cotton
• Disease resistant plants
• Transgenic animals
• Frost protection
Assignment
– Using the chapter and notes, write at least 2
paragraphs comparing/contrasting organic
agriculture vs biotechnology.
• A paragraph is 4-6 sentences