Showing posts with label Biotechnology. Show all posts
Helping Farmers Grow Organic Crops Better
Posted by Unknown in Biotechnology, India, Organic Farming, Scientist, Small Scale Farming on Monday, 28 January 2013
Like
hundreds who study bioscience, Vinay completed his BSc in biotechnology
and did his post-graduation in bioscience from the University of
Mysore. But he didn't stop at that though he got a job and went into
academics: His weekends are reserved for the farming community.
Attending
to the farming community is what he enjoys doing. Vinay B Raghavendra,
teaches biotechnology at the city's noted Teresian College and on
weekends visits the farmers and extends expert advice on pest control.
He also promotes organic farming.
When
the interest among the urban class to the rural issues is on the wane,
the 32-year-old has started to use the knowledge he acquired-he has got a
PhD from the University of Mysore in biotechnology-for the benefit of
the end user-the farmer.
It
has been six years since the assistant professor has been helping
farmers. He is visiting nearby villages and extending his support to
help farmers. Conducting educative programmes with the support of
service-oriented organizations like Lion and Rotary clubs or going on
his own to the villages, the youth is trying to address the agriculture
crisis that is plaguing rural India. He has visited 25 villages in
Mysore, Hassan, Mandya and Tumkur districts.
While
involved in his research work, he used to go on field visits when he
came face-to-face with the problems faced by the farmers. He said he
realized that he should educate farmers about the benefits of organic
farming. The dependence on pesticides was heavy since farmers were not
aware of organic farming, he said explaining as to how he got into the
habit.
"Farmers
are usually not aware about reasons for the diseases that affect
plants. They blindly go and ask for some pesticides. This made me to
interact with farmers directly about the different methods of pest
control for variety of diseases," he said, adding, "I have been training
them about the preparation and proper utilization of organic manure."
Vinay has published his research work on 'Bacterial Blight of Cotton'.
He completed his bachelor's degree at Banmaiah's College (BSc in
biotechnology) and master's degree in bioscience at Hema Gangotri in
Hassan in 2001. He even carries his laptop along with him to the
villages he visits and informs the farmers about the proper usage of
nutrients.
"I
was influenced by my uncle Dr Vasanthkumar Timkapur, a plant
pathologist. He used to visit many villages and guide farmers. I am
following in his footsteps," he said. He has also been awarded 'P R
Verma Student Award' by the Second Asian Congress of Mycology and Plant
Pathology in 2007 at Hyderabad. His wife, who is a master degree holder
in biotechnology, helps him identify fungus and bacteria which affects
plants, he said.
The Times of India
Scientists Make Silkworms 'Spin Spider webs'
Scientists have genetically engineered silkworms to make artificial spider silk.
It
is hoped the breakthrough could lead to the development of stronger
fibres for textiles, bandages for burn victims and bullet-proof vests.
The
GM silkworms spin tough fibres containing spider silk proteins that are
more elastic and extensible, making it more suitable for use in a range
of medical applications.
Territorialism and cannibalism among spiders pose challenges to spider farming as a viable means of manufacturing silk.
Dr
Donald Jarvis, of the University of Wyoming in the United States, and
colleagues created transgenic silkworms expressing spider gene
sequences.
Spider
silk proteins have been long produced in transgenic bacterial, yeast,
plant, insect and mammalian cells. However, previous attempts to
incorporate them into fibres spun by silkworms led to relatively low
yields.
But
the new technique, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, led to fibres at least as tough as spider silk and stronger
than those spun by silkworms.
So silkworms may be used as factories for manufacturing tough silk fibres containing spider silk proteins, said the researchers.
Dr
Jarvis said: "Spider silks have enormous potential as biomaterials for
various applications, but serious obstacles to spider farming preclude
the natural manufacturing approach.
"Thus, there is a need to develop an effective biotechnological approach for spider silk fibre production.
"In
addition to being used as sutures, silk fibres hold great potential as
biomaterials for wound dressings, artificial ligaments, tendons, tissue
scaffolds, microcapsules, and other applications.
"Silkworms
are the current biological source of silk sutures, but spider silk
fibres have superior mechanical properties that are ideal for procedures
requiring finer sutures, such as ocular, neurological, and cosmetic
surgeries.
Pigeon Pea Genome Cracked: Benefits Farming Millions in Asia & Africa
Posted by Unknown in Africa, Biotechnology, Genetics, Hunger and Famine, India, Pigeon Pea, Research and Technology, Research Institute
A
team of scientists has claimed to have achieved a major breakthrough by
successfully sequencing the genome of Pigeon pea, considered an “orphan
crop” and “poor peoples’ meat “ for its protein-rich content, mainly
grown by small and marginal farmers across the world.
(ZEM Science)
Years of genome analysis by a global research partnership led by the
Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT) has resulted in the identification of 48,680 pigeon
pea genes.
In
the fight against poverty and hunger amid the threat of climate change,
highly nutritious, drought-tolerant crops are the best bets for small
farmers in marginal environments to survive and improve their
livelihoods and now the pigeon pea gives the hope with its genome fully
sequenced.
Pigeon
pea, grown on about 5 million hectares in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and
South-Central America, is a very important food legume for millions of
the poor in the semi-arid regions of the world.
Unfortunately,
its productivity is less than one ton though it is considered as the
“poor people’s meat” because of its high protein content.
Pigeon
pea is the first “orphan crop”, the first “non-industrial crop” and the
second food legume (after soybean) with a completed genome sequence.
The
scientific partners include the International Initiative for Pigeon pea
Genomics (IIPG), led by ICRISAT, BGI – Shenzhen (China), USresearch
laboratories like University of Georgia, University of California-Davis,
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and National Centre for Genome
Resources, and support from the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme
based in Mexico.
The
journal Nature Biotechnology had recently featured this development
besides giving clues on how the genomics sequence could help improve the
crop for sustainable food production, particularly in the marginal
environment ofAsia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“
A couple of hundreds of these genes were found unique to the crop in
terms of drought tolerance, an important trait that can be transferred
to other similar crops like soybean, cowpea or common bean that belong
to the same family, “ the journal said.
“The
mapping of the pigeon pea genome is a breakthrough that could not have
come at a better time. Now that the world is faced with hunger and
famine particularly in the Horn of Africa brought about by the worst
drought of the decades, science-based, sustainable agricultural
development solutions are vital in extricating vulnerable dry land
communities out of poverty and hunger for good,” says ICRISAT Director
General William D. Dar.
“The
sequence will significantly speed up and reduce the cost of screening
the ‘good genes’ within the stored pigeon pea seed collections in gene
banks like that of ICRISAT, dramatically reducing the cost of developing
new improved varieties for farmers. Now we can breed a new variety in
just 3 years as against 6-10 years before, “claims Rajeev Varshney, lead
scientist and project coordinator.
Prof.
Huanming Yang, Chairman, BGI-Shenzhen, the world’s largest genomics
institute and a key partner of this project said he was confident of
forging more dynamic and fruitful partnerships between Indian and
Chinese genomic scientists.
Significantly,
it is for the first time that the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) had supported the
India-based center like ICRISAT for leading the genome sequencing of a
food crop.
Bald Chicken 'Needs No Plucking'
Posted by Unknown in Biotechnology, Breeds, Chicken on Friday, 25 January 2013
Bald Chickens
(BBC News) Scientists have bred a controversial featherless chicken which they say is faster growing.
The birds, created at the Hebrew University in Israel, will not need to be plucked, saving money in processing plants.
While
the researcher behind the breed concedes that they would not be
suitable for cooler countries, he says that in hot climates, the birds
would fare better.
However,
opponents of the move say that the changes do not benefit the animals,
and are in fact likely to make their lives worse.
Professor
Avigdor Cahaner, who led the project, told the BBC: "This is not a
genetically modified chicken - it comes from a natural breed whose
characteristics have been known for 50 years.
"I am just transferring that to fast growing broiler chickens. It's a normal chicken except for the fact it has no feathers."
He
said that broiler chickens were fed intensively to achieve fast growth,
which meant they also tended to produce a lot of body heat; and this
meant that particularly in hotter countries, they "suffer tremendously".
The
featherless birds would tend to be leaner, and perhaps grow faster, he
said, which would improve the quality of the meat and save producers
money.
Pollution claim
Removing
the plucking process would also reduce pollution, he said. The process,
he claimed, produced large quantities of water contaminated with
feathers and fat.
However,
animal welfare groups warned that feathers were important to help
protect the birds from parasites - and that the featherless chickens
were likely to suffer sunburn.
In addition, male chickens might not be able to mate, they argued.
