More Potatoes- Is Genetic Enhancement the answer?

De-Registered User — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:51:59 +0000

Prof. Rodomiro Ortiz spoke about the role of "Agrobiodiversity Management for Food Security" in one of the plenary sessions of Tropentag 2012. He is presently Faculty Professor, Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden. His presentation dealt about World´s food, Agrobiodiversity, Green Revolution, Climate change and Biotechnology tools. The global food crisis is a major concern in today’s world. There is an annual increase of 78 million population in the world. More than 1.5 billion people are suffering from obesity worldwide while more than one billion people are under poverty and around three billion people are under/ nourished. 30% of all food crops worldwide are wasted. The main challenge today related to global crisis is “the world continues facing an increasing demand for nutritious and quality food, feed, fiber and fuel”. “Agriculture needs eco-efficient and resilient systems to meet end-user demands” said Prof. Ortiz. The three main components of agrobiodiversity are Genetic, Species and Ecosystem diversity. He also spoke about germplasm enhancement and crop breeding and the two main phases involved: “collection and generation of variation and reproductive potential followed by selection of most productive surviving genotypes”.

Oral Presentations II: Genetic Diversity

De-Registered User — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:57:08 +0000

This is a flavour of one of the six presentations that occurred in the Genetic Resources Oral Presentations on Wednesday, September 15th. Genetic Diversity and Adaptation of Date Palm (Pheonix dactylifera L.) – Sakina Elshibli The date palm produces sugar rich fruits which are cultivated in arid areas of the world. One kilogram of dates produces approximately 3000 calories. Palm dates also contain a wide range of nutrients, vitamins, and amino acids. The date palm can tolerate drought, but when the fruit is cultivated irrigation is needed. Date palms are useful because they provide small microclimates through shade. They also have a wide range of social and economic values, such as a housing material. This is especially true in Sudan where this study was carried out. There is an apparent diversity of date palms (fruit shape, side leaf structure, and morphology stages.) Dates are usually divided into two groups: dry and soft. In Sudan there is no genetic characterization of morphological variability in date palms. Over past twenty years production has increased, however stresses have also increased. These stresses include: floods, spread of diseases, desertification, and drought. Propagation is also a main constraint to increased cultivation. Date palm seeds are not suitable for cloning. It is only possible for few cultivars to be cloned, leading to date palm monocultures. A high percentage of off-types increase the risk of contamination for traditional cultivars.

Tropentag 2019 - Student blog - Genetic resources

More Potatoes- Is Genetic Enhancement the answer?

Oral Presentations II: Genetic Diversity