Improvement of Plants through Biotechnology : An Assessment of the Present Status

Improvement of Plants through Biotechnology : An Assessment of the Present Status

Advancement in transgenic research has proved its potential by allowing introduction of different genes into the plant genome for better agronomic traits and thus presenting successfully the first generation of genetically modified crop plants. World agriculture has experienced the cultivation of genetically modified crops since last twenty years. Inspiration from the success of first generation GM crops, academia and Industrial research reorient themselves towards the development of second generation GM plants by introducing other value added traits like nutritional value, improved insect and disease resistance and better adaptive features in adverse environmental conditions with special reference to drought, cold and saline environment. In planta production of valuable vaccines and many other pharmaceutical products against different human diseases has also been achieved successfully. Introduction of multiple traits together in some cases has created an example of generating transgenic plants in a composed way. However, there is no end of improving techniques and identifying different beneficial genes of our interest. The togetherness of these two factors always leaves scopes behind to improve the trends of transgenic research further. Nonetheless, appropriate measures to tackle the biosafety and regulatory issues are to be kept in mind prior to commercialization of the genetically modified (GM) products. As science breaths well in social acceptability, production of the GM products need to address consumers’ query in the most scientific manner to allow further use of this technology for human welfare.