Agricultural Biotechnology

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Agricultural Biotechnology

• Iqbal Harbi Mohammed
• General Board of date Palm

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What is biotechnology?

• as a set of tools that uses living organisms (or
  partsof organisms) to make or modify a product,
  improve plants, trees or animals, or develop
  microorganisms for specific uses. Agricultural
  biotechnology is the term used in crop and
  livestock improvement through biotechnology tools
  Biotechnology encompasses a number of tools and
  elements of conventional breeding techniques,
  bioinformatics, microbiology, molecular genetics,
  biochemistry, plant physiology, and molecular
  biology.

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Biotechnology A collection of technologies
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The biotechnology tools that are important for
agricultural biotechnologyinclude

• Conventional plant breeding
• - Tissue culture and micropropagation
• - Molecular breeding or marker assisted selection
• - Genetic engineering and GM crops
• - Molecular Diagnostic Tools

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Integration of conventional and modern
biotechnology methods in crop breeding
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The Applications of Biotechnology

• Agricultural Biotechnology
• Plant agriculture
• Animal agriculture
• Food processing

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Applications of Biotechnology
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Agricultural Biotechnology in Iraq

• Ministry of Agriculture
• - Tissue culture laboratory
• - Biotechnology laboratory

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Why is Plant Tissue Culture Important?

• It has made significant contributions in
• The production of plant material
• Plant breeding
• Gene banks
• The production of chemical compounds

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Tissue culture
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Tissue culture
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Biotechnology laboratory
A) Infrastructure
DNA extraction. PCR amplification. Agarose and
PAGE gel-electrophoresis. DNA fingerprinting
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B) The human resources

• Biotechnology expert (Ph.D.)
• Tissue Culture expert (Ph.D)
• Agriculture engineers (M.Sc.)
• Agriculture engineers (B.Sc.)
• Technicians
• Temporary technicians
• Workers

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C) Objectives

• Introduction of tissue culture and molecular
  techniques to the
• Iraq.
• propagation of local and imported date palm
  cultivars (and other species )using the tissue
  culture technique.
• Multiplication of other plant species for
  different national projects.
• Establishment of a genetic map for date palms
  and other species.(olive,potato.wheat,Barley,)
• Molecular characterization of the Iraq genetic
  resources.
• Molecular diagnostics.

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• Identification of genetically modified crops
• Identification of fingerprint by protien
  electrophorese
• Checking of the genetic stability of tissue
  culture plants
• DNA finger printing for many plant species by
  using different types of molecular markers
• RAPD
• AFLP
• SSR

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• Development of a date palm breeding program.
• Fingerprinting of date palms cultivars.

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Applications of Biotechnology
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Biofertilizers
The term biofertilizer refers to preparation
containing live microbes which helps in enhancing
the soil fertility either by fixing atmospheric
nitrogen, solubilization of phosphorus or
decomposing organic wastes or by augmenting plant
growth by producing growth hormones with their
biological activities.
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Advantages of Biofertilizers
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BIOFERTILIZER ORGANISMS
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Organic fertilizers
an ecological production management system that
promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological
cycles and soil biological activity. It is based
on minimal use of off-farm inputs and
on management practices that restore, maintain
and enhance ecological harmony.
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the Important Role of Organic Matter in Soils ??
Physical - Improves aggregation (glue) - Improves
water holding capacity (surface area) ??
Chemical - Increases nutrient availability
(cycling, P and micronutrient solubility -
Increases CEC (200 cmolc kg-1) - Buffers the soil
against pH changes ?? Biological - Increases
microbial diversity - Assists in pathogen
suppression
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Justification for establishing agricultural
biotechnology network

• The network will enable scientists of member
  countries to get acquainted with experiences
  gained and progress achieved.
• The network will enable scientists to learn more
  about recent advances in technologies.
• Less developed countries will capitalize on more
  advance member countries in training..

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Justification for establishing agricultural
biotechnology network

• The network will allow less advanced countries
  get acquainted with these achievements and adopt
  them .
• The network will help less advanced countries
  learn more on how biotechnology research has been
  integrated in development .
• How decision makers came to support this type of
  research.
• Lessons learnt can be made available via the
  network in the annual meetings or through the
  periodical publications.

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Recommendations

• Develop an annual report for each joint research
  presented in each country in the field of
  agricultural and biological technologies by way
  which is accessible, compares them and identifies
  common similarities and differences.
• Conduct joint research on some of the common
  crops grown between the participating countries
  to enable work out through the study of
  environmental and genetic conditions that affect
  the quality and productivity of these crops.
• Development of a shared location (web site) for
  the dissemination of research and the latest
  developments.

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