The document outlines agricultural biotechnology's history, definitions, and applications, highlighting its role in enhancing crop yields and developing genetically modified organisms. It distinguishes between various types of biotechnology, including medical, industrial, and agricultural biotechnology, and discusses technologies such as genetic engineering and tissue culture. Additionally, it covers achievements in insect and herbicide resistance, with a focus on the status of genetically modified crops in the USA and India, and provides information on notable biotechnology institutes.

1. AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
Prepared by
Dr. K. Vanangamudi
Formerly Dean (Agriculture), AC & RI, Coimbatore,
Dean, Adhiparashakthi Agricultural College,Kalavai,
Professor and Head - Seed Science and Technology,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.
1. Biotechnology
 Term biotechnology was first coined in 1919 by Karl Ereky.
 Bio means life
 Technology means application of knowledge for practical use.
 Use of living organism to improve a product.
 Brings true-to-type plant.
 Refers to technology based on biology - biotechnology harnesses cellular
and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help
to improve our lives and the health of our planet.
 Used the biological processes of microorganisms for more than 6,000 years
to make useful food products, such as bread and cheese and to preserve
dairy products.
2. Stages of biotechnology development
 Ancient biotechnology: 800 - 4000 BC - Early history related to food and
shelter includes domestication
 Classical biotechnology: 2000 BC; 1800 - 1900 AD - Built on ancient
biotechnology; fermentation promoted food production and medicine.
 Genetics - Darwin and Mendel - 1900 - 1953
 DNA research and science explodes - 1953 - 1976
 Modern biotechnology: 1977
 Manipulation of genetic information in organism is called as genetic
engineering.

2. 3. Types of biotechnology
 Medical biotechnology
o Involves the use of living cells to develop technologies for the
improvement of human health.
o Also helps in DNA study to identify the causes of genetic disorders and
methods to cure them.
o Vaccines and antibiotics have been developed with the help of medical
biotechnology that is essential for human health.
 Agricultural biotechnology
o Deals with the development of genetically modified plants by
introducing the gene of interest in the plant to increase the crop yield.
o Various pest-resistant crops such as Bt-cotton and Bt-brinjal are created
by transferring the genes from Bacillus thuringiensis into the plants.
o Animals with the most desirable characteristics are bred together to
obtain the offspring with the desired traits.
3. Applications of biotechnology
 Nutrient supplementation
o Nutrients can be infused into food in situations of aid. e.g., Golden rice
is prepared by the infusion of beta-carotene into the rice.
 Abiotic stress
o Production of crops that can handle abiotic stress such as cold, drought,
salinity, etc.
 Industrial biotechnology
o Biotechnology involves the production of alcohol, detergents, cosmetic
products, etc.
 Fibre strength
o Spider webs have materials with the strongest tensile strength.
o Genes from the spiders have been picked up through biotechnological
techniques and infused in goats to produce silk proteins in their milk.
 Biofuels
o Fuels produced using biotechnology tools are environment friendly and
do not release any greenhouse gas.
 Healthcare
o Biotechnology is applied in the development of pharmaceuticals.

3. 5. Branches of biotechnology
 Bioinformatics (Also called
biology)
gold biotechnology/computational
o Conceptualizing biology in terms of molecules and then, applying
informatics techniques to understand and organize the information
associated with these molecules, on a large scale
o Plays a key role in functional genomics, structural genomics,
and proteomics, and forms a key component in the biotechnology
and pharmaceutical sector.
 Blue biotechnology
o Based on the exploitation of sea resources to create products and
industrial applications.
o Mostly used for the industries of refining and combustion principally
on the production of bio-oils with photosynthetic micro-algae.
 Green biotechnology
o Biotechnology applied to agricultural processes.
o Selection and domestication of plants via micropropagation.
specific
o Designing of transgenic plants to grow under
environments in the presence (or absence) of chemicals.
o Involves microorganisms to clean and reduce waste.
 Red biotechnology
o Use of biotechnology in the medical
and pharmaceutical industries, and health preservation.
of vaccines and antibiotics, regenerative therapies,
of artificial organs, new diagnostics of
o Production
creation
diseases, development of hormones, stem cells, antibodies,
siRNA and diagnostic tests.
 White biotechnology (Also known as industrial biotechnology)
o Biotechnology applied to industrial processes.
o Designing of an organism to produce a useful chemical.
o Using of enzymes as industrial catalysts to either produce valuable
chemicals or destroy hazardous/polluting chemicals.
 Yellow biotechnology
o Use of biotechnology in food production (Food industry).
o Making wine (Wine making), cheese (Cheese making), and beer
(Brewing) by fermentation.

4.  Gray biotechnology
o Dedicated to environmental applications, and focused on the
maintenance of biodiversity and the remotion of pollutants.
 Brown biotechnology
o Related to the management of arid lands and deserts.
o Creation of enhanced seeds that resist extreme environmental
conditions of arid regions.
 Violet biotechnology
o Related to law, ethical and philosophical issues around
biotechnology.
 Dark biotechnology
o Color associated with bioterrorism or biological weapons and bio
warfare which uses microorganisms, and toxins to cause diseases
and death in humans, livestock and crops.
2. Agricultural biotechnology
 To produce genetically modified plant by removing genetic information
from an organism.
 Manipulating it in the lab.
 Transferring it in to the plant to change certain characteristics.
 Two objectives of agricultural biotechnology
o Crop improvement
o Nutritional value of the crop.
 1. Crop improvement
 Herbicide tolerance, pest resistance, drought tolerance, nitrogen fixing
ability, acidity and salinity tolerance, improved colour and quality.
 2. Nutritional value of crops
 Improved nutrition and taste.
 Healthier cooking oils by decreasing the concentration of saturated fatty
acids in vegetable oils.
 Improving healthier foods. Eg. Golden rice
 Improved handling qualities. Eg. Delayed ripening in tomato
 Pharmaceuticals: Developing plants for edible vaccine.
 Industrial: Plants that produce plastics, fuels and other products.
 Plants for environmental cleanup.

5.  Developing pesticides from naturally occurring micro-organisms and
insects.
1. Technologies in plant biotechnology
 Genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology
 Tissue culture
 Molecular breeding: Marker Assisted Selection (MAS)
1. Genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology
 Manipulation of gene is called genetic engineering or Recombinant DNA
technology.
 Removal of genes from one organism and either
 Transfer them to another organism.
or
 Put them back in the original with a different combination.
 Techniques used in genetic engineering
 Agrobacterium mediated gene transfer
 Isolate desired trait from DNA of original organism.
 Insert into Agrobacterium.
 Target plant is infected
 Cells that accept DNA are grown into plants with the new trait.
 Gene gun
 Coat the DNA of desired trait on tiny particles of tungsten.
 Fire in to the plant cell.
 Cells that accept DNA are grown into plants with the desired trait.
2. Tissue culture method
 Manipulates a cell, anther, pollen grains or other tissues under laboratory
condition to become whole living and growing organism.
3. Marker Assisted Selection (MAS)
 To study DNA sequences to identify genes, QTLs (quantitative trait loci),
and other molecular markers and to associate them with organism
functions, i.e., gene identification.
 Identification and inheritance tracing of previously identified DNA
fragments through a series of generations.
2.2. Achievements in Agricultural Biotechnology
1. Insect resistance
 Produces Bt. Gene (Bacillus thuringiensis) that contains toxic protein and
not harmful to human.
Eg. Tomato, brinjal, cotton, corn, tobacco

6.  Toxic protein – Cry gene (crystal protein)
 Cry gene is located to plasmid of B. thuringiensis.
2. Herbicide resistance: Tobacco, maize, soyabean
3. Disease resistance: Virus resistance in papaya, cassava and sweet potato.
4. Temperature tolerance: Papaya tolerant to hot and cold conditions.
5.Other traits: Genetically modified crops for water use efficiency, nitrogen use
efficiency, salt tolerance, nutritional or dietary value, improved food processing
and storage and elimination of toxins and allergens.
3. Genetically Modified (GM) crops status in the world and India
 USA have more of GM crops in canola (rape seed), sugar beet, papaya,
apple and potato.
 GM apple: Artic apples are non-browning apple that reduces food waste
and brings flavor.
 India planted Bt. cotton in 2011which results in reduction of insecticide
application.
4. Biotechnology institutes
 Regional office of ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology) at New Delhi (Headquarters at Trieste, Italy
established in 1983).
 ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology (ICAR-NIPB), Lal
Bahadhur Shastri Centre at IARI, New Delhi (Elevated in 1993).
(Institute was founded in 1985 as the ‘Biotechnology Centre’ of Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) for molecular biology and
biotechnology research in crop plants)
 National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad (Established in
2010)
 Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Trivandrum (Established in April
18, 1994.)
 Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi (Established in
August 25, 2014)
 Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata (Established in 1935 and
renamed in 1982)
 Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad
(Established in April 1, 1977)
 National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal (Established in 1923)
 Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar (Established in 1889)