Crop improvement strategies in the era of climate changes for stressed prone areas crops and their pros and cons and their future perspective in agricultural fields.

1. Crop Improvement strategies in climate
changes
Presented by
Subhojit Parui
Roll no- BUR/BOT/2020/061
Core Course- MSBO307
M.Sc, 3rd semester
Department of Botany
The University of Burdwan

2.  Objective of Awareness programme –
To reach and interact with students of Bachelor of Sciences in Botany and to make them aware of
importance of Crop improvement using of modern techniques.
To give the knowledge about the significance of food security, biofertilizer uses, genetic
modification techniques.
Venue of Programme –
Department of Botany , Govt. General Degree College , Singur , Dist – Hooghly
Pin-712409
Date of Programme – 24.02.22

Targeted Audience -1st sem,3rd sem,5th sem students of B.sc and respective HOD sir of my Dept.
Mode of programme – through powerpoint presentation via online mode.

Methodology – with permission of Principal and respected HOD sir was arranged the programme for
awareing their students about “CROP IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES IN CLIMATE CHANGES “.

3. Content
Introduction to Crop Improvement
Methods of Crop Improvement
Objectives of Crop Improvement
Comparison between classical breeding and crop breeding through Genetic Engineering
Advantages of Crop Improvement
Disadvantages of Crop Improvement
Conclusions
References

4. Introduction
 Food security:-
When all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy
life. According to UN-India, there are nearly 195 million undernourished people in India, which
is a quarter of the world's hunger burden. Also, roughly 43% of children in India are chronically
undernourished. India ranks 71 out of 113 major countries in terms of food security index 2020.
 Crop improvement refers to the ways of developing and breeding of crop varieties which are
better than the pre-existing cultivars in a number of characters like taste, color, height etc. for a
better yield.
 Climate change is an unprecedented threat to the food security for millions of people who
depend on small-scale agriculture for their livelihoods. Abiotic stress is the prime cause for
deteriorating the average yield of major crops by more than 50%, which cause losses worth
millions of dollars each year .Plants are exposed to rapid, unpredictable and diverse
environmental disturbances, resulting in stressful conditions. Stress signal is first perceived by
the receptors present on the membrane of plant cells. Global climate change is likely to
increase the problems of food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition for millions of people in world
and further increase the problem by remarkably restricting the plant growth and development.
The potential yield of economically important crops is drastically coming down every year just
because of abiotic stresses. It has been projected that global food production must increase by
70% by 2050 to meet the ever-increasing demand caused by burgeoning human population,
increasing incomes and consumption. The progress in biotechnology, genomics research, and
molecular marker applications have brought to the forefront an interdisciplinary science that is
revolutionizing twenty-first century crop improvement.

5. Method of crop improvement:-
 Crop variety improvement
 Crop production management
 Nutrient management
 Crop rotation
 Mixed farming
 Mass selection
 Pure-line selection
 Pedigree selection
 GMO (Genetically Modified Organic) plants:-
Example of some GMO crops:- Alfalfa, Cotton, Sugar Beet,
Zucchini And Yellow Summer Squash, Corn varieties

6. Objectives:-
 Higher yield
 Better quality
 Biotic and Abiotic Resistance
 Various Desirable Agronomic Traits
 Better and Wider Adaptability of The Crops
 Easier to Adapt to Changing Climatic Conditions

7. Comparing Classical Breeding and Crop
Breeding Through Genetic Engineering:-
 Crops produced through genetic engineering are sometimes referred to as
genetically modified organisms. The term genetic modification, and so-called
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is frequently misused. All types (organic,
conventional) of agriculture modify the genes of plants so that they will have
desirable traits.
 The difference is that traditional forms of breeding change the plant's genetics
indirectly by selecting plants with specific traits, while genetic engineering
changes the traits by making changes directly to the DNA.
 In traditional breeding, crosses are made in a relatively uncontrolled manner. The
breeder chooses the parents to cross, but at the genetic level, the results are
unpredictable. DNA from the parents recombines randomly. In contrast, genetic
engineering permits highly targeted transfer of genes, quick and efficient tracking of
genes in new varieties, and ultimately increased efficiency in developing new
crop varieties with new and desirable traits.

8. Advantages of crop improvement:-
 Bringing new varieties of crops
 Enhance greater productivity
 Upgrade the quality of the local varieties of crops
 It helps the plant to adapt in adverse situations
Disadvantages of crop improvement:-
 Possibility of introducing new crop diseases
 Not able to adapt to climatic conditions of the new environment
 Possibility to introduce new pest to the new environment
 Not able to adapt to soil conditions of the new environment.

9. Conclusion:-
 There is concern that agricultural production in developing countries will cause
environmental threats in the future, as production will have to increase to satisfy
the growing demand for food.
 Pressure on the existing agricultural land may increase by growing demand for
productive land and degradation of the existing agricultural land base.
Expansion of agriculture generally leads to massive deforestation.
 The study presented in this report concentrated on the interactions between
livestock production, crop production and land use. The link between livestock
and crop production is through the demand for animal feedstuffs. This report
presents long-term scenarios describing these interactions and the possible
consequences for crop production and animal waste production. As the world
population is expected to stabilize in the second half of the twenty-first century,
the scenarios must cover a period of 50-100 years to include the impacts of
human population numbers.

10. Expected outcome:-
Theoretical:- I will expect to the students of Botany(B.Sc), they will gather the knowledge about the
crop improvement methods, significance of food security, biofertilizer uses, genetic modification
techniques. They are well known to everything because they are belongs to agricultural family. They
will spread the knowledge to the nearest farmers about the above mentioned things as well as use
of resilient crops, GMO crops etc.
Practical :- They will use household waste in preparation of biofertilizer for crop improvement
rather than use of chemical fertilizer.
Impacts:-
Some students told me, they will use modern techniques instead of old techniques in their field but
they are worry about the improvement of crop production as well as value of crop.
Some students told me, they will use modern techniques in near future because their family is not
agree with their concept.

11. Reference:-
• https://classhall.com/lesson/crop-improvement/
• https://fabioclass.com/aims-of-crop-improvement/#google_vignette
• https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/improvement-in-food-
resources/improvement-in-crop-yields/
• https://www.fao.org/3/W5146E/w5146e0d.htm
• https://plantlet.org/types-procedures-of-selection-process-part-2/