Animal Husbandry:
Farmers and cattle owners deploy this technique where breeding and raising of livestock is practised so that more milk or eggs could be produced for consumption. Animals are provided with both care and nutrients in turn of the milk, eggs, silk, wool etc., that they can provide. Animals like cows, buffalo, camels and goats are examples of a few that come under animal husbandry. If extended to poultry, we include birds like chickens, ducks, geese etc., and it should be noted that all of these animals should be provided with a healthy environment to produce better products. 70% of the world's livestock is in India and China. In comparison, the contribution made to the world regarding this is just 25%. Scientists and farmers are constantly trying to imply new and better technologies for better and faster breeding of the animals that can give birth to healthy animals, which will provide good quality milk or eggs. Recently there has been more awareness about healthy livestock; after the 'bird-flu' incident, people are more aware of the dangers that an unhealthy animal can have on them. As such increasing efforts are being put into reproducing healthy cattle or animals and providing them with the necessary nutrients and environment. Animals are breeded in two particular ways: inbreeding and outbreeding. When breeding occurs between animals of the same breed, we can define it as inbreeding, while if there are crosses between breeds, we call it outbreeding. Fish and bees are also such species that are breaded for the products that they provide. Bees have been creating their place in the world as the wax and honey that they provide is highly needed by different industries; beeswax is used in cosmetics and the honey for consumption. The breeding of bees is a huge task and thus requires a lot of effort and a proper environment to flourish. Fishing has been a source of income for many of India's population, and it involves catching, processing, and selling them. There have been various techniques implemented by the fisherman for the multiplication of the fishes and yielding better both the marine and freshwater fishes. Just like the green revolution, it is said that the aqua revolution is equally going to benefit the environment and yield more aquatic life.
Plant breeding:
India has a striking population, and when it comes to agriculture, the yield is not always in surplus because of various reasons like rain, drought etc. In such a situation, the concept of green revolution was introduced that deals with increasing the yield of agricultural products and providing surplus food. After this technique was introduced, India was able to not just consume the food and gain more quantity, but was also able to export it. The green revolution deals with breeding plants and taking care that they are healthy and disease-free. Plant breeding has been followed in India since time immemorial, and that is why we have some plants that we have today.
To focus on the current cultivation, the breeding of plants is done so that the nutrients multiply, the yield increases and any disease is resisted. With the advancement in biological knowledge and techniques, we have reached a place to make genetic changes in plants to yield better results. We can learn about the qualities of the plant through its genetic makeup. A lot has changed over the years in the everyday foods that we eat, such as wheat, rice, and millet.
The wheat production earlier during 1960-2000 was 11 million tonnes which is now 75 million tonnes. So is the case with rice, earlier it was 35 million tonnes, and now it is 89.5 million tonnes. This happened after Nobel laureate Norman E. Borlaug introduced the concept of semi-dwarf wheat. Even in sugarcane production, the species, one from north [Saccharum barberi] and one from the south [Saccharum officinarum], were bred together to obtain the sugarcane that we have and consume today. There has been a hybrid of maize, jowar, bajra for a better quality product. Plant breeding helps in disease resistance, which is done by two main methods: a conventional method that has been practised for ages and one being the mutation. The conventional method isn't really helpful because it does not give immunity against all diseases. Still, just a few while mutation can be defined as something that processes the genetic makeup of the plants and arranges it in such a way that the plants achieve a high level of security against diseases. This plant breeding can resist diseases, yield better quality crops, add on some special qualities and fight fertilisers and pesticides.
Single Cell Protein [SCP]:
As the human population increases, so does the need for food for human as well as animal populations. Many people are shifting towards a meat based diet, and to obtain good quality meat, grains and cereals of a good grade are necessary since most animals consume those. Single-cell protein serves as an alternative for food rich in nutrients and proteins specifically. Some microbes like spirulina are grown on an industrial scale which is a good source of proteins. As there has been a shift in the mentality, much of the human population has started accepting mushrooms as an edible product because of their benefits. It would be the case with single-cell protein microbes as they are a rich source of nutrients.
Tissue Culture:
As humans and technology evolved, the old breeding methods were replaced with new ones. Amidst this, the new tissue culture technology was enhanced, which means that a whole new plant can be generated from the explants i.e. a simple stem or branch. Any single part of the plant is taken up, and then this part is kept in a controlled sterile condition in a test tube for better enhancement of its qualities and features. This process of generating a new plant from a stem or an explant is termed totipotency. These plants are provided with proper minerals and vitamins to grow and flourish, and thus this terminology of producing thousands of plants with this process is called micro-propagation. If a plant is infested with the disease, the meristem of it is free of that, and thus it can be used to generate the whole different part thus it does not matter if the plant is diseased or not; it can aid in the generation of more species if any of its parts is disease-free. There have been other such processes where the protoplast in the cell of the two different plants are fused to form a hybrid which is known as somatic hybrids, and the process is known as somatic hybridization where the features and qualities of two plants are fused so that the richer or better product is attained.
Chemistry (16)