Crop biofortification

Written by Fahim Nawaz

A GROWTH rate of 1.2 per cent was estimated in the agriculture sector of the country during 2010-11 with a significant increase in staple food crops like wheat, maize and sugarcane.

These crops are grown to feed the country’s ever increasing population with little awareness about the hidden malnutrition. No real effort has been made to enrich crops with nutritional value required for improving human health.

Most farmers are illiterate and do not have knowledge about modern farming. This is a real challenge for the extension workers, breeders and researchers to create awareness among them. Farmers need to be encouraged to replace modern varieties periodically, as these lose their resistance to new evolving strains of disease.

In this respect, the role of plant breeders is very important and challenging. Plant breeding technology has great impact as breeding of micronutrient dense staple food crops can deliver most of the micronutrients. Micronutrient dense staple food crops can be introduced by using best traditional practices and biotechnology to achieve pro-vitamin A, zinc and iron concentrations.

Plant breeders can work with nutritionists to introduce high nutrient traits into agronomically superior varieties and to determine the quantity of a nutrient required in a crop to improve human nutrition. The loss of nutrients also occurs during harvesting, storage, processing, or cooking and these losses must be considered before determining breeding target levels.

International research organisations like Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research have been working in the country to evaluate the feasibility of using modern breeding techniques to develop micronutrient-enriched new varieties of staple crops.

Another international organisation Harvest Plus is working in collaboration with the scientists of Aga Khan University, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, to develop zinc-fed wheat crop. The scientists in these research organisations are working on the breeding strategy to incorporate high zinc and iron traits into wheat varieties resistant to new strains of yellow and stem rust but their efforts would not bear fruit until farmers realise the importance of bio-fortification of crops.

The enrichment of food crops with nutrients can also be achieved by adaptation of suitable agronomic practices. A recent research has shown that trace minerals also help plants to resist disease and biotic stresses. The survival of more seedlings will ensure rapid initial growth which ultimately results in higher yields particularly in trace mineral ‘deficient’ soils in arid regions.

This suggests the dual benefit of enrichment of crops with nutrients.

The extension workers can play a pivotal role in introducing new technology among farming communities. The best agronomic practices would help preserve and enhance nutrient balance of micronutrient dense seeds. In fact, biofortification would help increase farm productivity in an environmentally-beneficial way.

It is time that agriculture and nutrition disciplines collaborate to improve human nutrition. A multidisciplinary research team of scientists from different disciplines should be made to work in this direction.

Plant breeders should be encouraged to include micronutrients in their breeding portfolios along with higher yield, disease resistance and other agronomic traits. Public health officials must understand the importance of micronutrients consumption in food and help end micronutrient malnutrition.

The biofortification of crops would get support among farmers, research scientists, health professionals, and policymakers, once it is proven a viable, cost-efficient and effective solution for combating micronutrient malnutrition.

Courtesy: Dawn

WikiLeaks: US targets EU over GM crops

The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any Euroxpean Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released WikiLeaks cables show. In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in late 2007, the ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of former US president George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not support the use of GM crops. "Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. "The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices," said Stapleton, who with Bush co-owned the Dallas/Fort Worth-based Texas Rangers baseball team in the 1990s. In other newly released cables, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative. Because many Catholic bishops in developing countries have been vehemently opposed to the controversial crops, the US applied particular pressure to the pope's advisers. Cables from the US embassy in the Vatican show that the US believes the pope is broadly supportive of the crops after sustained lobbying of senior Holy See advisers, but regrets that he has not yet stated his support. The US state department special adviser on biotechnology as well as government biotech advisers based in Kenya lobbied Vatican insiders to persuade the pope to declare his backing. "… met with [US monsignor] Fr Michael Osborn of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, offering a chance to push the Vatican on biotech issues, and an opportunity for post to analyse the current state of play on biotech in the Vatican generally," says one cable in 2008. "Opportunities exist to press the issue with the Vatican, and in turn to influence a wide segment of the population in Europe and the developing world," says another. But in a setback, the US embassy found that its closest ally on GM, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the powerful Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the man who mostly represents the pope at the United Nations, had withdrawn his support for the US. "A Martino deputy told us recently that the cardinal had co-operated with embassy Vatican on biotech over the past two years in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath – to keep relations with the USG [US government] smooth. According to our source, Martino no longer feels the need to take this approach," says the cable. In addition, the cables show US diplomats working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto. "In response to recent urgent requests by [Spanish rural affairs ministry] state secretary Josep Puxeu and Monsanto, post requests renewed US government support of Spain's science-based agricultural biotechnology position through high-level US government intervention." It also emerges that Spain and the US have worked closely together to persuade the EU not to strengthen biotechnology laws. In one cable, the embassy in Madrid writes: "If Spain falls, the rest of Europe will follow." The cables show that not only did the Spanish government ask the US to keep pressure on Brussels but that the US knew in advance how Spain would vote, even before the Spanish biotech commission had reported. • This article was amended on 21 January 2011. The original sited the Texas Rangers team in St Louis. This has been corrected.

Effects of Hoeing on Standing Crops that Reduce the yield

Hoeing is big issue near farmer to remove the weeds, soil aeration, nitrogen fixing and fertility restoration in standing crops. But on the other hand some factors are studied by the approval of experiments which reduced the plant yield i.e

It cut the adventitious roots- they are the fibrous side root system which take up phosphorus, fix the nitrogen and other macro and micro nutrients from soil which support the plant for growth and development.

When fibrous roots system damaged then plant only depend on main root (tap root). Applicable nutrients are only available on upper soil surface, so plant cannot uptake it.

Hoeing damage the eggs of beneficial insects which are responsible for nitrogen fixing and fertility restoration.

Applicable nutrient move from one place to another.

Hoeing damage the whole plant or some parts.

It disturb the level of soil.

The main objective of hoeing near farmers is only weeds removal and soil aeration. This problem can be solved by using the below suggestion.

• By using recommend weedicide, at the pre emergence stage or post emergence stage for wheat, cotton, sugarcane, maiz, potato etc. weedicide dose can recommended by agrarian decision after field vist.

ü Pre emergence weedicides i.e.
Pandimethelen@1000ml/acre, Acetacholor@500ml/acre, S-metolacholor etc.
ü Post emergence weedicides viz.
Bromoxinal+MCPA@500ml/acre, Cholodenafop@150gm/acre,
Fenoxaprop@500ml/acre, Fluroxypyr + MCPA@300gm/acre,
Isoproturon@800gm/acre, Atlantis@180gm/acre, glyphosate@150ml/16L water,
Paraquat (Gramaxone)@1000ml/acre.

• By using recommended soil supplements at both stages i.e. pre sowing and post sowing.

These supplements improve the soil structure and make a fertile soil for better crop yield.
ü Humic acid, application of this recommended dose chemical in soil at pre and post sowing break the soil hard pan, active the bonded nutrients in soil, soil aeration by softening of soil.
ü By the application of balance macro and micro nutrient at sowing and post sowing time.
This method is very efficient to improve the soil structure and increase the crop yield for the earning of farmers, time saving and for country development.
By: Shehzad Ahmad Kang: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan,38040.
Corresponding author’s email; shehzadpbg@gmail.com