Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production: Animal and Plant Breeding

Plant Breeding is one of the major Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production. Growing population demands an increase in food production which is only possible through different modern strategies for enhancement of food production. These include embryo transfer, genetic engineering, tissue culture, animal husbandry, and plant breeding. New methods and techniques of increasing food production have fulfilled the gap between the population and the demand for food.

Keyterms: Plant, Food Production, Population, Embryo transfer, Genetic engineering, Tissue culture, Animal husbandry, Plant breeding, Dairy farm management

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Animal Husbandry

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The raising and breeding of livestock are known as animal husbandry. Dairy farm management and fisheries are also included under animal husbandry. Dairy farm management is responsible for the selection of good breeds for better yield, maintaining a well-ventilated house and proper cleanliness and hygiene, and regulating proper disposal of waste. 

Image: Animal Husbandry

Also Read: Type of Waste

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Animal Breeding

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The practice of raising a group of animals belonging to a common species. Inbreeding and outbreeding are the two types of animal breeding.

Inbreeding

Animals of superior male and female breed are made to mate for 4 to 6 generations. According to Mendel's experiment, true-breeding species or pure lines are created by inbreeding which results in homozygosity. Through this process, only superior genes are stored and unwanted genes are removed. 

Image: Inbreeding

Outbreeding

The breeding involving animals that are not related is known as outbreeding. The three types of outbreeding are:

• Out-crossing: Animals of the same breed with no common ancestors are mated which helps in rectifying the inbreeding depression.
• Cross-breeding: Superior males and females of two different breeds are mated which helps in blending the superior traits of the two breeds. 
• Interspecific hybridization: Breeding of two unrelated and different species.

Image: Outbreeding

• Bee-keeping: The rearing of bees for the production of honey and beeswax is known as apiculture. One of the most common species of the honey bee is Apis indica. Beeswax is used to prepare polish, cosmetics, etc.

Image: Bee-keeping

• Fisheries: Cultivation or breeding of aquatic flora and fauna for a commercial purpose is known as aquaculture. Fish and fish products for consumption are known as pisciculture. 

Image: Fisheries

Also Read: Mutagens

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Plant Breeding

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In order to get rid of nutrient deficiency diseases, crops need to have a specific nutrient value besides disease resistance, pest resistance, and high yield capacity. There are many strategies for enhancing food production through plant breeding. Some of them are: 

Somatic Hybridization: When two plants having unique traits are made to breed by the process of naked protoplasts, it is known as somatic hybrids. 

Image: Somatic Hybridization

Tissue Culture: Totipotency is the capacity of a part of a plant or cell to grow into a whole plant. The process of the growth of a plant from a small part of a plant is known as tissue culture. It is a useful process in getting rid of a disease or infection that is harmful to the plant. 

Image: Tissue Culture

Biofortification: It is the process of breeding nutrient-rich crops that have a higher level of vitamins, proteins, oil, minerals, and fats. There are many vegetables that are rich in nutrients such as:

• Wheat- rich in protein
• French beans, lablab beans, garden peas, broad beans – rich in protein
• Bathua and spinach – rich in iron and calcium
• Spinach, pumpkin, carrot- rich in vitamin A 
• Bathua, tomato, mustard, bitter gourd – rich in vitamin C

Plant Breeding for Disease Resistance

Bacteria, viruses, and fungi cause the destruction of 20% of crops. methods such as hybridization and selection, genetic engineering, selection among somaclonal variants, and other mutation processes lead to the formation of disease-resistant variants of crops. some of the varieties that are produced by conventional methods are:

• Himagiri
• Pusa swarnim
• Pusa Komal
• Pusa sadabahar

Plant Breeding for Pest Resistance

Crops need to be resistant to pests in order to increase the yield. some of the pest-resistant crops which can be commercially used are :

• Pusa Gaurav variety of brassica which is resistant to aphids
• Pusa sem 2 and Pusa sem 3 are the varieties of flat beans which is resistant to aphids, jassids, and fruit borer
• Pusa Sawant and Pusa A-4 are the varieties of okra (bhindi) which are resistant to shoot and fruit borer. 

Plant Breeding for Improved Food Quality

Crops must be processed in such a way that it has high nutritional value without any nutrient deficiency diseases. They should also be resistant to pests and diseases and have a high yielding capacity.

Read More: Plant Breeding

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Single- Cell Protein

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One of the ways to meet the growing demand of nutrients in plants and animals is a single-cell protein which is biomass that is rich in protein. microbes are produced on an industrial scale to get single-cell protein. 

Protein-rich organisms such as fungi, yeast, algae, and bacteria grow from agricultural, animal, and plant wastes. spirulina is a blue-green algae that is rich in nutrients and grows on wastewater from potato processing plants, animal manure, straw molasses, and sewage. 

Image: Single Cell Protein

Also Read: Micropropagation

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Things to Remember

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• The process of producing a huge number of plants by the method of tissue culture is known as micropropagation.
• Some of the hybrid Indian crops which are produced in bulk are millets, sugarcane, rice, and wheat.
• Aquaculture and pisciculture are the two types of fisheries that help in the enhancement of food production.
• Animals such as Hisardale and mule are examples of outbreeding.

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