Genetically-Modified, Schenetically-Modified: Traditional Breeding Works Best
My thanks to the FEED newsletter from the Union of Concerned Scientists for this one.
It seems that traditional breeding methods are out-performing genetic modifications in developing drought-resistant crops. And as water becomes more and more scarce, drought-resistant crops are a big deal.
The United States Department of Agriculture has recently published some news about drought-resistant soybeans. By going back to the home of the soybean, China, for variety species that are not known in the US, and using some more exotic Chinese varieties of the staple crop, breeders have been able to cross a drought-resistant variety with a more common variety to produce soybeans that are testing well here in the US.
Using conventional breeding methods, Carter and his team develop hundreds of new breeding lines each year, for a total of more than 5,000. Five of them have stood out for further development and are now in validation trials across the South. Based on the results of these tests, the team will soon release advanced breeding lines that carry the slow-wilting trait and also show good yield potential when rainfall is plentiful.
The slow-wilting lines yield 4 to 8 bushels more than conventional varieties under drought conditions—depending on the region and environment, says Carter. For example, under drought conditions, normal soybeans yield 30 bushels per acre, but slow-wilting types yield about 35 bushels per acre. –USDA
That’s zero for genetically-modified drought-resistance, and a gazillion for traditionally-bred drought-resistance.
Ok, I have no data to back up that “gazillion” claim, but traditional breeding has been around for a long time, and there is no telling how many times it has helped develop crops that can go without water for a bit or withstand long, hot summers or even thrive in harsh conditions. If it were not for traditional breeding, well, we may not have many sub-species and varieties that we have today.
Besides, traditional breeding is the way Nature does it, so why shouldn’t we?
Oh, now, that's uncalled for...
On another note, a NGO (non-governmental organization) is working with farmers in Africa and developed a drought-resistant variety of cassava (a staple in that part of the world and others, also known as yuca). And this variety is producing 6 to 10 times the amount of cassava that the usual seed stock is producing.
USDA, drought-resistance, genetically-modified, traditional breeding, genetics, GMO, NGO, soybeans, cassava, yuca, Africa, crops, agriculture
March 24th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
[...] Ah, CM crops. Thay sound like such a great idea, don’t they? Just go in and tinker with a plant until it doesn’t need water to grow or frightens away certain insects. But we have a multitude of examples of science being used to catastrophic ends, and I am of the opinion that genetically-modifying crops is most probably a bad idea. [...]