FOURTH BLOG ENTRY : IMPORTANCE OF GENETIC RESOURCES IN AGRICULTURE

Traditionally, farmers throughout the world have raised thousands of different animal breeds and plant varieties to increase yields or to better suit local conditions. Across the range of a species this results in many different breeds or varieties and a vast bank of genetic diversity.

Genetic resources are of tremendous practical and historical significance for human life from daily survival to generating the wealth of nations, yet their crucial role in supporting human society is frequently overlooked and undervalued. Genetic conservation is an integral part of a much broader activity concerned with protecting the many plants, animals, microorganisms, and communities of organisms that help to mold and stabilize the environment and maintain the quality of air, water, and soil. Conservation ensures that future generations will benefit from earth's biological resources.

In order to keep all of the genetic resources in one place and to secure, we have germplasm. Germplasm are living genetic resources such as seeds or tissues that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, preservation, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of seed collections stored in seed banks, trees growing in nurseries, animal breeding lines maintained in animal breeding programs or gene banks, etc. Germplasm collections can range from collections of wild species to elite, domesticated breeding lines that have undergone extensive human selection. Germplasm collection is important for the maintenance of biological diversity and food security.

Example of seeds for germplasm genetic source material

These are the importance of genetic resources in agriculture :

1) Agriculture production is increased through the use of improved genetic resources (new variety) created by altering the genetic constitution.  

The products from the improved genetic resources will be :

a) Increase in yield

paddy in Malaysia

b) Pest and disease resistant

Tomatoes that are resistant to disease in UPM

the difference between resistant wheat and susceptible

c) Ecological tolerant - genes that are tolerant to extreme weathers : salinity,drought,waterlogging

Salinity

Waterlogging

Drought

2) To protect the species that are available in the biological diversity hotspot. Sites where many types of biological organisms exist and constitute invaluable genetic resources.  

They contain: 

  1) Higher range or number of species or subspecies found in a particular area. 

  2) Higher variety of life, including the genetic diversity among members of a population or species,

  3) Higher variety of life forms that inhabit the earth 


3) To protect the genetic  variation


 Source of variation : mutations and sexual recombinant 

 Mutation : accidental changes & DNA, rare and random 

Recombinant: Different DNA from parent 

 Large amounts of variation are present in natural populations => important for evolution 

Wild mustard that produce trait of many crops

In conclusion genetic resources is so important in agriculture as it increase production of agriculture products,keep the species from biology hot spot and protect the genetic variation.