STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCEMENT IN FOOD PRODUCTION

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY:

 Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of

breeding and raising livestock. Animal
husbandry deals with the care and breeding of
livestock like:

i. Buffaloes, cows

ii. Pigs, horses, cattle

iii. Sheep, camels, goats.

 Extended, It includes poultry farming and

fisheries. Fisheries include rearing, catching,
selling, etc., of:

a) Fish

b) Molluscs (shell-fish)

c) Crustaceans (prawns, crabs, etc.)

 Since time immemorial, animals like bees, silk-worm, prawns, crabs, fishes, birds, pigs, cattle, sheep and
camels have been used by humans for products like milk, eggs, meat, wool, silk, honey, etc.

 It is estimated that more than 70 per cent of the world livestock population is in India and China.

 However, it is surprising to note that the contribution to the world farm produce is only 25 per cent, i.e., the
productivity per unit is very low.

 Hence, in addition to conventional practices of animal breeding and care, newer technologies also have to
be applied to achieve improvement in quality and productivity.

Dairy Farm Management:

 Dairying is the management of animals for milk and its products for human consumption.

 In dairy farm management, we deal with processes and systems that increase yield and improve quality of
milk. Milk yield is primarily dependent on the quality of breeds in the farm.

A. Selection of good breeds having high yielding potential (under the climatic conditions of the area), combined
with resistance to diseases is very important.

B. The cattle have to be well looked after – they have to be housed well, should have adequate water and be
maintained disease free.

C. The feeding of cattle should be carried out in a scientific manner – with special emphasis on the quality and
quantity of fodder.

D. Stringent cleanliness and hygiene (both of the cattle and the handlers) are of paramount importance while
milking, storage and transport of the milk and its products.

E. Require regular inspections, with proper record keeping. It would also help to identify and rectify the
problems as early as possible. Regular visits by a veterinary doctor would be mandatory.
 Poultry Farm Management:
 Poultry is the class of domesticated fowl (birds) used for food or for their eggs. They include:

i. Chicken

ii. Ducks

iii. Turkey and geese.

 The word poultry is often used to refer to the meat of only these birds, but in a more general sense it may
refer to the meat of other birds too.

 As in dairy farming, selection of disease free and suitable breeds, proper and safe farm conditions, proper
feed and water, and hygiene and health care are important components of poultry farm management.

Animal Breeding:
 Animal breeding aims at increasing the yield of animals and improving the desirable qualities of the
produce.

 Breed: A group of animals related by descent and similar in most characters like:

I. General appearance

II. Features

III. Size

IV. Configuration

 are said to belong to a breed.

 Inbreeding: Inbreeding refers to the mating of more closely related individuals within the same breed
for 4- 6 generations.

 The breeding strategy is as follows – superior males and superior females of the same breed are identified
and mated in pairs.

 The progeny obtained from such matings are evaluated and superior males and females among them are
identified for further mating.

A. A superior female, in the case of cattle, is the cow or buffalo that produces more milk per lactation.

B. On the other hand, a superior male is the bull, which gives rise to superior progeny as compared to those of
other males.

Inbreeding increases Homozygosity. Thus inbreeding is necessary if we want to evolve a pureline in any
animal.

Inbreeding exposes harmful recessive genes that are eliminated by selection. It also helps in accumulation
of superior genes and elimination of less desirable genes.

Therefore, this approach, where there is selection at each step, increases the productivity of inbred
population.

C. However, continued inbreeding, especially close inbreeding, usually reduces fertility and even productivity.
This is called Inbreeding Depression.

Out-breeding: Out-breeding is the breeding of the unrelated animals, which may be:
A. Between individuals of the same breed (but having no common ancestors),
B. Between different breeds (cross-breeding) or different species (inter-specific hybridisation).

Out-crossing: This is the practice of mating of animals within the same breed, but having no common
ancestors on either side of their pedigree up to 4-6 generations.

 The offspring of such a mating is known as an Out-cross. A single outcross often helps to overcome
inbreeding depression.

Cross-breeding: In this method, superior males of one breed are mated with superior females of
another breed.

 Cross-breeding allows the desirable qualities of two different breeds to be combined. The progeny hybrid
animals may themselves be used for commercial production.

 Many new animal breeds have been developed by this approach. Hisardale is a new breed of sheep
developed in Punjab by crossing = Bikaneri ewes X Marino rams.

Interspecific hybridisation:
In this method, male and female animals of two different species are mated. In some cases, the progeny
may combine desirable features of both the parents, and may be of considerable economic value, e.g., the
mule.

 Controlled breeding experiments are carried out using Artificial Insemination. The semen is collected from
the male that is chosen as a parent and injected into the reproductive tract of the selected female by the
breeder.

 In this way desirable matings are carried. Artificial insemination helps us overcome several problems of
normal matings.

Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer

Technology (MOET):

 In this method, a cow is administered

hormones, with FSH-like activity, to
induce follicular maturation and super
ovulation – instead of one egg, which
they normally yield per cycle, they
produce 6-8 eggs.

 The animal is either mated with an

elite bull or artificially inseminated.
The fertilised eggs at 8–32 cells
stages, are recovered non-surgically
and transferred to surrogate
mothers.

 The genetic mother is available for

another round of super ovulation. This
technology has been demonstrated
for:

Cattle, Sheep, Rabbits,Buffaloes, Mares

  High milk yielding breeds of females and high quality (lean meat with less lipid) meat-yielding bulls have
been bred successfully to increase herd size in a short time.

Bee-keeping:
 Bee-keeping or apiculture is the maintenance of hives of honeybees for the production of honey. It has
been an age-old cottage industry.

1) Honey is a food of high nutritive value

2) Use in the indigenous systems of medicine.

3) Honeybee also produces beeswax (Used in cosmetics and polishes of various kinds.)

 The increased demand of honey has led to large-scale beekeeping practices; it has become an established
income generating industry, whether practiced on a small or on a large scale.

 Bee-keeping can be practiced in any area where there are sufficient bee pastures of some wild shrubs, fruit
orchards and cultivated crops.

 There are several species of honeybees which can be reared. Of these, the most common species is Apis
indica.

 Beehives can be kept in:

A. One’s courtyard,

B. On the verandah of the house

C. On the roof.

 Bee-keeping is not labour-intensive. Bee-keeping though relatively easy does require some specialised
knowledge and there are several organisations that teach bee-keeping.

 The following points are important for successful bee-keeping:

A. Knowledge of the nature and habits of bees.

B. Selection of suitable location for keeping the beehives.

C. Catching and hiving of swarms (group of bees).

D. Management of beehives during different seasons.

E. Handling and collection of honey and of beeswax.

 Bees are the pollinators of many of our crop species such as sunflower, Brassica, apple and pear.

Pisciculture :
 Fishery is an industry devoted to the catching, processing or selling of fish, shellfish or other aquatic
animals.

 A large number of our population is dependent on fish, fish products and other aquatic animals such as
prawn, crab, lobster, edible oyster, etc., for food.

 Freshwater fishes: Catla, Rohu and common carp.

 Marine fishes: Hilsa, Sardines, Mackerel and Pomfrets.

  Flourishing of the fishery industry, and it has brought a lot of income to the farmers in particular and the
country in general. We now talk about ‘Blue Revolution’ as being implemented along the same lines as
‘Green Revolution’.

PLANT BREEDING:
 Plant breeding as a technology has helped increase yields to a very large extent. Green Revolution which
was responsible for our country to not merely meet the national requirements in food production but also
helped us even to export it.

 Green revolution was dependent to a large extent on plant breeding techniques for development of:

i. High-yielding

ii. Disease resistant varieties

 in wheat, rice, maize, etc.

What is Plant Breeding?

 Plant breeding is the purposeful manipulation of plant species in order to create desired plant types that
are:

a) Better suited for cultivation

b) Give better yields

c) Are disease resistant.

 Classical plant breeding involves crossing or hybridisation of pure lines, followed by artificial selection to
produce plants with desirable traits of higher yield, nutrition and resistance to diseases.

 With advancements in genetics, molecular biology and tissue culture, plant breeding is now increasingly
being carried out by using molecular genetic tools.

 If we were to list the traits or characters that the breeders have tried to incorporate into crop plants, the
first we would list would be:

i. Increased crop yield and improved quality.

ii. Increased tolerance to environmental stresses (salinity, extreme temperatures, drought)

iii. Resistance to pathogens (viruses, fungi and bacteria) and

iv. Increased tolerance to insect pests

The main steps in breeding a new genetic variety of a crop are –

(i) Collection of variability:

Collection and preservation of all the different wild varieties, species and relatives of the cultivated species
(followed by their evaluation for their characteristics) is a pre-requisite for effective exploitation of natural genes
available in the populations.

The entire collection (of plants/seeds) having all the diverse alleles for all genes in a given crop is called
germplasm collection.

(ii) Evaluation and selection of parents: The germplasm is evaluated so as to identify plants with desirable
combination of characters.

 The selected plants are multiplied and used in the process of hybridisation. Purelines are created wherever
desirable and possible.
(iii) Cross hybridisation among the selected parents:
The desired characters have very often to be combined from two different plants (parents), for
example high protein quality of one parent may need to be combined with disease resistance from
another parent.

This is possible by cross hybridising the two parents to produce hybrids that genetically combine the
desired characters in one plant.

 This is a very time-consuming and tedious process since the pollen grains from the desirable plant chosen as
male parent have to be collected and placed on the stigma of the flowers selected as female parent

(iv) Selection and testing of superior recombinants:

 This step consists of selecting, among the progeny of the hybrids, those plants that have the desired
character combination.

 The selection process requires careful scientific evaluation of the progeny. This step yields plants that are
superior to both of the parents (very often more than one superior progeny plant may become available).

 These are self-pollinated for several generations till they reach a state of uniformity (homozygosity?), so
that the characters will not segregate in the progeny.

(v) Testing, release and commercialisation of new cultivars:

 The evaluation is done by growing these in the research fields and recording their performance under ideal
fertiliser application irrigation, and other crop management practices.

 The evaluation in research fields is followed by testing the materials in farmers’ fields, for at least three
growing seasons at several locations in the country, representing all the agroclimatic zones.

 The material is evaluated in comparison to the best available local crop cultivar – a check or reference
cultivar.

Green Revolution:
 India is mainly an agricultural country. Agriculture accounts for approximately 33 per cent of India’s GDP
and employs nearly 62 per cent of the population. After India’s independence, one of the main challenges
facing the country was that of producing enough food for the increasing population.

 As only limited land is fit for cultivation, India has to strive to increase yields per unit area from existing
farm land. The development of several high yielding varieties of wheat and rice in the mid-1960s, as a result
of various plant breeding techniques led to dramatic increase in food production in our country.

 This phase is often referred to as the Green Revolution.

Wheat and Rice:

 During the period 1960 to 2000:

i. Wheat production increased from 11 million tones to 75 million tonnes

ii. Rice production went up from 35 million tonnes to 89.5 million tonnes.

 This was due to the development of semi-dwarf varieties of wheat and rice. Nobel laureate Norman E.
Borlaug, at International Centre for Wheat and Maize Improvement in Mexico, developed semi-dwarf
wheat. In 1963, several varieties such as Sonalika and Kalyan Sona, which were high yielding and disease
resistant, were introduced all over the wheat-growing belt of India.
  Semi-dwarf rice varieties were derived from IR-8, (developed at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI),
Philippines) and Taichung Native-1 (from Taiwan). The derivatives were introduced in 1966. Later better-
yielding semidwarf varieties Jaya and Ratna were developed in India.

Sugar cane:
 Saccharum barberi was originally grown in north India, but had poor sugar content and yield. Tropical canes
grown in south India Saccharum officinarum had thicker stems and higher sugar content but did not grow
well in north India.

 These two species were successfully crossed to get sugar cane varieties combining the desirable qualities of
high yield, thick stems, high sugar and ability to grow in the sugar cane areas of north India.

Millets:
 Hybrid maize, jowar and bajra have been successfully developed in India. Hybrid breeding have led to the
development of several high yielding varieties resistant to water stress.

Plant Breeding for Disease Resistance:

 A wide range of fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens, affect the yield of cultivated crop species, especially in
tropical climates. Crop losses can often be significant, up to 20-30 per cent, or sometimes even total.

 In this situation, breeding and development of cultivars resistant to disease enhances food production. This
also helps reduce the dependence on use of fungicides and bacteriocides.

 Resistance of the host plant is the ability to prevent the pathogen from causing disease and is determined
by the genetic constitution of the host plant.

 Before breeding is undertaken, it is important to know about the causative organism and the mode of
transmission. Some of the diseases caused by fungi are rusts:

i. Brown rust of wheat,

ii. Red rot of sugarcane and

iii. Late blight of potato

 By bacteria –

i. Black rot of crucifers

 By viruses –
i. Tobacco mosaic

ii. Turnip mosaic

Methods of breeding for disease resistance:

 Breeding is carried out by:

i. The conventional breeding techniques (described earlier)

ii. By mutation breeding.

 The conventional method of breeding for disease resistance is that of hybridisation and selection. It’s steps
are:
 The various sequential steps are :
a) Screening germplasm for resistance sources

b) Hybridisation of selected parents

c) Selection and evaluation of the hybrids

d) Testing and release of new varieties.

 Some crop varieties bred by hybridisation and selection, for disease resistance to fungi, bacteria and viral
diseases are released:

 Conventional breeding is often constrained by the availability of limited number of disease resistance
genes that are present and identified in various crop varieties or wild relatives.

 Inducing mutations in plants through diverse means and then screening the plant materials for resistance
sometimes leads to desirable genes being identified.

 Plants having these desirable characters can then be either multiplied directly or can be used in breeding.
Other breeding methods that are used are selection amongst somaclonal variants and genetic engineering.

Mutation: is the process by which genetic variations are created through changes in the base sequence
within genes resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type.

 It is possible to induce mutations artificially through use of:

a. Chemicals

b. Radiations (like gamma radiations)

 Mutation breeding:
Selecting and using the plants that have the desirable character as a source in breeding.

 In mung bean, resistance to yelow mosaic virus and powdery mildew were induced by mutations.

 Several wild relatives of different cultivated species of plants have been shown to have certain resistant
characters but have very low yield.

 Hence, there is a need to introduce the resistant genes into the high-yielding cultivated varieties.
 Resistance to yellow mosaic virus in bhindi (Abelmoschus esculentus) was transferred from a wild species
and resulted in a new variety of A. esculentus called Parbhani kranti.

Plant Breeding for Developing Resistance to Insect Pests:

 Another major cause for large scale destruction of crop plant and crop produce is insect and pest infestation.
Insect resistance in host crop plants may be due to:

a. Morphological

b. Biochemical

c. Physiological characteristics.

 Hairy leaves in several plants are associated with resistance to insect pests, e.g, resistance to jassids in
cotton and cereal leaf beetle in wheat.

 In wheat, solid stems lead to non-preference by the stem sawfly and smooth leaved and nectar-less cotton
varieties do not attract bollworms.

 High aspartic acid, low nitrogen and sugar content in maize leads to resistance to maize stem borers.

Plant Breeding for Improved Food Quality:

 More than 840 million people in the world do not have adequate food to meet their daily food and
nutritional requirements.

 A far greater number– three billion people – suffer from micronutrient, protein and vitamin deficiencies or
‘hidden hunger’ because they cannot afford to buy enough fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish and meat.

 Diets lacking essential micronutrients – particularly iron, vitamin A, iodine and zinc – increase the risk for
disease, reduce lifespan and reduce mental abilities.

Biofortification:
 Breeding crops with higher levels of vitamins and minerals, or higher protein and healthier fats – is the
most practical means to improve public health.

 Breeding for improved nutritional quality is undertaken with the objectives of improving

a. Protein content and quality

b. Oil content and quality

c. Vitamin content

d. Micronutrient and mineral content.

 In 2000, maize hybrids that had twice the amount of the amino acids, lysine and tryptophan, compared to
existing maize hybrids were developed.

Wheat variety, Atlas 66, having a high protein content, has been used as a donor for improving cultivated
wheat.

It has been possible to develop an iron-fortified rice variety containing over five times as much iron as in
commonly consumed varieties.

 The Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi has also released several vegetable crops that are rich
in vitamins and minerals:

i. Vitamin A enriched carrots, spinach, pumpkin.

ii. Vitamin C enriched bitter gourd, bathua, mustard, tomato.

iii. Iron and calcium enriched spinach and bathua.

iv. Protein enriched beans – broad, lablab, French and garden peas.

SINGLE CELL PROTEIN (SCP):

 Conventional agricultural production of cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, etc., may not be able to meet the
demand of food at the rate at which human and animal population is increasing.

 The shift from grain to meat diets also creates more demand for cereals as it takes 3-10 Kg of grain to
produce 1 Kg of meat by animal farming. Can you explain this statement in the light of your knowledge of
food chains?

 More than 25 per cent of human population is suffering from hunger and malnutrition. One of the alternate
sources of proteins for animal and human nutrition is Single Cell Protein (SCP).

 Microbes are being grown on an industrial scale as source of good protein. Microbes like Spirulina can be
grown easily on materials like:

a. Waste water from potato processing plants (containing starch).

b. Straw, molasses,

c. Animal manure

d. Sewage

 to produce large quantities and can serve as food rich in protein, minerals, fats, carbohydrate and vitamins.
Incidentally such utilisation also reduces environmental pollution.

 It has been calculated that a 250 Kg cow produces 200 g of protein per day. In the same period, 250g of a
micro-organism like Methylophilus methylotrophus, because of its high rate of biomass production and
growth, can be expected to produce 25 tonnes of protein.

 The fact that mushrooms are eaten by many people and large scale mushroom culture is a growing industry
makes it believable that microbes too would become acceptable as food.

TISSUE CULTURE:
 As traditional breeding techniques failed to keep pace with demand and to provide sufficiently fast and
efficient systems for crop improvement, another technology called tissue culture got developed.

 What does tissue culture mean? It was learnt by scientists, during 1950s, that whole plants could be
regenerated from explants, i.e., any part of a plant taken out and grown in a test tube, under sterile
conditions in special nutrient media.
  This capacity to generate a whole plant from any cell/explant is called totipotency.

 It is important to stress here that the nutrient medium must provide:

i. A carbon source such as sucrose

ii. Inorganic salts, vitamins, amino acids

iii. Growth regulators like auxins, cytokinins etc.

 This method of producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called Micropropagation.

 Each of these plants will be genetically identical to the original plant from which they were grown, i.e., they
are Somaclones.

 Many important food plants like tomato, banana, apple, etc., have been produced on commercial scale
using this method.

 Another important application of the method is the recovery of healthy plants from diseased plants.

 Although the plant is infected with a virus, the meristem (apical and axillary) is free of virus. Hence, one can
remove the meristem and grow it in vitro to obtain virus-free plants.

 Scientists have succeeded in culturing meristems of banana, sugarcane, potato, etc.

 Scientists have even isolated single cells from plants and after digesting their cell walls have been able to
isolate naked protoplasts (surrounded by plasma membranes).

 Isolated protoplasts from two different varieties of plants – each having a desirable character – can be fused
to get hybrid protoplasts, which can be further grown to form a new plant.

 These hybrids are called somatic hybrids while the process is called somatic Hybridisation.

 Imagine a situation when a protoplast of tomato is fused with that of potato, and then they are grown – to
form new hybrid plants combining tomato and potato characteristics.