Recent Research/Technologies in Agriculture : Agrilearner

Recent Research/Technologies in Agriculture

NANOTECHNOLOGY

The term ‘Nanotechnology’ was The term ‘Nanotechnology’ was coined by Nario Taniguchi in 1974 at Univ. of Tokyo.

Nanotechnology is understanding and control of matter of dimension of 1-100 nm.
Example of Nano based Smart Delivery System – Halloysite
Nano Pesticide – Nano Particles (NPs) of ZnO, SiO2 and TiO2 used for Bacterial and Green algae.

(Research in Agriculture)

BIO-INFORMATICS

Bio-informatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the
field of biology to the management of biological information.

Computers are used to gather, store, analyze and integrate biological and genetic
information which can then be applied to gene-based drug discovery and development.
The primary goal of bioinformatics is to increase the understanding of biological processes
and developing and applying computationally intensive techniques (e.g., pattern
recognition, data mining, machine learning algorithms, and visualization) to achieve this
goal.

(Research in Agriculture)

TRANSGENIC PLANTS/CROPS (GMO)

Transgenic plants are crops which have been genetically modified with genes from another organism to make the plants more agriculturally productive. Transgenic plants are only those with genes from other species, whereas genetically modified plants can have both new genes and a re-arrangement of the genes already found in the plant.

Transgenic plants have been developed for a variety of reasons: longer shelf life, disease resistance, herbicide resistance, pest resistance, and improved product quality.

The First transgenic plant – Flavr SavrTM tomato for delayed ripening was released for commercial cultivation in 1994 by Calgene (Company).

Crop having highest transgenic plant cultivation area – Soybean > Corn > Cotton

(Research in Agriculture)

TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY

Terminator technology refers to research of seeds/plants that produce sterile seeds. This technology could be used to prevent any gene flow between biotechnology and traditional crops.

Recently, it is used in Cotton.

(Research in Agriculture)

HYDROPONICS

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil.

Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as gravel, mineral wool or coconut husk.

Hydroponics is a subset of soil less culture.

(Research in Agriculture)

AEROPONICS

Aeroponics is a system wherein roots are continuously or discontinuously kept in an
environment saturated with fine drops (a mist or aerosol) of nutrient solution.

The method requires no substrate and entails growing plants with their roots suspended in a
deep air or growth chamber with the roots periodically wetted with a fine mist of atomized
nutrients.

Excellent aeration is the main advantage of aeroponics.

(Research in Agriculture)

VERTICAL FARMING

Vertical farming is a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers, or on vertically inclined surfaces.

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI)

The System of Rice Intensification is an alternative system for growing rice that produces substantially higher yields with fewer plants (planting far fewer seedlings per hill and per
square meter) and with fewer inputs than either traditional methods, ie., using less water,
or more “modern” methods, requiring chemical fertilizer or agrochemicals.

SRI is a combination of few practices that include changes in nursery management, seedling
age while planting, planting method, spacing, water and nutrients management.

The major components of SRI method are:

Planting of young seedlings (8-12 days old).
Planting single seedlings/hill along with soil carefully.
Wider spacing of 25cm×25cm.
Weeding with conoweeder to provide aeration and incorporation of biomass.
Applying mostly organic manures.
Water just at saturation point but no flooding.

(Research in Agriculture)

AEROBIC RICE

The main objectives are to improve the productivity and sustainability of rice-wheat cropping systems through increased efficiency of water and nutrient use.

The aerobic rice practice includes:

Dry sowing of rice with minimum land preparation i.e. in non-puddled and non- flooded
soil.
Efficient seed coating technology either with suitable Phosphobacterium and or
Rhizobium cultures.
Square sowing with wider spacing to avoid root competition for crop growth.
Maintenance of moist soil but aerated soil during vegetative growth period.
Efficient weed management either by use of herbicide or by use of frequent hand
weeding especially in the early stages of crop.
Allowing a thin film of water (1-2 cm) to be maintained after panicle initiation.

(Research in Agriculture)

SUPER RICE

Super rice” is also k/s New Plant Type (NPT).
“Super rice” is a redesigned rice plant to break the yield –barriers of popular grown dwarf rice plant types and to face the new challenges of ever increasing population. In the 21st century. (acc. to Dr. G.S.KHUS)

Super rice is a N.P.T. developed by IRRI that can produce yield of 12-15 tones/ha has 2-3
times greater no. of grains/panicle and thicker and sturdy stem.

The key aim of development of Super rice varieties is to increase per capita availability of rice and to a decline in real price of rice in International and Domestic markets.

(Research in Agriculture)

Read More-