Breeding of Fruit and Plantation Crops 2 + 1

Gene transfer technology

Important gene transfer methods used for production of transgenic plants are as under:

• Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (Hohn et al., 1989)
• Microprojectile bombardment-mediated transformation (Sanford,1990)
• Propoplast-mediated transformation (Paszkowski et al., 1989)
• In-planta electroporation (Chowrira et al., 1996)
• Intact tissue electroporation (D’Halluin et al., 1992)
• Silicon carbide fibres (Songstad et al.,1995)
• Electrophoresis (Songstad et al.,1995)
• Microinjection (Neuhaus and Spangenburg,1990)
• Sonication (Joerbo and Brunstedi,1992)
• Laser-mediated gene transfer (Guo et al.,1995)

Biotechnology for biotic/abiotic stress management

• Fruit crops suffer from a variety of insect pests. It is possible to implement biotechnological approaches to manage insect pests in a rational, durable and eco friendly manner. Therefore, novel insecticidal proteins and their respective genes need to be identified and used in conjunction with Bt to prevent development of resistant insect.
  


• In addition, Integrated Pest Management will have to play a central role in sustainable horticulture. Disease resistance, herbicides resistance, abiotic resistance etc. are the areas where genetic engineering can play an important role in imparting resistance in fruit crops.Eg: In apple gene attacin (from Hyalophora cecropia) Iysozyme (farm chicken) and cercropin B (from H.cecropia) can be used for disease resistance against Eriwinia amylovora.

x