Well
oiled solutions
Extensive
application of emerging technologies will help India make a qualitative
leap in the oilseeds sector, elaborates DM Hegde
In
India, the demand for both edible and non-edible oils is increasing
with the increase in population and improvement in the standard
of living. The oil consumption rate is increasing at six per cent
and the per capita availability of oils and fats is placed at 10
kg as against the world average of 17 kg. Thus there is an urgent
need to step up oilseeds production on a sustainable basis. However
with limited chances of area expansion and with emphasis on increasing
production, it is essential to exploit the emerging technologies.
New developments in biotechnology will make possible the development
of genotypes that will provide tailor made vegetable oils for the
edible and industrial markets.
It
is possible to tap the opportunities available through international
collaborations in agri-food bio-diversity and participation of the
private sector in developing biotechnological capacity. Agriculture
extension and linkages between universities and research institutions
need to be strengthened to reinforce each other and to intelligently
utilize synergistically the scarce trained personnel resources.
India
is the third largest oilseed producing country in the world, producing
16 per cent of the world's production. With its rich agro-ecological
diversity it is ideally suited for cultivation of most l oilseed
crops, like groundnut, rapeseed, mustard, sunflower, sesame, soybean,
safflower, castor and linseed. India is the world's largest producer
of castor, safflower and sesame, second largest producer of groundnut
and rapeseed-mustard, third in linseed and cottonseed and fifth
in the production of soyabean and sunflower.
In
spite of the premier position that the country holds in the global
oilseed scenario, the actual productivity of oilseeds is very low.
Indian oilseed scenario has undergone a dramatic change during the
last decade with a series of farmer oriented programmes launched
by the Technology Mission on Oilseeds along with better availability
of crop production technologies, inputs, services, support price
policy and restricted imports. Though there has been an area expansion
from 19.02 to 26.81 million hectares and increase in productivity
from 570 to 931 kg/ha, the oilseeds sector has become a net importer
in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 with a huge import of 4.4 and 4.89 million
tonnes of edible oils, respectively.
Improving
agricultural productivity
Concerted
efforts in conventional breeding programmes led to the development
of a number of improved cultivators, but the yield levels have been
virtually static owing to their susceptibility to biotic and abiotic
stresses, and limited genetic variability in the cultivar germplasm.
Biotechnology is one of the powerful tools to fight this susceptibility.
Some of the objectives of biotechnological improvement of oil crops
are increased productivity, modification of plant architecture,
improvement of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and adaptation
to new environments. Additional objectives are concerned with the
bio-engineered modification of their fatty acid and protein composition,
in order to adapt them to specific food, feed or industrial utilisations.
The focus of biotechnological techniques in oilseed crops are directed
towards the following aspects:
Acceleration
of the conventional plant breeding processes
Modern
biotechnology enables transfer of genes between non-related species,
precise regulation of gene expression, regeneration of genetically
modified plants and reproduction of new plants. Among the annual
yielding edible oils, the Brassica spp, soyabean and sunflower have
been well studied. In sunflower and Brassica, the techniques of
embryo, ovule and ovary culture have been exploited to assist the
use of wild germplasm as a source of traits such as disease resistance,
drought tolerance and oil quality. Groundnut and sesame crops have
been difficult to manipulate in vitro, while reproducible protocols
of regeneration are reported in safflower. Among the two important
annual non-edible oilseeds, linseed has proved to be amenable to
in vitro regenerability, genetic variation and transformation while,
castor has proved to be highly recalcitrant in vitro
Genetic
modification of the agronomic characteristics
The
major oil crops have been genetically modified with emphasis on
agronomic traits. At
present biotechnological applications are directed to only rapeseed,
soyabean and sunflower and there is need to extend this technology
to other oilseed crops grown predominantly in India. Castor, cultivated
for its industrial oil, is susceptible to a multitude of insect
pests and diseases like wilt and Botrytis grey rot hereby, limiting
its production. As the genetic variability for these biotic stresses
in this monotypic genus is limited, there is a need to incorporate
additional variability through gene transfer techniques. Similarly,
in case of sunflower and safflower, where insect pests pose a serious
threat, transgenics may be developed. Development of transgenics
over expressing plants or bacterial derived enzymes like chitinases,
glucanases, lectins and others for conferring protection against
fungal and bacterial pathogens should be attempted.
Since
most of the oilseeds are grown in marginal lands and under rainfed
conditions, the engineering of traits that confer resistance to
environmental stress, such as drought, frost, water logging or salinity
could contribute to increased productivity enhancement
Genetic
modification of the fatty acid composition
Biotechnological
methods have resulted in the alternation of the type and the proportion
of fatty acids specific to individual oil crop varieties. Achievements
in this field include the development of enhanced germplasm of rapeseed,
soyabean, sunflower, flax, cotton and new industrial oil crops.
Particularly significant commercial results have been obtained in
the bioengineering of rapeseed, in order to secure and increase
the food and non-food consumption of rapeseed oil. The edible oil
industry desires oil with a long shelf life and one that can be
hardened into margarine and shortenings with little or no nutritionally
undesirable trans fatty acids. To meet this market demand, canola
oil with reduced levels of linolenic and/or linoleic acids together
with concomitant increase in oleic acid are being developed.
The
timing of the commercial application of biotechnology in breeding
will differ between individual oil crops. At present, the genetic
engineering of rapeseed is routine, and genetically modified soyabeans
are broadly used. Since the manipulation of genes responsible for
fatty acid composition and yields appear to give rise to the same
type of modifications in other oilseeds, it can be expected that
in the next five years or so other annual oil crops could be genetically
modified.....
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