Technology in Agriculture

Increase population growth and the increase demand for quality food has placed a burden on the agriculture sector. As such the use of technology in agriculture has improved agriculture output as well as reduced some of the risk and uncertainties associated with agriculture.

Technology in Agriculture Modern biotechnology has the potential to speed up the development and deployment of improved crops and animals. Marker-assisted selection, for instance, increases the efficiency of conventional plant breeding by allowing rapid, laboratory-based analysis of thousands of individuals without the need to grow plants to maturity in the field. The techniques of tissue culture allow the rapid multiplication of clean planting materials of vegetativelly propagated species for distribution to farmers. Biotechnology  Faster maturity date  New and improved varieties with increase production  Pest & Disease resistant varieties

Genetic engineering or modification - manipulating an organism's genome by introducing or eliminating specific genes - helps transfer desired traits between plants more quickly and accurately than is possible in conventional breeding. Genetic Engineering  Varieties with improved production  Species of animals that are able to acclimatize to local conditions  High producing animals  Pest & Disease resistant varieties

Genetically designed food: The creation of entirely new strains of food animals and plants in order to better address biological and physiological needs. A departure from genetically modified food, genetically designed food would be engineered from the ground up. In vitro meat: Also known as cultured meat or tubesteak, it is a flesh product that has never been part of a complete, living animal. Several current research projects are growing in vitro meat experimentally, although no meat has yet been produced for public consumption. Genetic engineering

Lab grown meat

Agricultural Sensors Air & soil sensors: Fundamental additions to the automated farm, these sensors would enable a real time understanding of current farm, forest or body of water conditions.. Equipment telematics: Allows mechanical devices such as tractors to warn mechanics that a failure is likely to occur soon. Intra-tractor communication can be used as a rudimentary "farm swarm" platform. Livestock biometrics: Collars with GPS, RFID and biometrics can automatically identify and relay vital information about the livestock in real time.

Crop sensors: Instead of prescribing field fertilization before application, high- resolution crop sensors inform application equipment of correct amounts needed. Optical sensors or drones are able to identify crop health across the field (for example, by using infra-red light). Scientifically viable in 2015; mainstream in 2018; and financially viable in Infrastructural health sensors: Can be used for monitoring vibrations and material conditions in buildings, bridges, factories, farms and other infrastructure. Coupled with an intelligent network, such sensors could feed crucial information back to maintenance crews or robots. Agricultural Sensors

Variable rate swath control: Building on existing geo-location technologies, future swath control could save on seed, minerals, fertilizer and herbicides by reducing overlapping inputs. By pre-computing the shape of the field where the inputs are to be used, and by understanding the relative productivity of different areas of the field, tractors or robots can procedurally apply inputs at variable rates throughout the field. Rapid iteration selective breeding: The next generation of selective breeding where the end-result is analyzed quantitatively and improvements are suggested algorithmically. Agricultural robots: Also known as robots, these are used to automate agricultural processes, such as harvesting, fruit picking, ploughing, soil maintenance, weeding, planting, irrigation, etc.. Agricultural Robots

Agricultural Robot

Precision agriculture: Farming management based on observing (and responding to) intra-field variations. With satellite imagery and advanced sensors, farmers can optimize returns on inputs while preserving resources at ever larger scales. Further understanding of crop variability, geolocated weather data and precise sensors should allow improved automated decision- making and complementary planting techniques.. Robotic farm swarms: The hypothetical combination of dozens or hundreds of agricultural robots with thousands of microscopic sensors, which together would monitor, predict, cultivate and extract crops from the land with practically no human intervention. Small-scale implementations are already on the horizon. Robotics

Tissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells separate from the organism. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar. Tissue culture commonly refers to the culture of animal cells and tissues, with the more specific term plant tissue culture being used for plantstissuescellsgrowth mediumplant tissue culture Tissue Culture

Plant Tissue Culture Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Cells from the parent plant are placed in an agar and allow to grow and multiply Plant tissue culture is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method known as micro- propagation. Different techniques in plant tissue culture may offer certain advantages over traditional methods of propagation, including:micro- propagation  The production of exact copies of plants that produce particularly good flowers, fruits, or have other desirable traits.  To quickly produce mature plants  The regeneration of whole plants from plant cells that have been genetically modified.  The production of plants in sterile containers that allows them to be moved with greatly reduced chances of transmitting diseases, pests, and pathogens  The production of plants from seeds that otherwise have very low chances of germinating and growing  Mass multiplication of plants

Plant Tissue Culture

Advantages Tissue Culture over traditional methods of propagation, includes:  The production of exact copies of plants that produce particularly good flowers, fruits, or have other desirable traits.  To quickly produce mature plants  The regeneration of whole plants from plant cells that have been genetically modified.  The production of plants in sterile containers that allows them to be moved with greatly reduced chances of transmitting diseases, pests, and pathogens  The production of plants from seeds that otherwise have very low chances of germinating and growing  Mass multiplication of plants

Question Answer the following question :  Why is technology important in Agriculture?  What is tissue culture.  List the advantages of tissue culture