Moreover, insecticides and pesticides which are used to control insects and diseases are expensive and have adverse effects on other beneficial organisms (parasites and predators). Transgenic breeding is expected to play a key role in the genetic improvement of crop plants in the years ahead. The cheapest and the most practical method of weed control in the mechanized agriculture is the use of herbicides. With plant engineering, it's sometimes possible to develop pest-tolerant plants that safely target specific pests and are safe for human consumption while reducing pesticide use. There's a risk that genetically engineered genes could be introduced into wild plants, reducing biodiversity and creating super-weeds while reducing pesticide use. However, field studies indicated that these contaminant removal rates and tolerability of the conventional plant species are inadequate. Improvement in Insect and Disease Resistance 3. Privacy Policy3. HOW do scientists think about transgenic plants? By continuing you agree to the use of cookies. For genetically modified plants, the bacterium most frequently used is called Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Transgenic plants provide economic advantages by providing a cheap and abundant source of food but may create resistance to antibiotics and have other health consequences. In corn, gene for resistance to European corn borer has also been transferred from above bacterium. These plants can also be modified to adapt to different climates and growing conditions, which makes them especially popular among farmers with medium- to large-size farms, as those plants make their crop supplies more predictable. Share Your PDF File In majority of cases, herbicide resistant genes have been transferred from microorganisms (Dale and Irwin, 1995). Share Your Word File THE CURRENT SITUATION WITH FIELD-GROWN TRANSGENIC CROPS The first transgenic crops were commercially planted in 1995. BT cotton is an example of a transgenic plant. In a transgenic plant, a plant breeder tries to improve quality and yield of the crop by inserting genes. However, transgenic plants are not problem free. Welcome to BiologyDiscussion! Scientific measures can be taken to avoid this. Submitted: December 5th 2010 Reviewed: April 27th 2011 Published: September 6th 2011. What are the general characters of pteridophytes? This is a question and answer forum for students, teachers and general visitors for exchanging articles, answers and notes. What are the general characters of pteridophytes? Advantages and Disadvantages of Transgenic Plants, Proudly powered by 1001artificialplants.com. What are the different sources of air pollution? In crop plants, weeds cause heavy yield losses and also adversely affect the quality of produce. WHO's in charge of regulating transgenic plants in the U.S.? In GM cotton, Bt is employed to make the crop pest resistant. Recombinant DNA is a technology through which a foreign gene of an organism is inserted into another organism to produce desired characteristics. The following features can be produced by employing appropriate genes. However, herbicides have adverse effects on many crop plants. The increase in yield or productivity is achieved by controlling losses caused by various insects, diseases and abiotic factors.