a. Biotechnology use can lead to a decrease in pesticide and herbicide use, maintaining soil quality.
Explanation:
Biotechnology is a science that involves several disciplines and sciences (biology, biochemistry, genetics, virology, agronomy, engineering, chemistry, medicine and veterinary medicine among others
A more exact and specific definition of "modern" biotechnology is "the commercial application of living organisms or their products, which involves the deliberate manipulation of their DNA molecules. This definition implies a series of developments in laboratory techniques that, during In recent decades, they have been responsible for the tremendous scientific and commercial interest in biotechnology, the creation of new companies and the reorientation of research and investments in established companies and universities.
Biotechnology consists of a gradient of technologies ranging from "traditional" biotechnology techniques, long established and widely known and used (eg, food fermentation, biological control), to modern biotechnology, based on the use of new recombinant DNA techniques (called genetic engineering), monoclonal antibodies and new cell and tissue culture methods.
In the field of agriculture the applications of biotechnology are innumerable. Some of the most important are:
Herbicide Resistance
Herbicide resistance is based on the transfer of resistance genes from bacteria and some plant species, such as petunia. Thus it has been achieved that plants such as soybeans are resistant to glyphosate, glufosinate in rapeseed and bromoxynil in cotton.
Resistance to pests and diseases.
Thanks to biotechnology it has been possible to obtain crops that protect themselves based on the synthesis of proteins or other substances that are insecticidal. This type of protection provides a series of very important advantages for the farmer, consumers and the environment.
Improvement of nutritional and organoleptic properties.
The knowledge of plant metabolism allows to improve and introduce some different characteristics. In tomato, for example, it has been possible to improve texture and consistency by preventing the ripening process, by incorporating a gene that inhibits the formation of pectinase, an enzyme that is activated in the course of the aging of the fruit and that produces a degradation of the cell wall and loss of fruit consistency.
Abiotic stress resistance.
The bacteria Pseudomonas syringae and Erwinia herbicola, whose natural habitats are plants, are largely responsible for the damage of frost and cold in many vegetables, by facilitating the production of ice crystals with a protein that acts as a crystallization core . The separation of the gene involved allows colonies of these bacteria to be obtained which, once inoculated in large quantities in the plant, give it greater resistance to low temperatures.
