Biotech - Organic and Natural Products

Biotech - Organic and Natural Products - Bio Fertilizer

Bio Tech - What is Bio Technology ? - Biotechnology is the use of microbes, or life processes to produce materials and products that are useful to mankind. That is to say, any technique that uses living organisms, or parts of organisms, to make or modify products, improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses can be defined as biotech.

The term was coined around 1915 but biotechnology, in one form or another, has been around since prehistoric times. Centuries ago people discovered, quite by accident, how to make use of biological processes that naturally occur within living cells. While they might not have understood the processes, they did observed the results. They discovered, for example, that microbes like bacteria and moulds produced beer, wine and vinegar when grown in vats. Through trial and error, they learned to use these processes to solve problems and produce materials that were useful to mankind

In recent years our understanding of biotechnology has accelerated and as a result, biotechnology has come to indicate the application of a much more sophisticated set of techniques and tools. These tools and techniques, taken from biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, cell biology and chemistry, are used to address a variety of problems

The last four decades have seen lively developments in Biotechnology and EcoChem believes that the importance of Biotechnology is comparable to Microelectronics and Computer technology, and in the next century it will probably play a similar role to that of Chemistry in the industrial development of the 20th century.

Some Enriched Bio Fertilizers uses of modern biotechnology to make microbes perform specific useful tasks in a predictable and controllable manner. For example, the waste management strategy is a process whereby biological decomposition occurs under controlled conditions. In this process a component eliminates harmful microorganisms that cause odor and increases rapid decomposition of the biodegradable component in organic matter.

Bio Tech - Details of Biotech Crop Development in the U.S.

People in U.S. production agriculture often take for granted the benefits of biotech crops. A report titled The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States by Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo and Margriet Caswell of the Economic Research Service of USDA fills in details on factors that created those benefits.

The authors divided the industry into three segments: seed suppliers and technology providers, farmers and consumers. The industry developed in part due to strengthening of intellectual property rights in the 1970s and 1980s through plant variety production (PVP) certificates issued by the Plant Variety Protection Office of USDA and patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that provide exclusive rights to newly developed varieties. Of the over 4,200 agricultural biotech patents awarded from 1996-2000, 75 percent were for private companies.

From 1987 through early April 2005 USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) received 11,600 applications for field release of plant biotech varieties for testing purposes and approved 10,700 (92 percent). Corn had the largest number of approved applications at 4,968 followed by soybeans at 843, potatoes at 747 and cotton at 724. Approved applications by trait were led by herbicide tolerance (HT) at 3,587, insect resistance (Bt) at 3,141, product quality at 2,314, virus resistance at 1,239 and agronomic properties at 1,043.

Once field testing is completed, an applicant can apply for nonregulated status. Deregulation petitions had been received by APHIS for 103 varieties as of April 2005. APHIS has granted deregulation of 63 varieties with 17 for corn, 11 for tomatoes, 9 for cotton, 7 for rapeseed and 5 each for soybeans and potatoes. Deregulations by trait included 28 for HT, 21 of Bt, 13 for product quality, 9 for virus resistance and 6 for agronomic properties.

Over 90 percent of U.S. corn, soybeans and cotton acres are treated with herbicides so there is little surprise that 87 percent of the soybeans, 61 percent of the cotton and 26 percent of the corn acres were HT in 2005. Insect damage is less pervasive in many years, and in 2005 52 percent of the cotton and 35 percent of the corn acres had Bt varieties. Results from USDAs Agricultural and Resource Management Surveys for 2001-03 show 60-65 percent of farmers (79 percent for Bt corn farmers) use biotech crops to increase yields, 10-15 percent to reduce pesticide costs, and 15-25 percent to save management time.

The authors reviewed studies on net returns, household income and pesticide use and found generally positive benefits for biotech crop adopters. Bt cotton and corn were particularly profitable when insect pressures were high. In low pest years the returns to Bt corn were negative, but farmers use the technology as insurance for years with high pest pressures. Data from 2001 show that adopters of Bt corn use 8 percent less insecticide per planted acre.

HT soybeans do not increase farm incomes, but are associated with higher household incomes which may indicate farmers use the time saved and management flexibility to produce off-farm income. HT soybeans can also make harvest easier. They are twice as likely to be used in conservation tillage programs which reduce soil erosion and chemical runoff. ERS analysis of data from 1997/98 showed that overall pesticide use was 2.5 million pounds lower because of biotech crops. Also, glyphosate herbicide is less persistent in the environment and is less than one-third as toxic to humans.

Many of the studies cited by the authors used data that are over five years old. With improvements in biotech crops and increased understanding of how to effectively use them, newer studies may show greater benefits.

These research efforts and producer benefits are of no value unless U.S. consumers and export markets accept biotech foods. The report explains that food manufacturers in the U.S., the EU and Japan have taken different approaches to marketing biotech foods. In the EU and Japan foods that contain biotech ingredients must be labeled, and manufacturers have generally avoided biotech ingredients so they do not have to label foods. In the U.S. foods that contain biotech ingredients do not have to be labeled and some manufacturers appeal to concerns about biotech foods by labeling products as non GE (genetically engineered). From 2000-2004 U.S. manufacturers introduced over 3,500 products as non GE. These are separate from products labeled organic.

Estimates of distribution of benefits among stakeholders by crop and technology vary widely due to the economic benefits to farmers for using the crops, payments to technology providers and the impact of the technology on world prices. Based on data from the late 1990s consumers benefit most from HT cotton (57 percent of the total benefits), while U.S. farmers and biotech companies benefited 4 percent and 5 percent respectively. For Bt cotton, U.S. farmers and biotech firms each received 29 percent of the benefits, while consumers received 14 percent. Seed firms received 40 percent of the benefits of HT soybeans, followed by 28 percent for biotech firms, 20 percent for U.S. farmers and 5 percent for consumers.

The future of biotech crops will be determined by the same three sets of stakeholders as outlined in the report; each will weigh the benefits and costs. Updating the research outlined in the study is critical for stakeholders and for public officials who regulate the industry so that informed, timely decisions can be made as the biotech crop industry develops over the next 10 years.

Truth About Trade and Technology

New technique in Biofertilizer -
Generally biofertilizers are carrier based and always in powder form. The carrier is mostly lignite, which has high organic matter content, and it holds more than 200% water, which enhances the growth of the micro-organisms. Before use slurry is made which is applied to seed. This method is universal unless it has some difficulty in application to seed no other method is used.
Recently university of agricultural sciences, Bangalore has developed a method- dry complex fertilizer for direct soil application. This method consists of granules (1-2 mm) made from tank bed clay (TBC). These granules are baked at 200⁰C in a muffle furnace, which helps to sterilize the material and gives porosity to granules. The baked granules are soaked in a suspension of nitrogen fixing bacteria grown in a suitable medium overnight. The clay granules are air dried at room temperature under aseptic conditions. The granules contain more than a billion of bacteria per gram of granules. These granules are suitable for field application along with seeds and fertilizers in furrows. However, quantity of biofertilizer to be applied will be slightly higher than seed application.