Plant biotechnology for deeper understanding, wider use and further development of agricultural and horticultural crops

Abstract

Plants bind solar energy to organic matter via photosynthesis and assimilation of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and comprise the major source of nutrition and bioenergy. Plant biotechnology contributes to solution of important constraints in food and feed production and creates new technologies and applications for the sustainable use of plant resources. Genome-wide approaches such as massive parallel sequencing and microarrays to study gene expression, molecular markers for selection of important traits in breeding, characterization of genetic diversity with the aforementioned approaches, and somatic hybridization and genetic transformation are important tools in plant biotechnology. In this paper, studies carried out on enhanced resistance to viruses and tolerance of cold stress in potato, genetic modification of flower pigmentation and morphology in gerbera, production of edible vaccines in transgenic barley seeds, and expression of heterologous proteins for pharmaceutical purposes from vector viruses were chosen to exemplify the general utility of biotechnological approaches and also how plant biotechnology research has developed on cultivated plants at University of Helsinki. The studies reveal cellular and genetic mechanisms and provide scientific information that can be used for widening the uses of crop plants. They can also be used to detect any putative risks associated with the use of the biotechnological application in agriculture and horticulture and to develop practises which reduce any inadvertent negative consequences that plant production may have to the environment.

Deciphering the Effects of Waste Amendments on Particulate Organic Carbon and Soil C-Mineralization Dynamics

“…However, is it that the more waste amendments added, the greater the accumulation of organic carbon? The results of this study indicated that waste amendments did significantly affect the SOC content, which was consistent with previous research results [20,21]. The main reason is that the input of waste amendments changes the basic C/N of soil and the life activities of microorganisms and then produces the binders and carriers that cause the formation of soil aggregates and increase the number of soil aggregates, improving the stability of the agglomerates, which will improve the stability of POC and be conducive to soil carbon [22,23].This study also showed that the SOC of amendment addition treatments gradually increased with increasing amounts of amendment.…”