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TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF COTOPAXI

FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND RESOURCES
NATURAL

NAME: Nataly Llumitaxi

COURSE: Seventh “A”
SUBJECT: Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
DATE: 2023/07/24

BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING

APPLICATIONS IN AGRONOMY
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defines biotechnology as "any
technological application that uses biological systems and living organisms or their
derivatives for the creation or modification of products or processes for specific uses"
(Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992). (FAO, The State of Food and
Agriculture 2003-04).

Biotechnology is used every day in different fields to create improvements and bring
benefits within society. This technology helps to identify, increase or eliminate
microorganisms and bacteria with the aim of establishing or modifying elements of
practical uses.

Within the agronomic field, biotechnology has brought both its advantages and
disadvantages. In daily life, the agronomist faces different problems that have been solved
many times with the help of this science, since thanks to this, seeds are being improved,
production, resistance to pests and diseases, irrigation system, etc. Among the
disadvantages, we find that it has supplemented the workforce, causing greater
unemployment within the factories, there are machines and programs that establish better
performance either to detect crop problems faster or to program systems that help control
each of the phytosanitary problems that plants present. It should be noted that this does not
take away the fact that thanks to biotechnology everything could have been different, since
the use of biotechnology has always been present, an example is in the production of
alcoholic beverages or yogurt that is done through fermentation. mentation that is the result
of the use of bacteria and yeasts.
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Crops often present problems either to pests or diseases, due to this, improvements are
sought so that the plant does not decrease its quality or production, biotechnology has
helped make crops resistant to herbicides, a clear example is the transfer of resistance genes
based on bacteria and plant species, this with the aim that plants are not harmed once
herbicides are sprayed for weed plants, if they are not resistant to these chemicals.

The damage caused by pests and the different diseases that attack plants causes a large
part of crop production to be lost, for this reason studies have been carried out where the
Bacilius thuringiensis bacterium is used as a transfer gene so that the plant can be stronger
against pests, thus reducing the use of insecticides, in other cases reactivations of other
beneficial bacteria such as metarhizium, beauveria bassiana and trichoderma are also
carried out to make organic bioles , this process consists of reactivating strains of beneficial
bacteria and fungi within totally pure cultures and then transferring them to a substrate so
that they can reproduce and proceed to occupy them in the form of insecticides.

Biotechnology has become a very helpful science for society, because it has provided
new knowledge and discoveries, it has been possible to solve problems and help the
environment, as a last example it has been possible to observe that even micropropagations
can be generated through plant tissues, artificially without the danger of being
contaminated by any disease, and as a final result an improvement in the species is
obtained.

In conclusion, biotechnology is a science that helps and will continue to help find
solutions and discoveries both focused on agronomy and other fields.

References Bibliographical:

The world States of Food and Agriculture. (2004). Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations(FAO, pp. 5–7).

Guillermina García. (2021). Biotechnology in agriculture, an ally to face future

challenges.

InfoAgro. (2021). Applications of the Biotecnology in the Agriculture.