1.3 Conventional
According to Van der Walt (2000) and Kitch et al. (2002) agriculture has gone
through three great periods. The first comprises the traditional technology, which
began about 10,000 BC ago, in which civilizations used the natural biological
diversity and domesticated plants and animals, began selecting plant material for
propagation and animals for breeding. The second period comprises the conventional technology, which began in the late nineteenth century, when Gregor Mendel
in 1865 identifies the principles of heredity, laying the groundwork for classical
breeding methods. Thereafter, were obtained commercial hybrid crops (1930).
Mutagenesis, tissue culture, and plant regeneration were applied in the mid-twentieth century. Finally, the third period focuses from the 1970s to date, in which gene
transfer was initiated by recombinant DNA techniques. It uses the tissue culture for
large-scale propagation of plants and embryo transfer in animal production. Vaccines and hormones are genetically engineered and cloned animals. And to begin
the twenty-first century appears bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics tools of great contribution in agricultural biotechnology.
1.3.1 Green Revolution
Green Revolution, the term used for rapid increases in wheat and rice yields in
developing countries brought about by improved varieties combined with the
expanded use of fertilizers and other chemical inputs, has had a dramatic impact on
incomes and food supplies in many developing countries (Pinstrup-Andersen and
Hazell 1985). The Green Revolution was a major achievement for many developing countries and gave them an unprecedented level of national food security. It
represented the successful adaptation and transfer of the same scientific revolution
in agriculture that the industrial countries had already appropriated for themselves
(Hazell 2002).
Briefly, the history of the Green Revolution had its beginning in the early
twentieth century when the Japanese crossed a semi-dwarf wheat variety with
American high-yielding varieties to produce Norin 10. Although it was of little
importance in Japan, Norin 10 was used in breeding programs in the USA after
1945 to produce a number of high-yielding semi-dwarf cultivars. The cross Norin
10-Brevor was sent to Norman Borlaug at the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT) in Mexico and was bred with varieties adapted
to grow in tropical and subtropical climates. The progeny were then distributed to
Latin America and South and Southeast Asia, where they were rapidly adopted,
allowing amazing increases in wheat yields in these countries. Although the
American Cultivars were winter wheat that required exposure to low temperatures
to flower, the new CIMMYT lines were spring wheat that could be grown in warm
climates in any season, allowing two crops a year. Norin 10-Brevor 14 was also the
4
L. Garcia-Mier et al.
According to Van der Walt (2000) and Kitch et al. (2002) agriculture has gone
through three great periods. The first comprises the traditional technology, which
began about 10,000 BC ago, in which civilizations used the natural biological
diversity and domesticated plants and animals, began selecting plant material for
propagation and animals for breeding. The second period comprises the conventional technology, which began in the late nineteenth century, when Gregor Mendel
in 1865 identifies the principles of heredity, laying the groundwork for classical
breeding methods. Thereafter, were obtained commercial hybrid crops (1930).
Mutagenesis, tissue culture, and plant regeneration were applied in the mid-twentieth century. Finally, the third period focuses from the 1970s to date, in which gene
transfer was initiated by recombinant DNA techniques. It uses the tissue culture for
large-scale propagation of plants and embryo transfer in animal production. Vaccines and hormones are genetically engineered and cloned animals. And to begin
the twenty-first century appears bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics tools of great contribution in agricultural biotechnology.
1.3.1 Green Revolution
Green Revolution, the term used for rapid increases in wheat and rice yields in
developing countries brought about by improved varieties combined with the
expanded use of fertilizers and other chemical inputs, has had a dramatic impact on
incomes and food supplies in many developing countries (Pinstrup-Andersen and
Hazell 1985). The Green Revolution was a major achievement for many developing countries and gave them an unprecedented level of national food security. It
represented the successful adaptation and transfer of the same scientific revolution
in agriculture that the industrial countries had already appropriated for themselves
(Hazell 2002).
Briefly, the history of the Green Revolution had its beginning in the early
twentieth century when the Japanese crossed a semi-dwarf wheat variety with
American high-yielding varieties to produce Norin 10. Although it was of little
importance in Japan, Norin 10 was used in breeding programs in the USA after
1945 to produce a number of high-yielding semi-dwarf cultivars. The cross Norin
10-Brevor was sent to Norman Borlaug at the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT) in Mexico and was bred with varieties adapted
to grow in tropical and subtropical climates. The progeny were then distributed to
Latin America and South and Southeast Asia, where they were rapidly adopted,
allowing amazing increases in wheat yields in these countries. Although the
American Cultivars were winter wheat that required exposure to low temperatures
to flower, the new CIMMYT lines were spring wheat that could be grown in warm
climates in any season, allowing two crops a year. Norin 10-Brevor 14 was also the
4
L. Garcia-Mier et al.