Explain in detail how biotechnology can be useful in agriculture.

Explanation

i. Agricultural yield and crop variety can be improved by implementing biotechnological techniques for agriculture.
ii. Hybrid seeds are developed, in· which two different crops are recombined.
iii. Genetically modified crops having desired characters are developed by incorporating a foreign gene into the genome of crops by biotechnological techniques.
iv. Genetic modification enables the development of high yielding varieties with resistance to diseases, weeds, herbicides, cold, drought and soils with high alkalinity. e.g. Bt cotton, golden rice, etc
v. Bacteria like Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Nostoc, Anabaena and plants like Azolla can be used as biofertilizers to improve the abilities of nitrogen fixation and phosphate solbilization by plants.