CHAPTER 4 - GENETIC RESOURCES IN AGRICULTURE

Germplasm 

• Living genetic resources such as seeds or tissue that is maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, preservation, and other research uses. 
• The form of seed collections stored in seed banks, trees growing in nurseries, animal breeding lines maintained in animal breeding programs or gene banks. 

Biological Diversity

• Often used to refer to the total number of different species on Earth 
• Living organism from all sources including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes.
• There are 3 aspects of biodiversity :

Genetic Diversity - genes within a species

Species Diversity - species in an ecosystem

Ecosystem (Habitat) Diversity - a higher level of organisation on earth habitat, topography, elevation, natural vs agroecosystem.

Genetic resources the self maintaining diversity of organism developed over evolutionary time. Genetic resources are measurable at species, molecular and sub molecular levels.

Type of genetic resources :

• Wild relatives
• Weedy relatives
• Primitive cultivars or land races
• Modern cultivars 
• Advanced breeding lines
• Genes from other species 

CHAPTER 3 : Agro - Ecological System

AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM

Defines itself as a network of partners aiming to gather, format and disseminate useful and operational information in order to meet the needs for information of practitioners in natural resources management and agricultural development.

      CLIMATE

      Tropics

• Can be further sub-divided into super humid, humid and dry zones.
• Super humid zones are very high average daily ambient temperature and heavy rainfall.
• Many agricultural activities are possible with readily.
• Example:rubber, oil palm, cocoa, coconuts and sugar cane.

       Temperate

•  Neither too warm nor too cold and neither too wet nor too dry.
•   Four season can be identified a warm summer, cool winter, mild spring and autumn.
• Crops are usually planted in spring and harvested in summer like maize, and wheat.
• Advancement of science and technology in agriculture – Vegetable and flowers are grown continuously even during the cold winter season under controlled environment such as under shelter (glass-house).
• Livestock farming, the temperate climate appears the most suitable for nearly all farm animals.

      Tundra

•   Very low temperature and short growing season.
•  Three  types of tundra are Arctic,  Antartic and Alpine.
•  Dominant vegetation like grasses, mosses and lichens.
• Farming of crops and livestock are possible but in restricted enclosures adequate water supply.

      Deserts

• Very little precipitation of less than 250 mm annually.
• Usually have extreme diurnal temperature range, very high in the day, and extremely low at night.
•  Agriculture is made possible with sufficient irrigation for the supply of water.

        WATER

• Agricultural activity needs for seed germination, root development and subsequent growth.
• Started along the river banks like the Nile Valley in Egypt and Tigris – Euphrates in Mesopotamia.
• Southern peninsular Malaysia has an average annual rainfall in excess of 3000mm, most suitable for oil palm cultivation.
• Kedah-Perlis region received <2000mm, more suitable for rubber and mangoes.
• Rain-fed or irrigation –cultivation of paddy.
• Good water irrigation system – Krian (Perak), Tanjung Karang and Sekinchan (Selangor), and area belonging to MADA(Kedah) and KADA(Kelantan).

        SOIL

        Nutrient Cycle

• Water move from the root to throughout the plant based on process of evaporation.

      HUMAN RESOURCE

      Agriculture needs many:

• Scientists - who conduct research from production level to processing and marketing.
• Teaching institutions of agriculture - produce graduates in numerous agricultural fields.
•  Supporting specialists - extension specialist to pass the knowledge to the operators in the fields, marketing specialists and the economists.
• Skilled operators - land preparation, managing machine and tools, planting and harvesting.

      ENVIRONMENT

      Global Agro-Ecological Zones

• Tundra (simple vegetation of mosses and grasses)

• Grasslands (mild climate, African Savannah, Russian Steppes)

• Deserts (barren land, xerophytes)

• Tropics (rainforest, rain and sunshine all year round)

      Impact of Climatic Changes

• Global Warming - releases greenhouse gases

• Desertification - expansion of desert areas

      Impact of Pollution

                i.            Acid Rain

• Has adverse impact on forest, fresh water and soil, killing off life forms, and effecting crops and animal production.

               ii.            Heavy Metals

• Continuous use of fertilizer that contain heavy metals such as cadmium contained in phosphate rocks will pollute the soil and render the crops toxic.

              iii.            Pesticides

• Excessive use of chemical pesticides which exceed permissible limit cause undesirable health effects and reduces biodiversity.

               iv.            Nitrates

• This cause an excessive enrichment of the water (eutrophication) leading to rapid algal growth which in turn creates an oxygen deficit aquatic ecosystem and killing off aquatic life.

CHAPTER 2 - THE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE

PREHISTORIC ERA

 Stone age 

  Bronze age

Iron age

STONE AGE

Hunter-Nomadic

• Pre-historic era of Palaeolithic
• Human evolution

    Human evolution during paleolithic                                                     

                                                 

                                                                Tools

                                                                                                      

BRONZE AGE

• Start metal working from naturally occurring ore than alloying those metal to cast bronze
• Better tools for agriculture  

                                                                        Agriculture tools

           

                Bronze                                             Tin

IRON AGE

• Iron cheaper, commonly found
• Easy to sharpen

                                                                Steel tools

THE MIDDLE AGE

4 key area

•  Irrigation system with machines, dams and reservoirs
•  Adopted scientific approach to farming with improved farming techniques
•   Incentive driven approach land ownership, workers right, rewards of harvest (wages)
•  Introduction of new crops and plant varieties (new cultivation techniques derived from function)

  Plant Grafting

MODERN AGRICULTURE VS TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE

 

                                                             Modern Agriculture

Traditional Agriculture

Traditional agriculture	Modern agriculture
No machinery (human labour and animals)	Extensive use of machinery and electronics
Knowledge and skills are handed orally from one generation to the next	Employment of highly knowledgeable and skilled workers

GREEN REVOLUTION

   New varieties of plants produced through series of R&D and technology transfer initiatives. 

 High yielding and disease resistant

• New crop cultivars
• Genetic engineering
• Usage of chemicals and bioagents
• Use of precision agriculture
•  Innovations in mechanization and automation

GENETIC ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

Advanced processing methods and genetically modified organisms (GMO) to improve yields and quality

 
GM salmon which grows twice as fast as ordinary fish.

Advantages GMO	Disadvantaged GMO
Early maturity of crop	Many unknown effects
Round the year planting	Unpredictable health effects

                                                                               

BLUE REVOLUTION

Management of water resources for drinking and food security

Blue Revolution Aquaculture