Plant Biotech Blog

Norman E. Borlaug, the still vigorous 91-year old Iowa plant breeder, who was recently awarded the U.S. National Science Medal, is honoured by the Government of India, with Padma Vibhushan, the second highest national award, announced on the eve of the Indian Republic Day (January 26, 2006).

In 1970 Dr Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the work of a lifetime, popularly called the ‘Green Revolution’, which saved one billion people from starvation in the 1960s. Thirty-five years later, Dr Borlaug is still working tirelessly on the campus of Texas A&M University to reduce hunger in the world.

The Economist (December 25, 2005) traces the place of wheat in the fascinating story of Green Revolution in the article Ears of Plenty.

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Domestication is the art, science and technology of taming wild species of plants and animals to suit human needs, and to rear them wherever desired. Domestication is at the root of classical agriculture and animal husbandry and was achieved through a long painstaking process. All products of agriculture and animal husbandry we have today are the result of genetic modification of domesticated species, addressing both quality and quantity.

The key difference between the genetic modification of wild plants and animals on one hand and of cultivated plants and animals on the other is that, wild plants evolve under the influence of Natural Selection and the domesticated varieties develop under the influence of human or artificial selection. Since many wild habitats have been interfered by man, today there is an extraneous influence on many wild species as well.

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