4th BIO-NANO
AGRI SUMMIT 2015
Technologies to Transform Agriculture in India
September 03, 2015; India Habitat Center, New Delhi
Declining productivity, diminishing food grain production, growing
population and food security are the pressing concerns of Indian
Agriculture
In 2050 Indian population will rise to 1.7 billion while Calorie demand to increase by 60%
90%
1951
2001
Rapid Urbanization, Rise of industrial belts, Soil Erosion, Climate change
2050
Declining Per capita Availability of land
Abiotic stresses
Effective plant
nutrients
Menace of pest
and diseases
Lack of
improved seeds
Depleting
natural resources
– land, water
bodies etc.
There is need for sustainable technological interventions to address concerns
Environmental
concerns
Adopting Agro biotechnology in Indian agriculture
Agricultural Biotechnology is key contributor
to enhanced food production globally
Biotechnological techniques and tools have been used to augment food production, boost
productivity through development of technologically improved biotech crops and
biological inputs
Over the 3.5 decades crop genetic engineering has addressed significant crop
improvement needs globally
Crop Protection
Drivers for growth
• Government support and initiative
• Public Private Partnership
Quality/Nutrition
Enhancement
Target
Areas
• Industry Diversification
• Skilled human resource pool
• Policy Momentum
Abiotic Stress
Management
Crop Nutrition
Global Biotechnological Interventions in improving
Seed traits
First Generation
Traits
Insect /Pest
Resistance
Herbicide
Tolerance
Virus Resistance
Insect Resistance
+Herbicide
tolerance
Disease
Tolerance/Resistan
ce
Cytoplasmic Male
Sterility
Second Generation
Traits
Yield
Enhancement
Nutritional quality
enhancement
Nitrogen Use
Efficiency (NUE)
Water Use
Efficiency (WUE),
Climate resilient
genotypes
Drought and
Salinity tolerance,
Heat and Cold
tolerance
Modern Genetic Technologies as New Tools for Crop
Improvement
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) enabled
Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) and
Genomic selection (GS)
Genetic engineering (RNAi)
Genome editing (Site specific
mutagenesis with nucleases)
New Plant Breeding Techniques
(Cisgenesis/Intragenesis, Reverse breeding etc)
CHALLENGES WITH THESE
NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN
INDIAN CONTEXT
• Challenge of investments in
new
platforms
and
technologies and the disincentive to deploy needed
significant investments
• Challenges in regulation of
crops bred by new Plant
Breeding techniques (as new
technologies vary widely in
terms of the technologies
deployed and their impact on
heritable changes in the plant
genome)
Impact of Genome Sequencing: Research areas enabled by
tomato reference genome and the primary outcomes
Research areas
Outcomes
Assembly guidance and as
Genome and transcriptome assembly
benchmarks for other genomes Gene prediction
Gene annotation
Gene location, structure, and function
RNaseq annotation
Epigenetics and expression
Phenotype to genotype
Gene families
Comparative genomics
Genomic methylation miRNA and
transcript identification,
Tissue specific expression, Gene and
networks prediction, Protein
expression
Trait-specific marker development
Gene mapping and expression
QTL analysis SNP location, linking
with gene function
Gene family prediction
Genome distribution
Phylogenetic analysis
Database framework
Genome polymorphism
Candidate gene prediction
Resequencing
Gene and sequence conservation
Comparative mapping
Orthologs mapping
Ref: Menda et al; 2013. Plant Biotechnology, 30: 243-256
Specific examples
Tomato 150 genomes Project,
SOL-100 project
sulfite reductase (SiR) gene; location of
alcohol dehydrogenase involved in fruit
ripening
SUN, OFP, GABBY transcription factor
expression analysis; prediction of regulatory
elements for genes involved in tocopherol
synthesis.
Markers for Terminating Flower (TMF), a
gene involved in flowering,
Physical locations of SNPs on the SolCAP
tomato array
Identification of Receptor-like Kinases
(RLKs); Phylogenies for Ethylene Response
Factor (ERF) and ERECTA genes, involved in
plant architecture
Mapping S.pimpinellifolium reads to ‘Heinz
1706’ to calculate SNPs
Indian Biotechnological Interventions in Seeds
• Biotech seed industry in India began
with the introduction of single gene
product with the introduction of Bt
cotton in 2002.
• Stacked gene products (Bollgaurd II)
were introduced in 2006 to ensure
further effectiveness and avoid
development of resistance by target
pests.
• Over 15 years, Public research & Indian
industry have invested heavily on
development of traits addressing biotic
and abiotic stresses as well as nutritional
quality improvement and yield
enhancement
First Generation
Traits
Second Generation
Traits
Insect /Pest
Resistance
Herbicide
Tolerance
Virus Resistance
Insect Resistance
+Herbicide
tolerance
Disease
Tolerance/Resistan
ce
Cytoplasmic Male
Sterility
Yield
Enhancement
Nutritional quality
enhancement
Nitrogen Use
Efficiency (NUE)
Water Use
Efficiency (WUE),
Climate resilient
genotypes
Drought and
Salinity tolerance,
However, along with technological development, time to market is
CRITICAL..!!
Heat and Cold
tolerance
Late Blight Resistant Potato: The lost opportunity!
India
Transformation
initiated
Event Developed
At standstill
Bangladesh
Transformation
initiated
Event Developed
Will be deregulated
soon
Indonesia
Transformation
initiated
Event Developed
Safety package
approved
Transformation
initiated
USA
2005
2009
Event Developed
2012
Product
Deregulated
2015
Simplot (USA) developed GM potatoes by proprietary Innate™ technology using DNA
from related species of potato
Aug 28, 2015: APHIS USDA determines the non- regulated status for late blight
resistance, low-acrylamide potential, reduced black spot bruising, and lowered
reducing sugars for Simplot Innate™ potato
Along with technological development, time to market is CRITICAL..!!
Modern Technologies for Biological Inputs
NEW TECHNIQUES
Signal molecules
New/Multiple mode
of action
Combinational
product
• Harpin protein signals, Promoter
technology, Rhizobia + plant
signal molecules, Natural
signaling compound
• Induced Systemic Resistance,
Induced Gene Expression
Triggers Technology (iGET)
• Combinational strains, Biostacked
products, Bioactive compounds,
Combination of biological and
chemical products
NEW APPLICATIONS
Seed Treatment: Catalytic Seed
treatment
Seed Coating: Chitosan based
coating: Yield Enhancing Agent
Slow release technology
Novel delivery mechanism
Foliar spray
Improving shelf life
• Encapsulation Technologies,
Storage stable formulation
Way forward for agricultural biotechnology
Public private
partnership (PPP)
Capacity building
Infrastructure
improvement and
quality compliance
Effective
communication
Promoting pooling of
resources for result oriented
research through effective PPP
On various aspects of
biological input validation
and deregulation
Existing units should be
accredited
All stakeholders on modern
biotechnology can be an
effective tool for increasing
agricultural productivity, and
thereby economic growth
Promoting cross-fertilization
of knowledge and capabilities
can drive new innovative
business models and attract
investment
Building capacity of
national level safety
assessment of labs
Testing laboratories need to
be developed as per GLP
standards and accedition
secured
Help to make informed
decisions
Communication of the fundamental societal need for adapted
genotypes, developed by plant breeding, but based on the
power of a genomics and a systems biology approach
Educate the end users
through public and private
sector initiatives
Successful innovation needs right policies, infrastructure and market structure..!!
AGRO Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology applications in agriculture
NANOTECHNOLOGY:
Nanotechnology encompasses the production, characterization and application of
materials with dimensions measured at nanometer scale (10-9), typically less than 100
nm.
DRIVERS FOR NANOTECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE
•Enhanced properties exhibited by nano sized particles and materials enable widespread
potential applications
•Increased focus on agricultural input use efficiency
•Focus on reducing impact to the environment and human health
•Improvements in manufacturing processes - e.g. avoiding volatile organic solvents
Potential applications of nanotechnology in agriculture
Agricultural input efficiency
• Nanofertilizers for efficient use and slow release of nutrients. Ex. Nano -5 (Uno Fortune Inc)
& NanoGro (Agro Nanotechnology Corporation) as plant growth regulators
• Nanopesticides - pesticides encapsulated in nanoparticles for controlled release, nanoemulsions for greater efficacy Ex. Allosperse® delivery system by Vive Crop Protection,
Nano Revolution 2.0 - an Adjuvant for herbicides from Max Systems LLC
Efficient utilization of natural resources
• Nanomaterials for soil and water conservation. Ex. Geohumus® - a soil enhancer with
water storage capacity; NanoClay from Desert Control Inc.
• Nanosensors for precision agriculture
Improve quality of agriculture produce
• Nanosensors for pathogen and contaminant detection
• Nano-barcodes for identity preservation and tracking
Agricultural waste management
• Production of nano materials from agricultural waste. Ex: CIRCOT (India) has developed
technology for production of nano cellulose from agricultural residues.
Challenges in commercialization and market adoption of
nanotechnology based products
• Regulatory guidelines are still evolving, no standardized protocols for toxicity
testing and evaluating environmental impact of nanomaterials
• Long gestation periods, cost of equipment etc pose challenge for sustained
funding for nanotechnology research and commercialization efforts
• Scale of operations in agriculture pose a different set of challenges when
compared to nanotechnology applications in other industries
• Challenges in technology transfer to industry - lack of adequate infrastructure
capabilities for prototyping, scale up, characterization of nanomaterials, toxicity
and safety assessment
• Corporate and venture capitalists investments in nanotechnology in agriculture is
still very nascent.
• Public acceptance risks/ safety concerns on the use of nanotechnology and nanoproducts
Way forward and recommendations
Regulations: Development of Indian regulations and standards for nanomaterials or
nano-enabled products will help a long way in shaping the nanotechnology industry in
India and attracting investments into this industry
Building scientific capabilities: through creation of interdisciplinary research units for
basic and applied research and investments in human resource development;
International collaborations/ MoUs with global nanotechnology research institutes
Partnerships: Schemes for public private partnerships having consortia of companies
and public institutions; few such consortia already exist like Genesis (France),
InnoCNT (Germany) and NanoNextNL (the Netherlands). In US, NSF designated a
consortium as the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN)
comprising of 13 leading public universities
Infrastructure: Industry cluster models/ nanotech parks with facilities for
characterization of nanomaterials, toxicity testing, scale up and manufacturing should
be developed.
Facilitating Technology Transfer: Strengthening of the technology transfer
framework for nano -enabled products/ technologies and enhancing the IP protection
will attract both industry and investors.
Proposed Regulatory Framework in India
Source: CKMNT, 2013. Report on Regulatory Framework for Nanotechnology: A global perspective
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