Chapter 9: Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

A culture medium is defined as an artificially prepared growth medium. This medium has various nutrients, chemicals, growth regulators, food supplements that are needed for the proper growth and nourishment of the growing cell. The natural occurring medium is the soil where all the minerals, nutrients, decomposers, water and all the things required for the growth of organisms are present.

Dedifferentiation of plant cells is very important in plant tissue culture, as any kind of tissue can be produced from differentiated cells. The plant cells can reverse the process of differentiation.

Tissue culture is the method through which we can produce thousands of plants of the same type by a single cell. The growth takes place under sterile conditions in a special nutrient medium which contains a carbon source, inorganic salts, amino acids, vitamins and other growth regulators.

A breed is a group of animals having a similar appearance, behaviour and other characteristics. An example is a breed of dog Afghan shepherd, Akbash etc. A species is a group of plants and animals that live together and are capable of reproduction to produce offspring. An example is the different species of the genus Homo.

Tissue culture is the method through which we can produce thousands of plants of the same type by a single cell. The plants that are produced by tissue culture are used to produce thousand and more exact copies of an economically important plant.

The new plant varieties are grown in research fields to check the quality and quantity of the product. To check whether the variety is affected by disease or not, the testing is done and also to ensure the high and nutritious yield of the plant.

Stress is any negative impact on the plant that is caused due to any factor whether biotic or abiotic. Stress affects the growth and development of the plant. The two types of stress encountered by plants are water stress and salt stress.

Natural selection is the rule of nature and it occurs naturally. The organism that is best suited to the environment and changes and adapts with time is naturally selected by nature.

Artificial selection- It is an artificial way of selecting organisms and characters by the humans themselves

Pureline is a breed or strain of plants and animals that have homozygous alleles and have similar characteristics for various generations. It is created in animal husbandry by repeating inbreeding male and female animals of the same breed for 4-5 generations.

The cell wall is the most and only physical barrier of a cell in the protoplast. This physical barrier is overcome by its breakdown. The breakdown of the cell wall is done by digesting the cell wall.