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Genetic vulnerability
[edit]In plant breeding, a population of plants is considered genetically vulnerable if there is little genetic diversity within the population, and this lack of diversity makes the population as a whole particularly vulnerable to disease, pests, or other factors. The problem of genetic vulnerability often arises with modern crop varieties, which are uniform by design.[1][2]
An example of the consequences of genetic vulnerability occured in 1970 when corn blight struck the US corn belt, destroying 15% of the harvest. A particular plant cell characteristic known as Texas male sterile cytoplasm conferred vulnerability to the blight - a subsequent study by the National Academy of Sciences found that 90% of American maize plants carried this trait.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Virchow, Detlef. Conservation of genetic resources: Costs and implications for a sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture Springer, 1999. p22
- ^ Eric Elsner. "Genetic Resources and Genetic Diversity". Retrieved 29 October 2014.
- ^ Kloppenburg, Jack Ralph Jr. "First the Seed: The political economy of plant biotechnology, 2nd edition" University of Wisconsin Press 2004. 163