Abstract:
Potato late blight (PLB) has been a major problem from the time of Irish Potato Famine caused by fungus Phytophthora infestans. Phytophthora infestansis classified as oomycetes, referred as water molds. PLB is majorly characterized by small, light to dark green, circular or irregular shaped water-soaked spots, watery roots. PLB infecting Solanum tuberosum which is a major food source in countries like China and South Africa (Kenya) results in $ 10 billion loss in case of both crop yield and management costs. For years, many researchers and agriculturist have been majorly focusing on preventing and treating PLB to deal with the global food demand. Initially many conventional techniques were developed and proved beneficial in controlling PLB but with the time the adverse side-effects were also identified and to manage these short-comings new technique named as bioengineering was developed. In this review article, there is a comparison between conventional and bioengineering techniques. As for conventional methods fungicides were used mostly and for modern techniques bioengineering has been used. The comparison showed that the use of copper fungicides for treating PLB has copper sulfate as a major constituent resulting in reduction of seed germination, toxicity in S. tuberosum and economy misbalance as for treating PLB 15 sprays per day are required and most importantly the farmers are subjected to health issues while on the other hand bioengineering is more safe and fruitful as there is only the gene of interest that is resistant against P. infestansis injected in the DNA of S. tuberosum which was identified using Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) and isolated from wild potato relatives (S. venturii). The recombinant DNA technology used for genetically modifying potatoes only modify the gene and has no adverse effects on other characteristics of plants and even on the consumers.
Page(s):
58-58
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Abstract Book on Second International Conference on Recent Approaches in Plant Sciences (RAPS-23) 4-5 May 2023 , Volume: 0, Issue: 0, Year: 2023