{"id":34102,"date":"2018-10-30T15:51:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T10:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34102"},"modified":"2018-10-30T15:51:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T10:21:15","slug":"icrisat-researchers-help-raise-groundnut-cro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/icrisat-researchers-help-raise-groundnut-cro\/","title":{"rendered":"Icrisat Researchers Help Raise Groundnut Cro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-life\/icrisat-researchers-help-raise-groundnuts-free-of-toxin\/article20085726.ece\"><b>Icrisat Researchers Help Raise Groundnut Cro<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad have developed dual strategies to keep groundnuts almost free of contamination by aflatoxin \u2014 a toxin produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The dual strategies <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One strategy prevents groundnuts from being infected by the fungus and thus preventing the toxins from being produced.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other strategy prevents the fungus from producing the toxin even if groundnuts somehow get infected with the fungus.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As both strategies showed promising results, the aim of the research is to combine the two traits into a single variety to offer double protection so that groundnuts do not accumulate any aflatoxin or the amount of toxin is well within permissible limits at or after harvest.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What was the research?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Genetic engineering approaches were used for inserting two alfalfa genes into groundnut plants to enhance immunity against fungal infection and growth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers selected two specific genes from alfalfa and inserted them into groundnut plants to enhance the immunity against fungal infection and growth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Groundnuts showed very little fungal infection and negligible aflatoxin contamination.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To further prevent toxin production even when groundnuts get infected with the fungus, the researchers designed two small RNA molecules that silence the fungal genes which produce aflatoxin.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once the fungus and plant come in contact with each other, the small RNA molecules from the plant enter the fungus and prevent it from producing aflatoxin.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Alfalfa?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alfalfa is a flowering plant of the pea family. Preventing aflatoxin production even in case of any infection was achieved through a plant-induced gene silencing technique.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Result of combining two traits<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a proof-of-concept study. The researchers used conventional plant breeding approaches to develop a variety that has both the traits in place. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers plan to start field trials early next year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The breeding of the two traits will take around one-two years into a single variety and about three years to conduct biosafety trials followed by the development of regionally adapted groundnut varieties.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once the approval is granted by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), farmers will have a groundnut variety that is near-immune to aflatoxin contamination in five to seven years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several regional centers and research stations.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organizations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller foundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and UNDP.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Since its inception, host country India has granted a special status to ICRISAT as an UN organization operating in the Indian territory making it eligible for special immunities and tax privileges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ICRISAT is managed by a full-time Director General functioning under the overall guidance of an international Governing Board.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Icrisat Researchers Help Raise Groundnut Cro Context Researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad have developed dual strategies to keep groundnuts almost free of contamination by aflatoxin \u2014 a toxin produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. The dual strategies One strategy prevents groundnuts from being&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/icrisat-researchers-help-raise-groundnut-cro\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Icrisat Researchers Help Raise Groundnut Cro<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}