e Courier

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culture

A time to live...

Jumping for joy

Sierra Leone is a country on the west coast of Africa with a population of

some 3,600,000. It takes its name ("Lion mountain") from that given bythe Portuguese explorer Pedro da Sintra around 1460 to the peninsulawhich is the site of Freetown, the country's capital. In 1787 a settlementfor freed slaves was established on land where Freetown now stands. In

1961 Sierra Leone achieved independence, and ten years later became a

republic. Some 65 per cent of the work force is occupied in agriculture,

with rice as the main food crop. Sierra Leone is the world's sixth largestproducer of diamonds. Above, body bent back and almost obscuring theball, a boy throws himself into a game of soccer in a Freetown street.

52 Sierra Leone

Editorial

In the 1960s and 1970s, the development of high-yield cereal varietiescombined with the use of pesticides , irrigation and fertilizer brought aGreen Revolution to some but not all parts of the Third World. Thisissue of the Unesco Courier, which is largely devoted to the application of

new scientific techniques to agriculture, enquires into the extent to whichthe Green Revolution is likely to be followed by a "BiotechnologicalRevolution" which may help developing countries to solve some of their

food production problems.Although the term biotechnology to denote the use of the biochemical

and genetic capacities of living organisms for practical purposes is fairlynew, man has been engaged in "biotechnological" activities since veryearly times. Fermentation and the improvement of useful plant andanimal varieties by cross-breeding are but two examples. The newbiotechnology, however, differs from these time-honoured practices inthat it uses genetic engineering and techniques of fusing cells of differentorganisms to surmount previously impassable barriers between species.Genetic engineering (or gene-splicing) , which involves the direct transferof genes "those tiny command posts of heredity that tell living cellswhether they will become bacteria, toads or men" into the cells ofdifferent species has been described as the "most powerful and awesomeskill acquired by man since the splitting of the atom . "

In the first part of this issue we look closely at some of these newbiotechnologies: how they work; how they are currently being used indifferent parts of the world and to what effect; the latest trends in thisfield where changes occur quickly and possibilities are vast. While ourcontributors focus mainly on the direct applications of biotechnologies toagriculture in the developing world, they also note present and potentialuses in energy production, human and animal medicine and themanagement of certain environmental problems.

The second part of the issue asks broader questions. How can the newbiotechnologies be best harnessed to development in different social ,economic and cultural contexts? Will they be a panacea or, contrariwise,are they likely to aggravate existing disparities between developingcountries and those of the technologically advanced world? The new

biotechnologies and especially those applied to plants, put greatpossibilities into the hands of those who control them. How should thispower best be exercised? How should access to the fruits of researchbased on plant genetic resources originating in the developing world beequitably organized?

Unesco, which is engaged in worldwide efforts to strengthen ruraldevelopment through training in the biological and agrobiologicalsciences, in applied microbiology and in biotechnology (see article page27) , is closely interested in the above issues as part of its basiccommitment to promote the use of science and technology for the benefitof all humanity. The complex nature of the problems and some possibleapproaches and solutions are traced by Dr. Albert Sasson in the articlewhich forms the conclusion of this issue.

Editor-in-chief: Edouard Glissant

March 198740th year

4

The new biotechnologiesPromise and performanceby Jacques C. Senez

The Green Revolution

13

The gene revolutionby Bernard Dixon

17

Tomatomation

Japan's high-tech food factoriesby Koichibara Hiroshi

20

Hybrids for the year 2000by Raissa G. Butenko and Zlata B. Shamina

22

Grains of hopeby Edward C. Wolf

24

The rediscovery of traditionalagriculture

26

Rusitec the cow

Food for rumination

27

Rhizobium, the farmer's Mr. FixitA Unesco programme to promotebiotechnology for developmentby Edgar J. DaSilva, J. Freiré, A. Hillaliand S.O. Keya

29

A challenge for the developing worldby Albert Sasson

34

Glossary

2

A time to live...

SIERRA LEONE: Jumping for joy

Cover: Photo © Periscoop, Paris

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N"3-1987-CPD-87-l-443 A

by Jacques C. Senez

The new

biotechnologiesPromise and performance

SINCE the beginnings of civilization,man has been a biotechnologist, tak¬ing advantage of the activities of

micro-organisms of whose very existence hewas unaware, to produce foodstuffs and fer¬mented drinks. Over the centuries, the

practices by which he did this graduallydeveloped, in a makeshift, empirical fash¬ion, to attain a high degree of perfection.Yet biotechnology proper, in the sense ofthe scientific use of biological principles forpractical purposes, only emerged at the endof the last century with the birth of micro¬biology and its early application to indus¬trial fermentation processes.

Since the Second World War, biology hasmade prodigious progress. In just a fewyears the basic mechanisms of life andheredity at the molecular level have beenunveiled, thus opening up limitless hori¬zons. Some of these prospects, in particularthat of the development of genetic engi¬neering (see article page 13) with its con¬notations of man the creator, captured theimagination and fired the enthusiasm of thegeneral public.

The transfer of genetic material betweenorganisms as widely different as bacteria,plants, animals and man gave rise to great

hopes, some of which, such as the produc¬tion of human insulin by bacteria recom-bined in vitro, have already become reality.Today, these methods are on the verge offinding new applications of considerableeconomic and social importance in the fieldof agriculture. It would be wrong, however,to think that the prospects for biotechnol¬ogy are limited to the field of genetic engi¬neering. Recent advances in fundamentalknowledge and techniques in the physiol¬ogy of cells, biochemistry, enzyme catalysisand bioengineering are just as promising.

It is generally thought that there is a greatfuture for biotechnology in the developingcountries, particularly in its applications toagriculture. These hopes are well founded,but it should not be forgotten that progressinvolves potential dangers against which allpossible preventive measures should betaken.

The first major achievement of agri¬cultural biotechnology was the "GreenRevolution", whose ambitious objectiveshave been largely achieved (see box page7). Thanks to the Green Revolution India,Bangladesh and several other Third Worldcountries have achieved self-sufficiency infood. This was a true success, but it broughtin its train a number of unforeseen social

consequences. The farming of high-yieldcereals requires considerable investment infertilizers, pesticides and irrigation whichmany small farmers were unable to make.As a result many of them had their fieldstaken over by the large landowners andwere forced to move to the cities and swell

the ranks of the sub-proletariat.The recent collapse in the world price of

Egyptian bakers and brewers of 3,500years ago are shown at work in this scenefrom a Theban tomb. "Biotechnological"processes such as microbial fermenta¬tions have been used for thousands of

years to produce beverages and foodssuch as beer and cheese.

Drawing taken from A History of Technology© Oxford University Press

sugar is another example of a social andeconomic backlash due to biotechnology.Due largely to the production of iso-glucosein the United States, this sugar price col¬lapse has spelled ruin to a number of tropi¬cal countries whose economies are based on

sugar-cane.

Fortunately, not all biotechnologyapplications entail problems such as these.However, there is a danger that some ofthem will further increase rather than

diminish Third World dependence on therichest and most scientifically advancedcountries (see article page 29).

Bearing this in mind, the developingcountries must concentrate their efforts on

programmes which are both of direct inter¬

est to them and which can be implementedimmediately within the limitations of theirfinancial and economic resources. Manysuch opportunities are open to them in agri¬culture in which two avenues in particularbeckon: that of primary production, wherethere are possibilities in the field of plantimprovement and nitrogen fixation, andthat of bioconversion of agricultural prod¬ucts and wastes into energy and foodresources.

New techniquesfor better plants

Plant improvement by the traditionalmethods of selection and cross-breeding isas old as agriculture itself. Thanks to recent

advances in knowledge of the genetics andphysiology of plants these methods havebeen refined and will long continue to pro¬duce very important results. During thepast thirty years, for example, the yield ofmaize has increased from 12 to 62 quintalsper hectare, while that of wheat has grownon average by one quintal per hectare peryear. Similar progress has been made withrice, the second most important of the greatcereals in worldwide use. Today, the Inter¬national Rice Research Institute (IRRI),set up in the Philippines in 1962, has a col¬lection of 60,000 varieties of rice (see theUnesco Courier, December 1984).

<

©

plant culture of colony ofmeristem or cells

cells multiplicationin sterile

conditions

regenerationof plantlets

mini- greenhouse

In addition to improving yield, the mainpurpose of selection is to obtain new vari¬eties which are resistant to parasites and tobacterial and viral diseases. In recent yearsa number of new techniques have madetheir appearance, some of which arealready in use while others are still at thelaboratory stage. One of their main aims isto reduce considerably the time needed fora new variety to be put on the market andbrought into large-scale cultivation. Usingclassic methods the lead time required toachieve this is of the order of ten years,whereas, given the capacity for adaptationof the phytopathogenic agents (the bacte¬ria, viruses, etc., that cause plant disease),the useful life of a new variety is estimatedto be a mere five years.

Another advantage of certain recentlyevolved techniques is that they make it pos¬sible to cross-breed species that are too farapart for normal sexual reproduction, thusopening the way for the creation of entirelynew plant varieties.

The first major successes were achievedby means of vegetative hybridization ofcereal seedlings. This method, which con¬sists of cross-breeding between plants bythe elimination of self-fertilization, is com¬

paratively easy in the case of allogamouscereals, such as maize, in which the male

organs are separated from the femaleorgans and can thus be manually eliminatedbefore fertilization has taken place. It ismore difficult with autogamous plants, suchas wheat, tomatoes, soya and lupin, inwhich the male and the female organs arecontained in close proximity within theflower. Today, this difficulty has been over¬come by the discovery of chemical com¬pounds which render the pollen sterile.

Many varieties of hybrid cereals andother plants are now on the market. Gener¬ally speaking, fields should be sown withfirst generation hybrid seed. Hybrid seedusually tends to degenerate and must berenewed annually. At all events, the worldmarket for hybrid seed is growing rapidlyand, according to a recent estimate, willattain a value of $20,000 million by the year2000.

Other techniques now being developedare more distant in prospect yet just aspromising. One of these is in vitro vegetativepropagation, or micro-propagation, by the

culture of the meristem or other planttissues. Meristem is the name given to a

grouping of embryonic cells situated at thetip of the plant stem (see drawing below).Cultivated in aseptic conditions on a solid,nutritive culture medium, these cells

proliferate producing a callus which can bedivided and reproduced many times.Treated with plant hormones (auxins,cytokins and gibberelins), the calluses diffe¬rentiate into plantlets having all the prop¬erties of the original plant.

By this means, in a period of eight

The apical meristem is a tiny mass of cellswhere growth takes place at the tip of aplant stem. It plays a particularly importantrole in plant propagation because it re¬mains healthy even when the rest of theplant is infected with a virus. In vitro cul¬ture of the meristem of a diseased speci¬men makes it possible to generate a new,healthy plant, and allows the rapid produc¬tion of virus-free planting materials. Be¬low, sectional drawing of a plant budshows the apical meristem at centre, pro¬tected by enfolding leaf shoots. Meristemculture calls for particular care in thechoice of culture conditions and nutritive

media.

leaf shoots

Drawing shows in highly simplified formone of the techniques used in modembiotechnology for experimentation undercontrolled conditions with plant cells, tis¬sues and organs and for vegetative (i.e.non-sexual) propagation of plants in ster¬ile laboratory conditions. The sterilizedplant material which is cultured in the nut¬rient medium may be a meristem (seedrawing at bottom of page), or some otherpiece of plant tissue (see photo storypages 8-9), or a protoplast, a plant cellwhose outer walls have been removed

(see page 10). From this organ, tissue, orprotoplast, a proliferating clump of dis¬organized tissue called a callus can beobtained. From this it is possible to re¬generate whole intact plants, and to pro¬duce many genetically identical copies,known as clones, in a relatively short time.A one-cubic-centimetre culture may con¬tain one million cells each carrying thepotential of becoming an entire new plant.By selecting cells with certain properties,the process of breeding new varieties ofdisease-resistant, stress-tolerant crops,trees or flowers can be greatlyaccelerated.

months, 2,000 million identical tubers,

spread over an area of 40 hectares, wereobtained from a single potato tuber derivedfrom a meristem, that is a rate of propaga¬tion 100,000 times greater than that of sex¬ual reproduction. A further advantage isthat plants obtained from meristems arefree of pathogenic contaminants, in particu¬lar of viruses, which means that it is possibleto regenerate stock threatened with extinc¬tion due to diseases that cannot be treated

in any other way.Tropical agriculture has much to gain

from micro-propagation. For example, asingle oil palm regenerated from a fragmentof leaf tissue could, within a year, supply500,000 identical, filariosis-resistant plantsproducing up to 6 tonnes of oil per hectareper year, that is six to thirty times more thanthe principal oil-producing plants (sun¬flower, soya, peanut). This same techniqueis now being applied to the propagation ofnew varieties of coconut palms.

Another technique which holds greatpromise for the future is the in vitro produc¬tion of haploid plants (plants whose cellscontain a single set of chromosomes). Tra¬ditional methods of selection are made

more time-consuming and complicatedbecause of the diploid nature of vegetativeplants, that is to say, because the cells ofwhich they consist contain a double set ofchromosomes, one coming from each pa¬rent. As a result, some so-called "recessive"

characteristics carried by a chromosomemay be masked by a dominant homologouschromosome and its presence may onlybe revealed, through the operation ofMendelian segregation, after severalgenerations.

This, of course, slows down the work of

the person undertaking the selection. Therecent emergence of a technique somewhatsimilar to micro-propagation has made itpossible to overcome this difficulty. Thistechnique enables a complete plant to be

obtained either from the male gametes, orreproductive cells (androgenesis), or fromthe female gametes (gynogenesis). Like thegametes from which they are derived, theseplants are haploid. Since they have only oneset of chromosomes, their genetic charac¬teristics, whether recessive or dominant,

are immediately evident to the person mak¬ing the selection. Haploid plants are usuallyinfertile, but by treating them with col¬chicine, which induces a doubling of thechromosomes, a fertile plant is obtainedwith two sets of identical chromosomes and

with phenotypically stable characteristics.Another technique used in gynogenesis is tofertilize the ovule with irradiated pollen.

In China, new varieties of rice obtained

by androgenesis are being cultivated on sev¬eral millions of hectares of land. Laboratory

experiments in gynogenesis are also nowbeing undertaken on barley, rice, wheat,maize, sugar-beet and other species.

High hopes are also being placed in soma¬tic hybridization, a technique which consistsof fusing two cells whose cell walls havepreviously been removed by enzymatictreatment. Using this technique scientistshave succeeded in fusing plant cells not onlywith other plant cells but also with animaland even human cells. In most cases,

however, the chromosomes of one of the

fused cells are quickly eliminated and it hasonly been possible to obtain complete,stable hybrid cells from the fusion of cellsfrom very closely related species. Further¬more, even when stable stock has been

obtained, it has proved difficult to regener¬ate a complete plant from such fused cells.The first success achieved was the regenera¬tion of the pomato, a cross between a potatoand a tomato. However, the plant is sterileand remains no more than a laboratory

curiosity.More recently scientists have succeeded

in regenerating somatic hybrid cells of sev¬eral plants of agricultural interest such asrapeseed, chicory and potato. On the otherhand, attempts to do the same with sun¬flower, cereals and legumes have so farfailed. Nevertheless, there is hope that

present difficulties will soon be overcome,at least in obtaining hybrids of varieties ofthe same species.

The great advantage of somatic hybrid¬ization is that it makes it possible to transfernot only the genetic characteristics borne bythe chromosomes of the nucleus, but also

those of the specialized parts of the cellcontained in the cytoplasm (the "liquid"portion of a cell surrounding the nucleus)such as mitochondria and chloroplasts.These latter are the key to processes and

properties of great importance such asphotosynthesis, the assimilation of carbondioxide, male sterility and resistance toherbicides, diseases and drought.

Somatic hybridization has paved the wayfor the newly emerging discipline of plantgenetic engineering which is concerned withthe implantation of specific genes", whetherof vegetal or other origin, into the geneticmake-up of a plant (see article page 13).Using these new techniques the nutritionalvalue of the haricot bean, for example, hasbeen improved by the transfer of a genefrom the Brazil nut.

In Europe, Japan and the United Statesof America, a number of large multina¬tional companies are showing keen interestin these new techniques of plant improve¬ment with a view to competing for the worldmarket. Nevertheless, this branch of bio¬

technology also offers great opportunitiesfor the developing countries. These newtechniques, which they have alreadyacquired or can rapidly master, will enablethem to adapt their agricultural productionto meet local conditions and requirements.

Nitrogen fixation

Through its World Network of Micro¬biological Resources Centres (MIRCENs),one of whose priority programmes isdevoted to the question of nitrogen fixa¬tion, Unesco is contributing actively toanother field of biotechnology that is rich inpromise (see article page 27).

The nif genes, which are coded for thefixation of nitrogen, have now been identi¬fied and their structure is on the point ofbeing fully mapped out. Furthermore, thesegenes have been transmitted to non-nitrogen-fixing organisms such as Proteusvulgaris, Agrobacterium tumefaciens andEscherichia coli. In principle there is noreason why they should not also be trans¬ferred to higher plants and importantresults in this direction can be expectedsoon. However, the creation of nitrogen-fixing cereals is a distant prospect still in therealm of science fiction.

With regard to plants other than thelegumes, attention is now concentrated onnitrogen fixation by bacteria and fungiwhich invade their roots either on the root

surface or by entering their tissue wherethey form nitrogen-fixing nodules. Thesestudies have not yet reached the molecularbiology or the genetic engineering stage,but they hold out much promise for tropicalforestry, sand dune stabilization and thefight against desertification.

Finally, mention should be made of stud¬ies being made in the Philippines and Sene¬gal on the use of the water fern Azolla pin-nata as a biological fertilizer in rice fields(seethe Unesco Courier, December 1984).In symbiotic association with the blue-greenalgaAnabaena this water fern has the abilityto fix atmospheric nitrogen. Ploughed intothe soil between harvests, this "green fertil¬izer" can increase the crop by over 50 per

rThe Green Revolution

RESEARCH into the selection of new

high-yield cereal varieties began afterthe Second World War. Wheat and

rice varieties were selected In Mexico and the

Philippines respectively, then during the1960s the new strains were used in other

parts of the world, and it was later establishedthat they had contributed to a significantincrease in agricultural yields.

In the mid-1960s, following the introductionof these high-yield varieties Into several coun¬tries of Asia and Latin America, the expres¬sion "Green Revolution" was coined to

describe the various efforts made to increase

agricultural production in the developingcountries by means of these new varieties,especially wheat and rice. The cultivation ofthese crops required the use of pesticides andIrrigation in addition to fertilization and soundagricultural practices. Cross-breeding be¬tween these varieties and hardy local breedsmade it possible to obtain cultivars that were

even better adapted and which gave a betteryield. In addition to wheat and rice, thisresearch also concerned millet and sorghum,triticale, maize and several leguminous plantspecies.

In just over a decade, more than half thesurface of corn-growing land and one-third ofthat of rlceland in developing countries hadbeen sown with high-yield cereal varieties.When the latter are irrigated, and receive ade¬quate supplies of fertilizer and weed-killer, theyield is two or three times higher than that oftraditional varieties.

The new varieties of wheat were introduced

to India in 1966 and Indian wheat productionhad doubled by 1970-1971, when it reached23.4 million tonnes. As a result of local efforts

to improve varieties and a more widespreaduse of selected seeds, output reached 33 mil¬lion tonnes in 1978-1980. From being theworld's second largest cereal importer in1966, India had become self-sufficient by the

end of the 1970s. In the Punjab, farm re¬venues doubled in 1972, six years after theintroduction of new cereal varieties.

In some regions of Asia where waterresources permitted, the shortening of thegrowing period of new rice varieties allowedtwo or three crops to be harvested per year.

The prime beneficiaries of the "GreenRevolution" were the wealthier farmers of

some developing countries. The countries ofAfrica south of the Sahara were scarcelyaffected; only Kenya and Zimbabwe in¬creased the area of land on which new vari¬

eties of maize were grown. The wheat and ricevarieties were not introduced at the same

pace as in Asia where the development ofirrigation, adequate fertilizer supplies, and themarketing system of farm produce played animportant role in the success of the "GreenRevolution."

Source: Oue//es biotechnologies pour les pays en développe¬ment? by A. Sasson, Biofutur/Unesco, Paris. 1986

cent and its effect, which lasts for two years,is equivalent to the use of 60 kilograms ofnitrogen fertilizer per hectare.

Energy from waste

Biotechnology's contribution in the field ofnew energy sources is today arousing greatinterest for two reasons: the foreseeable

exhaustion of our supplies of fossil energy(oil and coal), and the world energy crisiswhich, since 1973, has weighed heavily onthe economies of all countries, but par¬ticularly on those of the countries of theThird World.

One achievement, which has alreadybeen developed on a large scale in a numberof countries, is the production of biogasfrom cellulose and animal and human

wastes. This is based on the anaerobic

digestion of cellulose and nitrogenousorganic matter by mixed populations ofmicrobes consisting of bacteria that breakdown cellulose into organic acids and otherbacteria that convert these organic acidsinto methane.

Experience acquired in India indicatesthat the manure from ten cows would

provide a daily yield of 1.8 cubic metres ofbiogas, which is the equivalent of 1.3 litresof petrol, enough to cook the food for fourpeople or operate a hundred candlepowerlamp for fourteen hours. What is more, theresidue constitutes an excellent fertilizer of

a quality far superior to the originalmanure.

A million of these cheap and simple bio-gas digesters are in service in India andmore than seven million are in use in China.

Production of biogas on farms can beexpected to spread soon to other agri¬cultural areas in which other forms of

energy are not available. From the ecologi¬cal viewpoint, biogas has the great advan¬tage that it can replace firewood, thuscontributing to the struggle againstdeforestation and desertification.

Biogas production is also increasing inthe industrialized countries as well as in

large towns and heavily populated ruralareas in general. The main economic gainhere is that the treatment of waste water

and the handling of agro-industrial wastesand the animal waste from intensive stock-

rearing can be turned to advantage by theproduction of methane. Already severalurban water treatment plants in Europemeet all their energy requirements by theproduction of biogas.

Green gasoline

The production of liquid fuels, in particularethanol, is another major contribution ofbiotechnology in the field of new energysources. A large number of agricultural rawmaterials can be used for the production ofethanol by fermentation, including thesucrose in sugar-cane, sugar-beet andmolasses, the starch from cereals, manioc

and potatoes, and the inulin from Jerusalemartichokes.

Brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cere-

visiae) and certain anaerobic bacteria, such

as Zymomonas mobilis, convert the sugarsinto ethanol with an average yield of 47 percent, by weight. Several suitable raw mat¬erials are available in considerable quan¬tities at a low price. However, from theeconomic point of view there is one impor¬tant drawback: the ethanol has an inhibitingeffect on the micro-organisms that produceit and the maximum concentration in the

reactors cannot exceed 8 to 10 per cent. As aresult, the distillation of bio-ethanol and its

complete dehydration, which is essential toits use as a fuel, are costly operations con¬stituting about 60 per cent of the costprice.

In Brazil, ethanol fuel is produced fromsugar-cane on a large scale. At present pro¬duction is running at 8.4 million tonneswhich in energy terms is equivalent to 5.6million tonnes of super-grade petrol. Inagricultural terms the yield is 4.7 tonnes perhectare of sugar-cane per year.

At present, the cost price of bio-ethanolexceeds that of petrol by $380 per tonne. InBrazil, however, the economic motivation

for producing bio-ethanol is to improve thebalance of payments by reducing imports ofpetrol and to provide an outlet for the sugarindustry which has been badly hit by the fallin the price of sugar on the world market.

Bio-ethanol is arousing great interestelsewhere for similar reasons. In the United

States, "Biohol", an automobile fuel con¬

taining 10 per cent ethanol produced frommaize, has been on the market for several

years. In Western Europe it is planned toproduce 3.4 million tonnes of bio-ethanol

annually. The aim of this project is to makeuse of European surpluses of wheat andsugar-beet. There is also an ecologicalmotivation. Added to automobile petrol ina proportion of 5 per cent, ethanol canreplace the tetraethyl lead anti-knock addi¬tive now used in petrol, but shortly to bebanned because of its toxic effects.

Bridging the protein gap

Generally speaking, proteins, or the lack ofthem , constitute the major nutritional prob¬lem facing the developing countries. Statis¬tics published by the Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations

(FAO), show that average total proteinconsumption per head of population in thedeveloping countries is only half that of therich countries. The difference is even more

marked with regard to protein of animalorigin, average consumption of which in thedeveloping countries is 13 grams perday a mere 22 per cent of that in rich coun¬tries and this falls to 4 grams per day inthe poorest regions of Africa and Asia.

In the developing countries a great vari¬ety of agricultural products and wastes lendthemselves to the production of single-celledible protein. These include, in particular,ligno-cellulosic matter which is available in

large quantities at a low price. Accordingto the United Nations Environment

Programme (UNEP), the world crop ofcereals produces annually 1,700 million

The cloningof the oil palm

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensisj is culti¬vated as a source ofoil in the humid tropic¬al zones of Africa, the Americas andSouth-east Asia, where oil palm planta¬tions cover several million hectares.

Selection cycles to produce higher-yield¬ing varieties through sexual reproductionwere very long, and their results were onlyperceptible after 15 or 20 years. In the1970s, attempts were thus made to perfectin vitro propagation of the oil palm using

Photo © IRHO-CIRAD/ORSTOM, Paris

tissue culture, and since 1981 oil palmplantlets have been produced on a semi-industrial scale at the La Mé research sta¬

tion in the Ivory Coast (1) using a cloningtechnique developed by British andFrench researchers in the 1970s. Photos

show some of the stages in the cloningprocess. Fragments of very young leavesare carefully removed from the tip of a tree(2) and placed in a nutrient medium wherecalluses develop (3). After going through asecond and then a third culture medium

the calluses evolve into "embryoids" (4)comparable to the embryos obtained bysexual reproduction. They multiply spon¬taneously, and this multiplication is fos¬tered in a fourth culture medium. A fifth

culture makes it possible for the embryosto develop into young leaved plantlets (5).The shoots are transferred to a sixth

medium in which roots are induced (6),while in a seventh medium entire youngplants are obtained for planting in soil (7).It takes about 3 months to obtain a 12 cm

shoot from an embryoid.

L8

Powerful protoplasts

Techniques for the cloning of plants arenow so refined that a single cell removedfrom the body of a plant can be cultured inthe laboratory and then induced to re¬generate a complete individual plant.Drawings at left and below are a schematicrepresentation of the cloning processused by Prof. James F. Shepard and hiscolleagues at Kansas State University toregenerate a complete potato plant fromprotoplasts (living cells stripped of theirouter wall) prepared from leaf cells. Smallterminal leaves are first removed from a

young potato plant (1). The leaves areplaced in a solution containing a combina¬tion of enzymes capable of dissolving thecell wall to produce protoplasts (2). Thesolution also causes the protoplasts towithdraw from the cell wall and to become

spherical, thereby protecting the proto¬plasm during the disintegration of thewalls (3). The protoplasts are next grownin a culture medium (4) where they divideand begin to synthesize new cell walls (5).After 2 weeks of culture in these con¬

ditions, each protoplast gives rise to aclump of undifferentiated cells or micro-calluses (6). These microcalluses developinto full-size calluses in another culture

medium (7) and their cells begin to dif¬ferentiate, forming a primordial shoot (8).The shoot develops into a small plant withroots in a third culture medium and is then

planted in soil (9). Under appropriate con¬ditions protoplasts from 2 different plantscan be fused to form a cell possessinggenes of plants which cannot be crossedusing classic methods. The fused proto¬plasts of some species can be grown intoplants in a process known as somatichybridization.

tonnes of straw, to which can be added

some 127 million tonnes of bagasse fromsugar-cane and pulp from sugar-beet. Atpresent, the main obstacle to their use for

the production of proteins is the lack ofsufficiently active microbial strains for thisspecific purpose. Recently achieved labora¬tory results suggest that this problem willsoon be overcome.

Cuba is, at present, the only developingcountry producing single-cell edible proteinfrom agricultural raw material. Eightythousand tonnes of forage yeasts for use asanimal feed are produced annually fromsugar-cane molasses. The Cuban examplewill probably soon be followed in othercountries, such as India, where molasses is

also available at a low price.

10

33^yj.

For a long time now Western Europe hasbeen producing single-cell edible proteinfrom various agro-industrial wastes such aslacto-serum (80,000 tonnes per year) andthe sulphite liquors used in paper-making(25,000 tonnes per year). As with biogas,the main economic incentive for this pro¬duction is the elimination of the cost of

handling potentially polluting wastes. It isto be expected that the same will happensoon in the developing countries whereincreasing industrialization is making pro¬tection of the environment an ever more

urgent necessity.One of microbiology's most promising

contributions to the problem of edible pro¬teins is their production on an industrialscale from oil, methanol and natural gas.

Born in Europe some thirty years ago, thisbranch of biotechnology has developed tothe point where there are factories with aproduction capacity of 100,000 tonnes peryear.

The oil treatment processes make use ofyeast micro-organisms (Candida lipolyticaand Candida tropicalis) which are derivedfrom diesel oil or from paraffin, previouslyextracted from crude oil, and having a yield

of 100 per cent by weight. In the case ofmethanol, chemically derived from natural

gas, the biomass produced is that of bacteriasuch as Methylophilus methylotropha whoseyield on this substrate is of the order of 50per cent, by weight. The methanol treat¬ment processes make use of specific meth¬ane-eating bacteria (Pseudomonas meth-

8

©

Protein enrichment by fermentation is abranch of biotechnology that could helpsome developing countries increase theirprotein resources. Microbial fermentationof such crops as manioc, which containmuch starch and relatively little protein,yields a product with a substantially high¬er protein content. The banana is a fruit towhich this process could be applied, andseveral banana-producing countries areinvestigating the possibility of using inthis way the high proportion of fruit re¬jected for export and usually wasted.Above, harvesting bananas in Martinique.

After J.F. Shepard in Scientific American, New York, 1982

11

ylotropha or Methyiococcus capsulatus) inconjunction with other species whose task isto prevent the inhibition of the bacteria byintermediate accumulation of methanol.

Very large-scale experiments with theproducts thus obtained from oil and meth¬anol have demonstrated conclusively their

high nutritional value and completeinnocuousness. Up till now, these edibleproteins have been marketed exclusively asanimal feed, but preliminary studies haveshown that there is nothing to prevent theirbeing used directly as food for humans.

Following the first oil crisis of 1973, pro¬duction of single-cell edible protein from oiland from methanol slowed down in West¬

ern Europe due to the increased cost of theraw material. In Eastern Europe and in theUSSR, however, it has developed consider¬ably and now amounts to some 3 milliontonnes per year.

This branch of biotechnology is ofobvious interest to those developing coun¬tries that are producers of oil and naturalgas, since these raw materials are availableto them in large quantities at prices wellbelow the world market price. The Organi¬zation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Coun¬tries, for example, proposes as a first step toproduce 100,000 tonnes of single-cell edibleprotein a year, either from oil or from meth¬anol, and it estimates the potential marketin the Middle East and in the Maghreb atmore than a million tonnes. It should be

pointed out that this amount of proteincould be obtained from 0.1 per cent of theirtotal oil production.

Protein enrichment of foodstuffs by fer¬

mentation is another promising prospect.Application of modern biotechnologicalmethods to this practice, which is tradi¬tional in Africa and the Far East, seems set

fair to provide the developing countrieswith a substantial increase in their proteinresources for human and animal consump¬tion.

The end product of this fermentation pro¬cess is a directly consumable mixture of pro

tein-rich microbial biomass and residual

agricultural raw material whose nutritional

value is thus enriched. This relatively sim¬ple technology has the advantage that it canbe used both on a large industrial scale andin small, inexpensive production unitslocated in rural communities. This means

that high-quality edible protein can be pro¬duced from a wide range of agricultural rawmaterials that are too costly or availablelocally only in quantities too small for usewith standard single-cell edible protein pro¬duction methods.

In all the tropical regions, manioc (alsoknown as cassava) is the chief agriculturalraw material potentially available for pro¬tein enrichment. Cultivated throughoutAfrica, in Asia and Latin America, the

world production of manioc is of the orderof 100 million tonnes. Very rich in starch,but containing practically no protein, man¬ioc is used above all as a supplementaryenergy food. Furthermore, although undergood conditions it can yield 50 tonnes perhectare and over, it is normally only culti¬vated on small patches of land using rudi¬mentary methods with low productivity.

At present, the only country in whichmanioc cultivation has been developedrationally is Thailand, which exports 7.5million tonnes of manioc root to the Euro¬

pean Community each year.Starting with dried manioc with an initial

content of 90 per cent starch and less than 1per cent protein, fermentation with anamylolytic mould (Aspergillus hennebergii)yields a product containing 20 per cent well-balanced proteins and 20 to 25 per centresidual sugars. In this way manioc canprovide nearly 2 tonnes of protein per hec¬tare, that is, three times more than can be

obtained from the cultivation of soya orother leguminous plants.

The banana too is a raw material with a

bright future. In the collection centres ofexporting countries, 20 to 30 per cent of thefruit gathered is rejected. This rejectedfruit, whose protein content at 1.1 per cent

is too low for it to be used as animal feed, isa complete write-off. For a number of Cen¬tral American countries which export sev¬eral million tonnes of bananas annually, theprospect of recuperating wastage on thisscale by use of the fermentation process isclearly of the greatest interest and thispossibility is being actively investigated inMexico, Guatemala and the West Indies.

Finally, the third major contribution thatbiotechnology has to offer to the solution ofthe world problem of edible protein is theindustrial production of amino acids as a

complement to plant proteins. Many suchproteins, in fact, are only of limited nutri¬tional value because of their lack of certain

essential amino acids which man and other

mono-gastric animals (including pigs,young ruminants and poultry) are unable tosynthesize and therefore must find in their

food. This is the case in particular of lysine,which is the amino acid in which cereals are

most notably deficient and lack of which isthe main cause of malnutrition in the Third

World. Almost all the amino acids used as a

complement to plant proteins are obtainedby fermentation using hyper-productivebacterial strains selected genetically.

Apart from methionine, which isbasically intended for use in animal feed,lysine is the only amino acid produced inlarge quantities (40,000 tonnes per year). Ithas been estimated that the world deficit in

lysine, most marked in Africa and the FarEast, is 136,000 tonnes for human food and

three times that figure for animalfoodstuffs. As things stand at present, thecost price of lysine is still too high to ensuresatisfaction of Third World needs and to

compete with soya in animal feed. The sit¬uation is the same for other amino acids, in

particular threonine and tryptophan,which, after lysine, are the chief elementslacking in plant proteins. However, it isreasonable to assume that, thanks to

genetic engineering, substantial progresswill soon be made.

JACQUES C. SENEZ, French biologist and uni¬versity teacher, is a former Secretary-General ofthe Unesco-sponsored International 'Cell Re¬search Organization (ICRO) and a consultantmember of the Protein Advisory Group of theUnited Nations. A past Secretary-General of theInternational Union of Microbiological Societies(IUMS), he is the author of a number of studieson microbiology and bacterial biochemistry. Inthe late 1960s he initiated the production ofSingle Cell Protein (SCP) from petroleum.

2 Many developing countries are engaged inI programmes to harness the techniques ofe biotechnology for national development.§ Left, fermenters of a Cuban factory pro-$ ducing single-cell edible protein from© molasses. The installation produces some% 40 tonnes of protein a day for use as anim-£ a/ feed.

12

by Bernard Dixon

The generevolution

Photo above shows the distinctive knot¬

like growths or nodules which form on theroots ol legumes (plants of the pea family)when they are infected by certain bacteria.These bacteria, known as rhizobia, takenitrogen from the air and change it intoforms the plants can use. One importantaim of research in biotechnology is to ex¬tend this process of nitrogen fixation toother crops by incorporating nitrogen-fix¬ing genes into their genetic heritage. Thegoal is proving difficult to attain.

GIVEN the mixture of benefits and

problems spawned by the firstGreen Revolution two decades

ago (see box page 7) , it is not surprising thatboth optimism and apprehension surroundthe application of genetic engineering nowto agriculture tomorrow. Mixed reactionsare appropriate, because those develop¬ments focused upon so-called recombi¬nant DNA are destined to have even

more far-reaching effects than the tech¬niques deployed in the first revolution.Today's new wizardry could undoubtedlytransform agriculture throughout theworld. At the same time, its precision inmodifying living cells offers a stern chal¬lenge to our prudence and wisdom.

At the centre of the stage is deoxy¬ribonucleic acid (DNA), the material whichcarries in coded form the hereditary instruc¬tions responsible for the behaviour of cellsand the plants, animals or microbes of

which they are part. The astronomicallylong DNA molecule can be subdivided intoregions genes which determine particu¬lar characteristics. Recombinant DNA is

the name given to the product when a pieceof DNA from one organism is combinedartificially with that from another.

Genetic manipulation of this sort is thebasis for the boom that has occurred during

the past decade in biotechnology. Suchactivities were, of course, possible pre¬viously. Some, like the art of fermentingsugar to make alcoholic drinks, are almostas ancient as Man himself. Others, includ¬

ing the first mass production of antibiotics,were developed earlier this century. But allof these processes were based on organismsas they occur in nature albeit with other,equally natural, methods being used toselect high-yielding strains.

The arrival of recombinant DNA, how¬

ever, has altered the rules profoundly. It

13

has already greatly enhanced our specificityand power in tailoring living organisms forbeneficial purposes. In future, it will extendour range of options much further.

The breakthroughs which have led to thishistoric watershed in the fabrication of

novel plants and microbes happened duringthe early 1970s. The key discoveries weremade by molecular biologists who learnedhow to splice into bacteria genes which theyhad taken from other bacteria, and even

from totally unrelated animal or plant cells.They first found out how to locate the par¬ticular gene they wanted among the count¬less numbers on the DNA of one organism.Then they used natural catalysts calledenzymes to cut out that gene and "stitch" itinto a vector. This is usually a virus or aplasmid (a piece of DNA that replicatesindependently from the nucleus, the mainrepository of DNA). The vector became avehicle for ferrying the selected DNA frag¬ment into the recipient. Once inside its newhost, the foreign gene divided as the celldivided leading to a clone of cells, eachcontaining exact copies of that gene.

Because the enzymes used for geneticengineering are highly specific, genes canbe excised from one organism and placed inanother with extraordinary precision. Suchmanipulations contrast sharply with themuch less predictable gene transfers that

occur in nature. They also make it possibleto splice genes that would be unlikely tocome together naturally. By mobilizing

pieces of DNA in this way, genetic engi¬neers are beginning to create pedigreemicrobes for a wide range of new purposesin agriculture, medicine and industry.

Although genetic manipulation is takinglonger to perfect in plants, several tech¬niques are now emerging. The most usefulso far is based on Agrobacterium tumefa-ciens, a bacterium that causes crown gallson many flowering plants. It contains atumour-inducing (Ti) plasmid which isresponsible for triggering the disorderlygrowth that appears as ugly galls. Geneticengineers have learned how to delete the Ti

plasmid's tumour-inducing genes and use itas a vector with which to carry new genesinto plants.

A serious drawback so far is that while A.

tumefaciens infects potatoes, tomatoes, andmany forest trees, it does not normallyattack the monocotyledons such as cereals,which are prime targets for genetic im¬provement. Progress is being made,however, and recent research indicates that

rice in particular can be manipulated usingthe Ti plasmid. Alternative vectors andother methods of transferring genes are alsobeing developed. One exciting possibility isto use an electric current to promote theincorporation of foreign DNA. This workswith maize cells, though scientists still haveto persuade the cells to develop into wholeplants.

One gene that has been transferred intotobacco by A. tumefaciens comes from bac

teria and gives the plants the capacity toproduce a toxin that is lethal to insects. Theinbuilt insecticide makes the plants resistantto insect attack and does not, of course,

have to be applied repeatedly. Some plantscan mobilize defences against virus infec¬tion through a process analogous to immu¬nization in animals, and this suggestsanother route for genetic alteration. Incor¬poration of one virus gene into tobacco hashelped to protect this plant against subse¬quent inoculation with the entire virus.

Another development concernsweeds a major limitation on crop hus¬bandry in most countries. Although weedscan be combatted using selective her¬bicides, these often impair the growth of thecrop too. It is now possible, however, tointroduce resistance genes into tobacco andpetunia. One such manipulation results inthe synthesis of enzymes in the plant thatare no longer sensitive to the inhibitoryaction of the herbicide glyphosate. Com¬mercial companies now plan to market apackage containing both herbicide andresistance seed.

Some 70 per cent of the world's intake ofdietary protein consists of cereal grains andseeds of legumes. On their own, neithercereals nor legumes can provide a balanceddiet for human consumption, because the"storage proteins" they each contain aredeficient in one or more amino acids. Now,

added to analyses of the proteins in bothcereals and legumes, we have precise infor-

How to recombine DNA Drawing shows how a micro-organism (in this case a bacterium) is manipulatedto make it synthesize a desired substance. (1) A bacterium contains a plasmid,which is a circularpiece ofDNA. This plasmid is isolated (2) and, with the help ofa restriction enzyme, opened in a precise spot (3). Meanwhile, with the help ofother restriction enzymes, the gene for synthesis of the desired substance isisolated from the DNA ofanother organism (4). Still using enzymes, this gene isgrafted onto the previously openedplasmid (5). The plasmid is re-introducedinto a bacterium (6). The manipulated bacteria are put into a culture, where theysynthesize the desired substance. (7)

o

ó

14

mation about the DNA sequences codingfor them. This knowledge may well lead tomethods of altering those sequences orintroducing new genes that code for a morebalanced spectrum of amino acids.

The world's energy and food supplies restupon the ability of green plants to convertatmospheric carbon dioxide into carbo¬hydrates, fats and proteins, using light fromthe sun. Unfortunately, the mechanism bywhich they consume carbon dioxide is inef¬ficient in those plants, such as wheat, barleyand potatoes, that are cultivated in tem¬perate climes. Oxygen in the atmosphereinterferes with the first enzyme involved inthe assimilation of carbon dioxide. Consid¬

erable efforts are now being made to alterthe DNA sequence of the gene coding forthis enzyme, to prevent the deleteriousaction of oxygen. Other researchers are try¬ing to introduce into temperate zoneplants certain genes taken from maize,which has a more efficient mechanism of

carbon dioxide uptake. In nature thismechanism appears to operate only athigher temperatures, but there are hopes of"switching it on" in cooler areas.

Another atmospheric gas is the subject ofparallel efforts to make plants more effi¬cient. Nitrogen constitutes 80 per cent ofthe air, yet plants cannot use the gasdirectly. Hence the heavy dependence ofmodern intensive agriculture on fertil¬izers nitrate, ammonia or urea syn¬thesized by the chemical industry. Naturalnitrogen fixation depends in part onrhizobia, bacteria that live symbioticallywith legumes such as peas, beans andclover. The bacteria grow on sugarsprovided by the plant, and are maintainedin characteristic nodules on the plant. Therethey convert nitrogen directly intoammonia, leading in turn to the synthesis ofplant proteins.

Molecular biologists have now isolatedand characterized several of the genesrequired for nitrogen fixation. They havefound, however, that many more bacterialand plant genes are involved than they firstimagined. This makes the manipulation ofthose genes correspondingly more difficult.So it will be some years before we can enjoythe cost and energy savings that shouldaccrue by providing crops such as wheat andmaize with the ability to fix their ownnitrogen.

Drought and high temperatures areunwelcome to all plants, despite being bet¬ter tolerated by varieties that have evolvedin such environments. Desiccated soils also

often contain high levels of salts and metal¬lic elements, which are toxic to plantgrowth. Genetic engineers would dearlylike to fabricate plants resistant to suchstresses, but success is unlikely in the nearfuture. Before being able to identify therelevant DNA sequences for transferbetween plants, they require a far betterunderstanding of the many ways in whichplants respond to their environment. Anadditional problem may be the involvementof several different genes, as with nitrogen

fixation. Drought resistance which dependson a reduced area of leaf surface, for exam¬

ple, may be caused by the interaction ofmultiple genes.

Microbes that contribute to healthy plantgrowth are also on the drawing board forgenetic engineering. One possibility beingexamined is the production and deliberaterelease of rhizobia that fix nitrogen moreefficiently than natural strains. Other bacte¬ria capable of forming nitrogen-fixing part¬nerships with wheat and maize are alsobeing considered. A third type of prospectfollows the discovery by researchers at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, thatfrost damage to strawberries is triggered bybacteria which act as nucleii for the forma¬

tion of ice crystals on leaves. The cause is aparticular bacterial protein, the gene forwhich the California biologists have learnedto delete. They believe they can prevent theextremely costly frost damage by sprayingcrops with this "ice minus" strain , which willoutgrow the natural flora.

A key area in biotechnology research isconcerned with the development of tech¬niques for isolating genes of one plant andintroducing them into another as a meansof endowing the host plant with new char¬acteristics such as higher protein contentor resistance to pests. One promisingtechnique for transferring genes usesPlasmids (small pieces ofgenetic material)from a bacterium which causes tumour

growths when it infects certain plants,above. It is possible to delete the plasmid'stumour-inducing genes and use the plas¬mid to ferry new "useful" genes intoplants. Genes of a bean protein have beentransferred to the sunflower using thismethod.

15

©

I

The use of genetic engineering in foodproduction offers many potential advan¬tages. At the same time, questions havebeen raised about the possible risks in¬volved in releasing genetically modifiedliving organisms into the environment.One case which led to widespread debateand concern in the United States arose

from the development and use of geneti¬cally modified microbes known as ice-minus bacteria to protect strawberriesfrom frost damage. In photo, the leafat lefthas been treated with ice-minus bacteria.

The leaf at right froze when dipped intosupercooled water.

Genetic engineering holds considerablepromise too in the improvement of "biolog¬ical insecticides", microbes that attack pestsand have enormous ecological advantagesover their chemical counterparts. Bacillusthuringiensis, for example, has been usedfor many years to combat nuisance species,but it and similar bacteria and viruses maywell be made more powerful by recombi¬nant DNA. One possibility is illustrated bythe pine moth, which damages lodgepolepine trees in northern Britain. In other partsof the country, the moth is controlled natu¬rally by a baculovirus that infects the cater¬pillars. There are now plans to make thevirus more efficient at killing caterpillarsand to release it in the pine plantations. Thefirst experiments are being carried out witha virus that has been altered only by havinga "marker" introduced into a non-codingregion of its DNA. This will allowresearchers to follow the virus's distribution

and survival after spraying. If all goes well,the virus may be given a genè allowing it tosynthesize an insect-killing toxin. Thepotential for this technique in other coun¬tries, against other destructive insects, isclear.

The safety of laboratory and industrialactivities using engineered organisms isbased on the idea of containment. Facilities

are graded according to the degree of risk.New questions arise, however, when mi¬crobes and plants are to be introduced intothe environment. There is concern, forexample, that weeds may be created acci¬dentally and be inordinately difficult toeradicate. If such a plant were drought-resistant, herbicide-resistant, and frost-tol¬

erant, it might spread quickly over largeareas of agricultural land and be very diffi¬cult to eradicate. As illustrated by theKudzu plant in Asia and the water hyacinth

in America, even natural weeds can causeconsiderable havoc.

The prospect of genetically engineeredcrops themselves becoming weeds isremote, however, because crop varietiescannot compete well with other plants whenleft unattended. The inherent difficulties of

mobilizing plant genes also make it unlikelythat unwelcome varieties will be producedaccidentally. And there is always the pos¬sibility of destroying by fire or other meansan engineered plant, released initially in adefined area, that did create problems.Nonetheless, field trials with novel plants,particularly crops able to cross-fertilize withweeds, need to be very carefully monitored.

Greater caution still is required with engi¬neered microbes, which would be broadcast

in astronomical numbers and be impossibleto trace in their entirety should anything goawry. But it is reassuring that no health,environmental or other dangers have beencaused by recombinant organisms sincethey were first fabricated over a decade ago.Moreover, biologists now agree that there isno significant difference between a microbethat has received a new piece of DNAthrough artificial manipulation and one thathas acquired the same DNA fragmentthrough natural mechanisms of gene trans¬fer. Most experts argue that recombinantDNA manoeuvres are intrinsically safer,because they can be vastly more precise andselective. Certain laboratory manipulationsare ruled out anyway by a priori predictionsthat they would generate hazardous recom¬binants.

Many researchers believe that tests withrecombinants should always be restricted toclosed environments such as greenhouses.But these "microcosms" can never simulate

the richness of the natural biosphere. Sothey can never provide conclusive evidence

about an organism's potential safety or per¬formance in nature. The scientific con¬

sensus is now for a gradual approach, apriori evidence about a released organism'slikely behaviour being used as the basis forsuccessively larger trials during which expe¬rience and confidence are gathered abouthow it actually does behave.

There is one other argument against themuch-publicized view in the USA thatorganisms carrying recombinant DNAshould never be released for purposes suchas pest control. One third of the world's

crops are now lost through infection andpestilence. It would be foolhardy not tomake use of an ecologically acceptable tech¬nique capable of achieving even a modestreduction in that toll.

BERNARD DIXON, British science writer andconsultant, is European editor of The Scientistmagazine and was formerly (1969-1979) editorof the British scientific ¡ournalTUe New Scientist.Notable among his published works are Magnifi¬cent Microbes (1976), Invisible Allies (1976) and(with G. Holister) Ideas of Science, Man andMedicine (1986).

16

Tomatomation

Japan's high-tech food factoriesby Koichibara Hiroshi

THE harnessing of high technology tovegetable farming may be about totrigger a new agricultural revolu¬

tion in Japan, where some large manufac¬turers are already offering fully automatic"factories" in which vegetables are grown ina computer-controlled artificial environ¬ment. In their use of automation and high

technology these facilities resemble auto¬mobile or electronics plants, but instead ofautomobiles or video tape recorders theirmass production lines produce fresh vegeta¬bles, regardless of season or climate.

Strictly speaking, today's factory farmingtechnology is based not on biotechnologybut on applying industrial production man¬agement techniques to conventional agri¬cultural engineering. The aim is to useartificially controlled environments to growplants rapidly and efficiently rather thanimprove the adaptation of plants to naturalconditions. Such ideas have already been

applied to poultry farming, egg productionsystems, and even the production of foiegras. Factory farms may thus make a bigimpact on conventional agriculture sincethey provide planned cultivation regardlessof weather, season, climate or soil.

The essential element in this new

Light, temperature and humidity are com¬puter controlled in this vegetable factoryin a Tokyo suburb. High electricity con¬sumption is a drawback.

development is hydroponics, the cultivationof plants in nutritive solutions. Factoryfarms are air-conditioned, and high-pres¬

sure sodium lamps provide twenty-four-hour-a-day illumination. The density of car¬bon dioxide, oxygen, temperature andhumidity are controlled by a computer tomaintain an optimum growing environ¬ment.

The hardware used in this process is notnew. It is readily available from manufac¬turers of electrical consumer goods, and thismay be the reason why Japanese electricalconglomerates are active in this field. Com¬panies in Denmark, the United States andAustria are also experimenting with vegeta¬ble factories but for the moment the Jap¬anese seem to be leading the field.

In 1985, a "supertomato" plant was dis¬played in the Japanese government-sponsored pavilion at an internationalexhibition held in Japan, Tsukuba Expo.

'85 (see the Unesco Courier, March 1985).This was a major success for a hydroponicculture system developed after many yearsof research by a Japanese agronomist,Nozawa Shigeo. The growth of the plantwas accelerated in a nutritive solution which

replaced soil and in an artificially controlledenvironment. As a result the plant pro¬duced more than 13,000 tomatoes duringthe six months of the Expo.

Daiei, Japan's biggest supermarketchain , has installed a factory farm next to itsstore in the Tokyo suburb of Fanabashi.This experimental facility, constructed inco-operation with Hitachi Ltd. to grow let¬tuce for sale in the adjoining supermarket,may be the world's first commercial factoryfarm using full automatic hydroponic cul¬ture technology. The system produces some130 heads of lettuce and other green vegeta¬bles per day (some 47,000 per year) on afloor space of no more than 66 squaremetres. Grown from seed, the lettuce is big

enough for harvesting in only five weeks,3.5 times faster than plants cultivated usingconventional methods.

In this futuristic factory, the sun isreplaced by artificial twenty-four-hourlighting, soil with nutritive solution and

17

Trays of growing lettuce were rotated upand down on chain conveyors in thisvegetable factory installation shown in theJapanese Government pavilion at Expo'85, an international exhibition held at Tsu-

kuba (Japan) in 1985. The lettuce weregrown in liquid nutrients, using the tech¬nique known as hydroponics. The 24-hour-a-day lighting, carbon-dioxide-richatmosphere and constant temperaturehelped the lettuce to reach maturity in 20days, 4 to 5 times faster than normal. Themoving conveyor belts ensured that everyplant was exposed to the same amount ofheat and light.

farmers with a micro-computer. The crop istasty and free from pesticides and her¬bicides, and is in great demand, regardlessof the price tag, which is double that ofconventionally grown lettuce.

In Mitsubishi Electric's Amagasaki labo¬ratory, a prototype food factory assemblyline succeeded in growing lettuce seedlingsfrom 2 grams to 130 grams in 15 days 6times faster than the natural growth rate.With specially developed fluorescentlamps, the photosynthetic ratio is said to bebetter than that of the sun. Sprouts clonedfrom the tissues of mature plants start at oneend of a conveyor and move along at therate of 20 centimetres a day.

In March 1986 Japanese National Rail¬ways (JNR) built two experimental vegeta¬ble factories, each with a size of 50 square

metres and a construction cost of $60,000.

Since May, each factory has been producing120 heads of lettuce a day. Experiments arebeing carried out on the cultivation of other

vegetables such as tomatoes, cabbage,asparagus, melon and green peppers. In thecase of JNR, electric power supplied by itsown power plants can be efficiently used atnight when demand is low, and open spacesbeneath the overhead railway or aban¬doned tunnels can be utilized as sites.

Artificial lighting and computers are notessential elements in factory farming.Hydroponic food factories can be installedin developing countries where food facto¬ries may be most needed. Matsushita Elec¬tric has, for example, installed a vegetablefactory with minimal automation in the

Maldives. The system, which has a plastic

18

Photos © AFP, Paris

roof that keeps out harmful sunlight rays,produces 50 tonnes of vegetables a year,using about one-fifth of the water needed byfield-grown plants.

Vegetable factories can offer variousadvantages: planned production, qualitycontrol, low labour costs, clean products.They use space efficiently and provide sta¬ble production regardless of climatic andseasonal variations. However, high elec¬tricity costs are a severe drawback. Artifi¬cial lighting is said to account for 90 per centof the Mitsubishi system's operating costs.

On the other hand, there can be no doubt

that research will continue in the search for

breakthroughs in the development ofenergy-efficient lighting systems, theachievement of a higher photosyntheticratio than in the natural environment, and

in the applications of biotechnologies to fac¬tory farming.

It is to be hoped that food factory tech¬nology will not be monopolized by a groupof industrialized countries and that it will be

applied in those countries which need itmost.

One of the star attractions at Expo '85 wasa gigantic tomato plant, above, which pro¬duced over 13,000 tomatoes during the 6months of the exhibition. Fed by a specialnutritive solution, the plant grew in a con¬trolled environment, with optimum light¬ing and temperature.

Below, inspecting tomato plants at aJapanese-made hydroponic food factoryin the Maldives. The technology wasadapted to conditions in this tropical de¬veloping country in the Indian Ocean.

KOICHIBARA HIROSHI, Japanese economist,is a member of the Unesco secretariat.

19

Hybrids for the year 2000by Raissa G. Butenko and Zlata B. Shamina

THE cultivation of plant tissues, cellsand protoplasts has not only helpedus to learn much that is new and

surprising about the metabolism, geneticsand capacity of the plant cell to fulfil dif¬ferent development programmes. It hasalso served as a basis for creating new tech¬nologies in agriculture and industry that areessentially different from the traditionalones. Some of these technologies are nowbeing commercially applied, others will beused in the very near future and others inthe more distant future.

Many important medicinal plants grow¬ing in natural conditions are becomingscarce, and supplies of them are limited.Consequently, their collection as medicinalraw material may lead to the complete dis¬appearance of certain varieties. Moreover,the plantation cultivation of suitable wild

Ceff cultures can be a source for the manu¬

facture of medical products derived fromplants. Ginseng (Panax schinseng), be¬low, is one plant which Soviet andJapanese scientists have cultured in thismanner. Its generic name, Panax, is de¬rived from the same Greek word as "pa¬nacea". In the East ginseng has from timeimmemorial been considered a cure for

many ills.

plants takes up valuable space which couldotherwise be sown with agricultural crops.

A solution to this problem has beenfound in the industrial cultivation of medici¬

nal plant cell cultures on similar lines tocultures of micro-organism products. Usingthe classical methods of microbial genetics,productive stems of ginseng, a relict plantgrowing in a limited area of the Far East,were obtained. These stems, possessingqualities that reduce fatigue and enhancephysical resistance, are being cultivated inbiochemical factories. They give a highyield of biomass containing physiologicallyactive substances. The elaboration of indus¬

trial techniques for the intensive cultivationof medicinal plant cells has proved profit¬able, and it is now the turn of other cellcultures such as Dioscorea and

Rauwolfia.

Apart from the traditional methods ofbreeding micro-organisms, there are newapproaches to obtaining productive stems,in particular the hybridization of partnerswhich are actively self-propagating and pos¬sess a high degree of biosynthesis. So far, asa result of induced mutagenesis and theoptimization of culture conditions, stemswith a generally high level of productivityhave been obtained. In some cases the con¬

tent of biologically active substances wasnot lower than in the original plant.

Many vegetatively propagated agri¬cultural plants accumulate pathogens,especially viruses, which it is impossible toget rid of by the usual propagation methods.But the cultivation of meristematic tips notonly frees the future plant from infectionbut enables an unlimited quantity of off¬spring to be obtained from a single mer¬istem. This technique, known as clonalmicropropagation , is being widely practisedall over the world for potatoes, ornamentalplants and berry bushes.

Although it is much more difficult forwoody species to regenerate plants frommicro-shoots, conditions have been created

in the Soviet Union for the mass productionof poplar and aspen clones as well as thoseof tea plants and citrus trees. This is of greatvalue since it makes it possible to take start¬ing material from élite specimens andobtain within a few years entire groves ofhigh quality trees that are completely iden¬tical to the original.

Clonal micropropagation is alsoextremely important for the preservation ofgenetic resources both scarce, disappear¬ing species and unique genotypes obtainedthrough hybridization and mutagenesis.Clonal micropropagation is now becoming

one of the stages of the breeding process forsugar-beet, cereal hybrids and pasturegrasses.

The use of haploids in breeding is veryimportant, especially for the selection ofconstant hybrids. Using traditional meth¬ods, stable forms combining useful charac¬teristics can be obtained within ten or

eleven years. The breeding of first-genera¬tion hybrid anthers shortens this process bya third or a quarter. With this method newvarieties of barley, triticale, tobacco, prom¬ising original varieties of potato and manyother agricultural plants have beenobtained in the USSR. The new techniqueconsiderably simplifies and shortens thebreeding process.

The art of obtaining so-called somaclonalvariations a broad' variety of plantrégénérants is an achievement of cell biol¬

ogy. From amongst the somaclones it is pos¬sible to breed forms which retain all the

positive characteristics of the variety butwith the sought-for addition of certain nec¬essary, especially viable traits. It is difficultto obtain such a combination of agri¬culturally valuable traits through the tradi¬tional breeding methods. But plants com¬bining high productivity with resistance tofungi and viruses have been bred frompotato somaclones at potato institutes in theUSSR. The combination of precocity withlonger grains, which it was impossible toachieve by the usual method of breedinground-grained rice plants, has proved to bepossible in the rice somaclone. Somaclonevariations clearly provide excellent materialfor breeding plants that are both productiveand resistant to stress.

The cases cited above show what has

been achieved by modern biotechnology.They are examples of the practical applica¬tions which have been adopted in agricul¬ture in the Soviet Union and which have

also won a place in industry. Amongst thoseorientations which hold out hopes of earlysuccess, that is, those which have passedlaboratory tests but have not yet beenwidely introduced, cell breeding is the mostpromising. The obtaining of guaranteedharvests in zones where agriculture isexposed to risks is perhaps the most seriousproblem facing agriculture today. Thisimplies the creation of strains of the princi¬pal food plants that are resistant to diseases,pests, herbicides and unfavourable environ¬mental factors. In the Soviet Union the

most important qualities are immunity tosalty soils, drought and frost. Breeding atthe cell level enables conditions to be cre¬

ated in which all cells except the resistant

20

The organisms in the culture dish, top, areanthers (tiny sacs of pollen). When placedin a nutrient solution they form a callus,above left, and can then be regeneratedinto whole haploid plants, above right.(See page 6).

ones perish and the surviving cells representpotential plants. Thus, by cultivating cells inmedia with a high concentration of salt, it ispossible to obtain salt-resistant plants. Thismakes it possible, together with somaclonalvariants, to conduct controlled breeding ofmodified cell lines and subsequently ofmodified plants with particularly valuabletraits.

The present level and rate of develop¬ment in breeding imposes a search for newmethods and parent strains for creatingvarieties which will hold out prospects forthe next century. There is already an acuteneed for new approaches which will ensuresuccess later on. The way is being openedfor recourse to wild varieties containing val¬uable genes, for the mutation of geneticmaterial by combining somatic cells fromearly ancestors. There are already examplesof the utilization of somatic hybrids of culti

vated and wild potatoes. Thanks to a syn¬thesis of the parents' characteristics, one ofthem was "endowed", through the transferof cytoplasmic genes, with resistance toviral diseases.

The creation of "cybrids", hybrid strainswhich have received the cytoplasms of bothparents and the nucleus of one of them, isconsidered to be even more promising. Thepossibilities for such constructions are the¬oretically unlimited. It is possible to trans¬form a cell by transferring to it not only thenucleus, cytoplasm or individual organellesof the other partner, but individual genespreviously cloned in bacteria.

Much of this may seem fanciful, but thefact that a broad scheme for the implemen¬tation of these processes has already beenelaborated is due to the imagination ofresearchers. The next step will be the cre¬ation of a transformation technique. Thefirst characteristics obtained through thetransfer of individual genes will apparentlybe resistance to herbicides and to certain

stresses and possibly a heightened bio-synthetic activity if cell ferments of a bio¬synthesis of physiologically active sub¬stances are isolated.

The cloning of individual genes seems tobe a real possibility for the near future, butthe transfer of integral characteristics willbe a more long-term task, for the accom¬plishment of which it will be necessary tolearn how to isolate and clone regulatorygenes. At present, the solution of this prob¬lem seems to be far-fetched and distant. But

it is not so long since most of the techniquesnow in use in agriculture were treated as thefantasies of biologists and other scientists.

RAISSA GEORGIEVNA BUTENKO is a leadingSoviet cell biologist and plant physiologist whohas carried out extensive research into the use of

plant tissue and cell cultures for scientific and

practical purposes. A corresponding member ofthe USSR Academy of Sciences and of theAll-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, sheis head of the cell biology and biotechnologydepartment of the Academy's Institute of PlantPhysiology and the author of some 300 publis¬hed scientific papers.

2LATA BORISOVNA SHAMINA is a leadingSoviet specialist in cell biology and plant gene¬tics. She is the author of over 100 publishedscientific papers.

21

For subsistence farmers in

developing countries,biotechnology hasmuch to offer.

But will the potentialbe fulfilled?

r*4 3fcM ^ -

Grains

of hope'*p ----- \ . *3

*-.W^* *fautes** '

» »<

/3y ¿V/wa/tf C. Wo// FROM 1920 to 1950, agriculture inindustrial countries was dominated

by mechanical technologies thatdramatically increased the amount of foodthat could be produced per worker and perhour. Shortly after the Second World War,the mechanical age gave way to the chemi¬cal age as farmers worldwide began to adoptartificial fertilizers and synthetic chemicalpesticides, which vastly expanded their har¬vests per acre. Biotechnologies shift thefocus of research toward crop plants them¬selves.

So far, advances have been made in

industrial countries, where public scrutinyis intense. The environmental risks posedby releasing gene-spliced microbes or plantsinto the environment remain poorly under¬stood. Developing regulations andguidelines for the newly emerging tech¬nologies has led to a contentious publicdebate about genetic engineering. In theUnited States, debate has centred on pro¬posals to release bacteria modified to retardthe formation of frost on strawberry andpotato plants (see photo page 16). Becausethe bacteria could reproduce in the naturalenvironment and thus spread beyond thefields where they were released, predictingenvironmental impacts is both more crucial

and more complex a task than with manyother technologies. Developing the "pre¬dictive ecology" that critics say is necessaryfor thorough environmental review, anddrawing up regulations that guard againstthe uncertainties, will slow the marketing ofcommercial biotechnology products tofarmers in industrial countries.

The genetic engineering of plants is farmore complex than modifying microbes,but it is also less controversial on environ¬

mental grounds. Crops with modified traitsare under a farmer's direct control, and

their reproduction and spread in theenvironment are both slower and more pre¬dictable. Crop characteristics such asdrought-tolerance, ability to withstand saltywater, and pest resistance the traits thathave always concerned breeders are alikely focus of the new technologies.

Given the ability to modify virtually anyplant characteristic and to tailor plants inprecisely defined ways, biotechnologywould seem to offer tools well-suited to

agricultural development strategies thatemphasize resource efficiency and farm¬ing's internal resources. For example, itshould eventually be possible to modify aplant's physiology to improve its efficiencyin photosynthesis, enabling grains to pro-

22

.#<; «Hkf ^ ** *"***'

duce more carbohydrate and thus higheryields. The adaptations that allow someplants to lose very little water through theirleaves in transpiration, transferred to morewidely grown crops, could reduce irrigationneeds. Developments like these couldindeed reduce pressures on marginal landsand perhaps eliminate the need for costlycapital investments in water supplyprojects.

There is nothing in the nature of bio¬technologies that renders them inherentlyappropriate to a strategy of efficiency andregeneration, however. Many biotechnol¬ogy innovations pose trade-offs rather thanclear-cut benefits. Although increasingphotosynthetic efficiency could increaseyields, it would also be likely to lead toaccelerated depletion of soil nutrients andheavier dependence on artificial fertilizers.

The most significant factor that will affectthe direction of agricultural biotechnologyis the rapid shift of research from the publicto the private sector. This is especially evi¬dent in the United States. For nearly a cen¬tury, public agricultural experiment sta¬tions and land grant universities sponsoredby the US Department of Agriculture(USDA) performed most agriculturalresearch. Private seed companies often use

the plant varieties developed by govern¬ment-supported breeders. Over the lastthree decades, however, the private sectorhas assumed control of research efforts. Pri¬

vate companies now administer two-thirdsof US agricultural research.

In biotechnology, the deck is stackedeven further in favour of the private sector.USDA's Agricultural Research Service andCo-operative State Research Service sup¬port most work in agricultural biotechnol¬ogy, and these two federal programmesspent less than $90 million on biotechnol¬ogy research in 1984-85. Monsanto, which

has the largest but by no means the onlyplant biotechnology research programmeamong private US corporations, has

already invested $100 million in agricul¬tural biotechnology development. Bio¬technologies that affect agriculture in theyears ahead will have a decidedly private-sector cast. With the important exceptionsof mechanization and the development ofhybrid corn, that has not generally beentrue of important innovations in agricul¬ture.

Leaving research priorities to the mar¬ketplace may eclipse promising oppor¬tunities. Research efforts on crcps will beproportional to the value of the crop and the

Farmers in developing countries growingfood for their families on marginal land arevulnerable to crop failure, erratic watersupply and natural catastrophes. Thepotential of biotechnology in allowing therapid development of new crop varietiesand hybrids that are resistant to stressessuch as soil salinity and drought could bean important step towards meeting theneeds of these subsistence farmers, who

are largely unable to afford the costly in¬puts of fuel, artificial fertilizer and machin¬

ery on which past advances in agriculturehave been based and whose crops haveuntil quite recently been neglected by re¬search. Above, hoeing millet in Mauritania.

23

Below, cassava (manioc) plants are protected from pests by ventilated bags as part of abiological pest-control project being carried out at the International Institute of TropicalAgriculture (UTA) at Ibadan (Nigeria). Some 200 million Africans rely on cassava for about50 per cent of their calories. The UTA has developed disease-resistant cassava varietiesfor distribution in a number of African countries.

size of the market. Because improvingcrops for small farmers in developing coun¬tries means producing low-cost agronomicinnovations, many of which must be site-specific and thus not suitable for mass-mar¬

keting, crop improvement for the vastmajority of the world's farmers offers little

profit. Few private companies are likely toenter such an unpromising market. Con¬sequently, investigations of minor cropslike sorghum and millet, grown primarily byThird World subsistence farmers, will beneglected.

National research programmes and theinternational research centres have an

obvious stake in applying biotechnology.Refinements in plant breeding, tech¬nologies for germplasm storage and forplant evaluation and propagation, and newalternatives in pest control, are exactly thekinds of innovations scientists need to

extend research on developing-countryfood crops. It took decades of work to pro¬duce high-yielding varieties of wheat andrice. With biotechnology, comparableimprovements in millet, sorghum, cassava,or tropical legumes could come morequickly.

The private sector domination of bio¬technology raises questions about the rolenew technologies will play in internationalresearch programmes. Private companiesmay become competitors with the interna¬tional agricultural research centres spon¬sored by the Washington-based Con¬sultative Group on International Agri¬cultural Research (CGIAR), particularlywhen it comes to improvements in major,widely traded crops like wheat and rice. Thefull exchange of scientific information thatis essential to the international centres maybe curtailed if it appears to compromiseproprietary corporate research. Moreover,international centres may increasingly haveto purchase or license new technologies that

24

were formerly freely available throughpublic channels. Finally, private firms willcompete with the centres for scientific tal¬

ent, and the centres may be unable to matchthe salaries, facilities and security that cor¬porate laboratories offer.

Uncertainties cloud the national bio¬

technology programmes as well. A fewdeveloping countries, notably Indonesia,the Philippines, and Thailand, have estab¬lished national programmes in agriculturalbiotechnology. The Philippines views itsprogramme as the first step towards anindustrialization strategy based on biolog¬ical materials that can help free the countryfrom dependence on imported oil. Philip¬pine scientists hope to use crop residues andbyproducts as raw materials to produceliquid fuels and industrial chemicals, and todevelop food-processing industries withbiotechnology methods. W.G. Padolina, ofthe National Institute of Biotechnology andApplied Microbiology at the University ofthe Philippines, writes, "The national strat¬egy is to transform biomass biologically intofood, fuel, fertilizers and chemicals."

Achieving these goals is certain to becostly. Few countries can afford the invest¬

ment in equipment that major biotechnol¬ogy programmes entail, and some countrieslack sufficient numbers of trained scientists

to staff such programmes. Agricultural bio¬technology contrasts sharply in this regardwith conventional plant breeding pro¬grammes, which require relatively modestcapital investment.

EDWARD C. WOLF is a Sen/or Researcher withWorldWatch Institute, Washington, D.C., a non¬profit research organization which was createdto focus attention on global problems and isfunded by private foundations and United Na¬tions organizations. The above article and thebox, right, have been extracted from Beyond theGreen Revolution: New Approaches for ThirdWorld Agriculture, a WorldWatch Paper pub¬lished in late 1986. m

AGRICULTURAL scientists have re¬

cently begun to recognize that manyfarming systems that have persisted

for millennia exemplify careful managementof soil, water, and nutrients, precisely themethods required to make high-input farmingpractices sustainable. This overdue reap¬praisal stems in part from the need to useinputs more efficiently, and in part from thegrowing interest in biological technologies.

Traditional farming systems face realagronomic limits, and can rarely competetonne for harvested tonne with high-inputmodern methods. It is important to recognizethese limitations, for they determine both howtraditional practices can be modified and whatsuch practices can contribute to the effort toraise agricultural productivity.

First, most traditional crop varieties havelimited genetic potential for high grain yields.They are often large-leaved and tall, for exam¬ple. These traits help farmers meet non-foodneeds, supplying thatch, fuel and fodder aswell as food to farm households. Traditional

varieties respond poorly to the two elementsof agronomic management that make highgrain yields possible: dense planting andartificial fertilizer. Despite these limitations,traditional varieties also contain genetic diver¬sity that is invaluable to breeders in search ofgenes for disease- and pest-resistance andfor other traits.

Second, peasant farmers often have toplant in soils with serious nutrient deficiencies,where crop combinations and rotations areneeded to help offset the limitations. Manytropical soils, for instance, lack sufficient nitro¬gen to sustain a robust crop. Soils in vastareas of semi-arid Africa are deficient in phos¬phorus. High-yielding varieties, more efficientin converting available nutrients into ediblegrain, can rapidly deplete soil nutrients if theyare planted by peasant farmers who cannotpurchase supplemental fertilizers.

Nonetheless, traditional methods can make

an important contribution to efforts to raiseagricultural productivity. They offer what havebeen called "principles of permanence"."Neither modern Western agriculture nor in¬digenous traditional agriculture, in their pres¬ent forms, are exactly what will be needed bymost small-scale farmers," says one'researcher, Gerald Marten of the East-West

Center in Hawaii. "The challenge for agri¬cultural research is to improve agriculture inways that retain the strengths of traditionalagriculture while meeting the needs of chang¬ing times."

Harvest home. A Mauritanian woman fills

her bowl from a heap of millet near thefamily tent. Research in recent years hascontributed to a reappraisal of the ecolo¬gical and agronomic strengths of tradi¬tional farming techniques such as thosepracticed by West Africa's millet and sor¬ghum growers. Joining biotechnologieswith the ecological insights of traditionalfarming may lead to innovative solutionsto economic and environmental problemsin agriculture.

The rediscovery of traditional agriculture

Intercropping, agroforestry, shifting cultiva¬tion, and other traditional farming methodsmimic natural ecological processes, and thesustainability of many traditional practices liesin the ecological models they follow. This useof natural analogies suggests principles forthe design of agricultural systems to make themost of sunlight, soil nutrients and rainfall.

Shifting cultivation practices, such as bush-fallow methods in Africa, demonstrate howfarmers can harness the land's natural re¬

generation. Farmers using bush-fallow sys¬tems clear fields by burning off the shrubs andwoody vegetation. Ashes fertilize the firstcrop. After a couple of seasons, as nutrientsare depleted, harvests begin to decline, sofarmers abandon the fields and move on to

clear new land. Natural regeneration takesover; shrubs and trees gradually reseed theland, returning nutrients to the topsoil andrestoring the land's inherent fertility. After fif

teen to twenty years, the land can be burnedand cultivated again.

The bush-fallow system has obvious limita¬tions. But even disintegrating systems offer abasis for designing productive and sustai¬nable farming practices. Researchers at theNigeria-based International Institute of Tropi¬cal Agriculture, for instance, have adapted theprinciples of natural regeneration in bush-fallow systems to a continuous-cultivationagroforestry system called alley cropping.Field crops are grown between rows of nitro¬gen-fixing trees; foliage from the treesenhances the soil organic matter, while nitro¬gen fixed in root nodules increases soil fertil¬ity. A high level of crop production is possiblewithout a fallow interval. Traditional shiftingcultivation provided the model for thissystem.

Conventional research tools can also be

used to overcome the agronomic constraints

that have limited traditional systems to lowproductivity. For decades, crop breeders havetailored varieties to respond to high levels ofartificial fertilizers, assured water supplies,and dense monoculture plantings. Workingwith the genetic diversity available in tradi¬tional crop varieties, they can apply breedingmethods to produce varieties better matchedto the conditions faced by subsistencefarmers.

As the African examples described hereshow, researchers can use traditional princi¬ples to develop new techniques that preservethe land's stability and productivity even aspopulations increase. Though traditionalmethods have limitations, they are not archaicpractices to be swept aside. Traditionalfarming constitutes a foundation on whichscientific improvements in agriculture canbuild.

&* s-ar?

- r-v

Rusitec the cow

Food for rumination

The rumen is an important part of thedigestive tract of ruminant animals suchas cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats. It con¬tains large numbers of micro-organismswhose function is to break down fibrous

feed materials such as grass and strawand convert them to products that can beused by the animal to produce meat, milk,wool or draught power.

To study the microbial population of therumen under controlled laboratory con¬ditions, Dr. J.W. Czerkawski of the Hannah

Research Institute, Scotland, U.K., de¬veloped an "artificial cow". The "cow",named RUSITEC (from the acronym of"Rumen Simulation Technique") is todaybeing used as part of a project to analysedifferent feedstuffs being carried out bythe Food and Agriculture Organization ofthe United Nations (FAO) and the Interna¬tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) attheir joint Agricultural Biotechnology Unitat Seibersdorff near Vienna, Austria.

in the artificial rumen micro-organismscan be indefinitely maintained by feeding anormal ruminant diet each day and provid¬ing the correct physiological conditions interms of temperature, pH and flow of sali¬va. As RUSITEC chews its way throughdifferent feeds, scientists use radioactivetracing techniques to compare their diges¬tibility. (The higher the digestibility of afoodstuff, the higher the nutritive valuethat can be derived from it.) By analysingthe quality of different feeding materials inthis way, scientists are seeking to proposeimproved diets for domestic animals in the

developing world. Photos on this pageshow RUSITEC at work. Below left, thevessels representing the rumen, wheremicrobial fermentation of diets takes

place; left, the rumen simulation techni¬que in operation; below, analysis of theend products of fermentative digestion.

26

the farmer's Mr. Fixit

A Unesco programme

to promote biotechnologyfor development

LUCERNE farmers in Kenya, bean-growers in Latin America, and rice-growers in Southeast Asia are

today being helped to boost their yields as aresult of a Unesco programme in whichmicro-organisms are being used tostrengthen rural development.

The programme has been established at atime when many developing countries arefacing the problem of how to increase foodproduction to feed their expanding popula¬tions. The quality of food produced must besufficient to provide a balapced diet with anadequate protein content. In response tothis challenge, several developing nationshave been expanding their agriculturallands into areas that are only marginallycapable of sustaining productivity. Suchattempts are invariably limited by the avail¬ability of nitrogen fertilizer, which plays avital role in maintaining the productivity ofthe soil.

By the end of the third quarter of thiscentury, world food production was depen¬dent on a supply of synthetically producednitrogen fertilizer amounting to 40 milliontonnes and costing US $8,000-10,000 mil¬lion per year. By the year 2000, estimatedannual needs will be 160 million tonnes.

The cost of fertilizer nitrogen, especially tothe agrarian-oriented economies of thedeveloping countries which are oftenbeset by shortages of foreign currency, isenormous.

Nitrogen constitutes four-fifths of theearth's atmosphere and is freely available innature. Since the nineteenth century it hasbeen known that the roots of leguminous

plants, in association with certain bacteria,are capable of extracting nitrogen from theatmosphere in the process known as nitro¬gen fixation. The plants concerned includegroundnut, pigeon pea, mung bean, soy¬bean, lentil, French bean, lucerne, channelclover, white clover and winged bean, tomention just a few species that are oftengrown in developing countries today.

The most important bacteria which arecapable of nitrogen fixation belong to thegenus Rhizobium. When the bacteria infectthe plants, they stimulate the formation ofnodules swellings on the roots. The bac¬teria within these root nodules improve thefertility of the soil for the host plant by

adding nitrogen compounds to it. (In 1975,it was estimated that the total nitrogen fixednaturally amounted to 175 million tonnes;35 million tonnes are fixed by croppedleguminous plants alone.)

In addition to Rhizobium, other micro¬

organisms at the heart of nitrogen-fixingsystems include the Azolla Anabaena sys¬tem which has been used for centuries byrice-growers in Asia (see Unesco Courier,December 1984), and the Azotobacter,which live independently in the soil, as wellas Spirillum and Clostridium, which areassociated with certain grasses (such assugar cane) and cereal crops.

To contribute to rural development bypromoting biological nitrogen fixation tech¬niques in developing countries, Unesco hasestablished, with support from the UnitedNations Environment Programme (UNEP)and the Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO), a number ofMicrobiological Resources Centres (MIR-CENs) in different parts of the world tocatalogue and preserve Rhizobium andother micro-organisms of economic signifi¬cance and to train local manpower in theiruse. The Centres form part of a global net¬work of MIRCENs which are concerned

with the application to development of awhole range of biotechnological applica¬tions, from the production of biogas tobiopharmaceuticals .

By inoculating seeds with cultures of anappropriate Rhizobium species, orcyanobacteria in the case of rice, it is possi¬ble to increase the supply of nitrogen avail¬able to the plants concerned. The produc¬tion and use of such biofertilizers'can thus

greatly help both to increase the prod¬uctivity levels of the planet's soil resourceand to conserve petroleum and its expen¬sive technologically-processed products,such as fertilizer.

In interaction with other international

programmes, schemes focused on thedevelopment of biofertilizers or Rhizobiuminoculant material are already operatingthrough the MIRCEN network on a level ofregional co-operation in Latin America,East Africa and Southeast Asia and the

Pacific, with additional support from FAOand UNEP.

In the field of biological nitrogen fixation

by Edgar J. DaSilva,

J. Freiré,

A. Hillali

and S. O. Keya

Below, bilingual (English-Swahili) instruc¬tions for farmers on a packet of fertilizerproduced from bacteria by a Unesco-sup-ported Microbiological Resources Centre(MIRCEN) in Kenya. The fertilizer, mixedwith the seeds of certain leguminousplants such as beans or clover at sowingtime, helps the plants to increase theirintake of nitrogen from the atmospherewhich is essential for their growth.

(g LEGUME INOCULANTÄj|3yS ^tf (lie<[ïi Itígiimen w use (üftnn«)' Ira* -Ik"%3(X5i ¿¡ "mruw B»

éBSpgSÎËL rwAmMiNr. <» son sntío ». wh/wyjSQWjfiraa (MM*« PHlMfCT

yijjfSjtfflf lAOttl» W «ÍBBUU»«f KABH* .M*U5<?(?U?§»iS jKtvHtari en mmm

ni«« «019 MMfXM KM4Í*

CROP

BAfUH

USE BFRWf

DIRECTIONS FOR USE MAELEZO YA KUTUMIA

Us« onty (a ine orev rueufioner? or lWUu 1 Kv* hcM .Jl",-i>p«'i0*

Sit panai Rie oontew r* ¿u www vv» i» Mkui ;-ïiw# ni bt>

poctn' h jjttutenf t« 15 kg ->" % *» m:'/«»« «wr rMWp« \<imc>

we* Mu »i* «»Mal ot X« kh» iSB H k« \> . jrtuuas« ram

poo)«; well wtt* seeds motetHM -ucnauft! m* münyt. <wo «sjtuiaio

Wit) WOtW 'k sue« MMUltOP ufttfl Jl ujflji <¿a» -ilfHrtC' P'fw.iji. uw* ,uuseeds wi urttamrv coaled ana sow yti KW »w*«' na upando mata

AOJO

ONYOCAUTION

Mbégu (ft in.«)«-., i wtveycInoculuterl seeds Inoculent sixwb </-\<-> .iw»kw '"in. n if«Apo jotu

OÜ not be exposed to sunttgnt neu' i HO .ii' «0*' '" jHI/i>Û«iiH/1."V« teEß

<0 mixed win chemical fertilizers M own' M lí'iiow» urturB*c

5 inoculan' supplie* only nittuuen Mcíxin)'- 'un .- wnso na

"35 therefore jpoty oll other iltruoei *i* inuyt »nao«:T33 to the soli rirvH& BO Rinn rM'KJf» w*i

OtffcHlQ«

.co

5

o

oc

Û.

STORI IHIt PACHT UNI«R COOL PLACÍ UNTIL USE

VKKA PAMTI HII PAHAU PASIPO JOTO AU AJA KAU

27

UNESCO MIRCEN

international co-operation

Aim: Have young scientists contribute to research anddevelopment in their own countries and promoteinternational co-operation by working with high-levelscientists in UNESCO training courses.

Mechanisms

1 MIRCENs

MIRCENsr Microbiological Resources Centres

A world-wide network

Aim: Collect, preserve and use microbial strains fornational development and international co-operation

_.T.V»1

GIAM

GIAM r Meetings of Scientists on Global Impactsof Applied Microbiology

Aim: Strengthen research co-operation betweenindustrial and developing countriesStimulate capacity-building for local research andtraining

.1

3 Co-operation with U.N. Agencies andnon-governmental organizations

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNIDO United Nations Industrial DevelopmentlOrganization

ICRO* International Cell Research Organization

IFS International Foundation for Science

IOBB International Organization of Biotechnology andBioengineering

IUMS International Union of Microbiological SocietiesWFCC World Federation for Culture Collections

* Panel on Microbiology and Biotechnology

4 Co-operation with regional organizations

ALAR Latin-American Association of Rhizobiology CEC Commission of the European Communities

AABNF African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation SANEM Southeast Asian Network on MicrobiologyABEGS Arab Bureau of Education forthe Gulf States

five MIRCENs are already operating, inKenya, Brazil, Hawaii, Beltsville, USA,and Senegal. The broad responsibilities ofthe MIRCENs for the East African and

West African regions include the collection,identification, maintenance, testing anddistribution of rhizobial cultures compati¬ble with local crops. Deployment of localrhizobia inoculant technology and promo¬tion of allied research are other activities.

Advice and guidance are providedregionally to individuals and institutionsengaged in rhizobiology research.

The MIRCEN in Latin America, in a sim¬ilar vein, promotes the identification ofleguminous germplasm of high symbioticcapacity and soil-limiting factors; the opti¬mal selection of efficient rhizobial strains

for soybean, clover, lucerne, lotus, peas,beans and the cowpea group; optimizationof inoculant production for use in demon¬stration plots and by small farmers; and thequality control of inoculants for use by pri¬vate and official laboratories.

The goals of the MIRCENs at Hawaii andBeltsville, U.S.A., are to contribute

towards alleviating the dependence ofdeveloping countries on chemically-derivednitrogenous fertilizers. This is accom¬plished through research to provide adatabase to assess the benefits of utilization

of legume-based biological nitrogen fixa¬tion (BNF) technologies; development anddelivery of validated BNF technologies thatare appropriate to the needs of, and circum¬stances in, developing countries; and theprovision of support services.

In addition, the MIRCENs in Kenya andBrazil are involved in the production ofinoculants for legume trials and for use byfarmers.

Inoculant production at the East African

MIRCEN has now been initiated usingstrains tested by MIRCEN workers. Inocu¬lants for eleven pasture legumes have beensupplied to FAO pasture agronomists inKenya. The MIRCEN in Brazil, on behalf

A technician at a Unesco-supported Mic-robiological Resources Centre (MIRCEN)In Brazil prepares materials for a trainingcourse in the identification of bacteria

from which fertilizer can be produced.

of the Federal Government, is responsiblefor the quality control of inoculants pro¬duced in that country. An average of 100samples are examined per year. On a lim¬ited basis this service is also available to

institutions in the developing countries.The BNF MIRCENs play a valuable role inmaintaining and distributing efficient cul¬tures of Rhizobium. Collectively, over3,000 strains are maintained in theMIRCEN collections.

EDGAR J. DASILVA, Indian microbiologist, is aformer Vice-President of the World Federation of

Culture Collections (WFCC). The author ofseveral papers on the biotechnological applica¬tions of micro-organisms, he is a member ofUnesco's Division of Scientific Research and

Higher Education, where he has been largelyresponsible for the development and imple¬mentation of Unesco's MIRCEN programme.J. FREIRÉ, of Brazil, is director of the MIRCEN

and a professor of soil microbiology at the Uni-versidade Federale do Rio Grande do Sul. A.

HILLALI, of Morocco, is a rh/zob/ologist at theInstitut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, atRabat. He has been carrying out research andconsultancy work on the applications of rhizobialbiofertilizers at the West African MIRCEN at

Bambey, Senegal. S.O. KEYA, of Kenya, isdirector of the MIRCEN atthe University of Nairo¬bi, where he is head of the department of soilscience and dean of the faculty of agriculture.

28

Achallenge

for the developing world

by Albert Sasson

BIOTECHNOLOGIES have much to

offer developing countries. Theirapplication to agriculture, horticul¬

ture and forestry can contribute largelyboth to the improvement of cultivatedplants and to the protection of speciesthreatened with disappearance. But carefulconsideration must be given to the choice ofthe most appropriate techniques and theirtransfer and adaptation to specific condi¬tions.

Such processes as plant cell and tissuecultures and genetic engineering are tools,not solutions to social problems. For exam¬ple, the replacement of traditional cropvarieties by new ones may cause unemploy¬ment if such new varieties require less work.There is also a tendency for research inbiotechnology to respond primarily to theneeds of international markets rather than

the domestic needs of developing countries.Furthermore, since it is the big landowners

who possess the financial and managementresources enabling them to profit from tech¬nological innovations, it is likely that theyrather than the small farmers will gain

from the application of biotechnology toagriculture.

fn a Kuala Lumpur laboratory, above,Malaysian biotechnicians tend test-tubecultures as part of a short-term project toproduce elite oil-palms.

There is a strong possibility that the poorcountries in general will not only reap fewdirect benefits from the biotechnologicalrevolution, but that their economies will be

indirectly hit by the development of newproducts (such as artificial sweeteners)which will compete with their traditionalexport commodities. There is a danger thatthe technology gap between the rich andpoor countries will grow even wider.Searching questions must therefore beasked about the nature of the "Bio¬

technological Revolution" and its long-term economic, social and geopoliticaleffects; strategies must be devised to ensurethat its benefits are equitably shared bothbetween countries and between different

social groups within a given country.The "Biotechnological Revolution" is

irreversible, if only because of the commer¬cial successes that have already been

achieved and the size of the investments

which have been made in the different fields

of biotechnology. It has been estimated thatthe sales of products derived from theapplication of biotechnologies to food andagriculture alone may reach between$50,000 million and $100,000 million by theyear 2000.

Whereas the "Green Revolution" was

largely carried out by the public sector,which made possible the free exchange ofnew plant strains developed notably ininternational agronomic research centressponsored by the FAO, the impetus behindthe "Biotechnological Revolution" in agri¬culture is coming largely from the privatesector, although much basic research isbeing carried out in universities and instate-supported agricultural and forestryfacilities.

The privatization of the results ofresearch in biotechnology means that theseresults do not form part of the universallyavailable body of scientific and technicalknowledge that belongs to the commonheritage of mankind. In addition, the publicsector research institutions and the organ¬isms which subsidize them are tending to

29

J The Green Revolution and the "Biorevolution"

Characteristics Green revolution

LBiorevolution

Crops affected Wheat, rice, maize Potentially all crops, including vegeta¬bles, fruits, agro-export crops (e.g., oilpalms, cacao), and speciality crops(e.g., spices, scents)

Other products affected None Animal products, pharmaceuticals,processed foods, energy

Areas affected

~1Crops displaced

Some locations in some less develo¬

ped countries (i.e., if accompanied byirrigation, high-quality land, transportavailability, etc.)

All areas, including marginal landscharacterized by drought, salinity, alu¬minium toxicity, etc.

Technology development anddissemination

Largely public or quasi-public sector Largely private sector (multinational cor¬porations and start-up firms).

Proprietary consideration Patents and plant variety protectiongenerally not relevant

Processes and products patentable andprotectable

Capital costs of research Low High

Research skills required Conventional plant breeding and paral¬lel agricultural sciences

Molecular and cell biology expertise plusconventional plant-breeding skills

None (except the germplasm resour¬ces represented in traditional varie¬ties)

Potentially any

Source: Ceres, FAO / Büttel et alrtake out patents and thus contribute to theprivatization of the results of research.

The growing tendency to grant patents toplant breeders as a means of protecting thecreation of new strains is causing wide¬spread concern in developing countrieswhere these measures are seen as obstacles

to their efforts to increase their agriculturaloutput.

The adoption of legislation to protect therights of plant breeders by patent (that is,granting to plant geneticists and the bodieswhich subsidize their research exclusive

production and marketing rights over thesevarieties) has encouraged multinationalcorporations and several major nationalchemical and pharmaceutical groups to buyseed marketing companies and to takemajority participations in firms engaged invarietal selection and plant geneticsresearch. In Europe and North America,the leading multinational petrochemicaland pharmaceutical firms have acquired adominant position in this field.

One reason for this trend is to be found in

the complementary roles played by seeds,fertilizer, pesticides and animal medicinesin boosting agricultural output. It is thuspossible for one firm to influence the entireproduction chain.

The market for selected seeds is worth

$12,000 million a year, including $2,000million for hybrid maize and sorghumseeds, and $1,000 million for hybrid oats,soya and cotton seeds. The grip of the multi

national corporations and of other majorindustrial groups on the seed companies islikely to encourage monopolies and sharplyreduce the public sector role in plantselection.

Measures taken by the technologicallyadvanced countries to protect the results ofincreasingly expensive research into plantgenetics and to ensure that such research is

profitable include the payment of royalties,notably by the developing countries, forseed varieties selected in the industrialized

countries. The latter countries are also

tending to use their collections of seeds andplants (germplasm) for commercial pur¬poses; the private sector is playing anincreasing role in the collection, preserva¬tion and use of germplasm.

Many developing countries do not pos¬sess the financial and technical resources to

establish seed collections or to preservesuch collections in satisfactory conditions.They have no alternative but to buy newstrains selected from varieties which have

been cultivated or which grow wild in theirown regions. Such varieties may have beendomesticated, cultivated and improved bymany generations of farmers in the develop¬ing countries before being crossed withother varieties, protected by patent, andthen sold in their countries of origin as "newand different". This paradoxical situationcalls in question the validity of the patentsystem, for to grant ownership rights androyalties to those who have recently

improved the genetic heritage of a plantvariety is to disregard the efforts of all thosewho have previously transformed the vari¬ety and derived no profit from it.

"The North may be 'grain-rich' but theSouth is 'gene-rich':" the genetic resourcesof most cultivated plants are found in thedeveloping countries, notably in the trop¬ics, but the selection and improvementoperations relating to these plants mainlytake place in the industrialized countries. In1982, according to the Organization forEconomic Co-operation and Development(OECD), the developing countries werecontributing an estimated $500 million ayear to the United States wheat harvest.This contribution resulted from the use of

plant genetic resources which originate inthe developing countries and are indispen¬sable to the improvement of cultivatedplants and variety selection in the UnitedStates and in the other industrialized

countries.

In view of the economic importance oftheir plant genetic resources, the develop¬ing countries intend to protect theseresources for example by preventing theexport of plant reproducing material. Theyalso feel that the purchase price of varietiesof seeds selected and improved from theirown phytogenetic stock is excessive andthat it is unjust to be thus obliged to buyback indirectly a part of their phytogeneticheritage.

The risk of a diminution of genetic diver-

30

sity, combined with the question of restric¬tive practices in the distribution of materialneeded for the improvement of cultivatedplants, has led to a search for an interna¬tional agreement on the conservation ofplant genetic resources, considered as partof the heritage of humanity, and on their

equitable use, instead of allowing such useto be regulated solely by national jurisdic¬tions. If the industrialized countries wish to

have access to the plant genetic resources ofthe developing countries and wish to use thehardy local strains which are found there,the developing countries wish to benefitfrom services provided by gene banks in theindustrialized countries and to claim their

national sovereignty over plants grown intheir countries.

The problems of the conservation of andfree access to plant genetic resources havethus assumed a geopolitical dimension inthe context of the debate on the exploita¬tion of the Earth's resources for the benefit

of all humanity. In November 1981 a resolu¬

tion presented by Mexico to the 21st Con¬ference of FAO invited the Director-Gen¬

eral to prepare a draft internationalConvention on the conservation of plantgenetic resources necessary to increase agri¬cultural production, on the removal ofobstacles to the free distribution of plantmaterial and on the improvement of inter¬national co-operation in this field.

In November 1983, a draft international

Convention was accordingly submitted for

examination to the FAO Conference at its

22nd Session. Among its provisions was onewhich prohibited the imposition of anyrestriction on the availability or exchange ofplant genetic resources for agriculture andfood production.

The 156 countries represented at the22nd Session recognized that "plantresources were part of the common heritageof mankind and should thus be accessible

without restriction". Such resources include

wild species or those close to cultivated vari¬eties, which should be catalogued and pro¬tected, for they are threatened with disap¬pearance, as well as the most recentcultivated varieties and strains which make

it possible to produce seeds of more produc¬tive hybrid varieties.

In November 1985, at the 23rd Session of

the FAO Conference, the industrialized

countries opposed the creation of an inter¬national mechanism to ensure the free

exchange of plant genetic resources and toabolish payment for varieties selected in theindustrialized countries and royalties toacquire them. It is thus to be expected thatgenetic information needed for theimprovement of cultivated plants maybecome a commercial commodity subject tocompetition between seed companies,between countries, and between seed com¬

panies and countries.However, it is to be hoped that a compro¬

mise will be found between the legitimatedesire to reward human ingenuity by grant-

Completing the brick dome of a digestiontank for biogas production in China. Withover 7 million biogas digesters, Chinaleads the world in this field of energy pro¬duction.

ing patents to selectors in the industrializedcountries and the need for developing coun¬tries to obtain selected varieties at a pricecompatible with their limited means and theimperatives of their agricultural develop¬ment. It would also be ethically justifiableto take into account, in the sale to develop¬ing countries of seed varieties selected fromtheir own cultivated plants, the work of thegenerations of farmers who have contrib¬uted to the improvement of these plants.

In the meantime, much can be done to

harness biotechnologies to agriculture, hor¬ticulture and forestry in the developingworld.

First of all, in each developing countrysteps should be taken to establish prioritiesand economic objectives which derive max¬imum benefit from the available resources.

Those biotechnological processes which aremost relevant to the country's social andeconomic needs should be identified and

inventories of local resources should be

drawn up.Secondly, developing countries should

avoid entering into competition, at least ini-

31

* *&.̂N

"i :

tially, with the industrialized countries in

such advanced fields as gene transfer andgenetic engineering. They should profitfrom simpler techniques of plant tissue cul¬ture, meristem culture (see page 6) andplant organ culture for the rapid vegetativepropagation of the most useful strains andfor the isolation of virus-free strains. Theyshould adopt and practise at the appropri¬ate scale low-cost, proven biotechnologieswhich are easy to transfer and to adapt tolocal conditions.

Thirdly, biotechnologies should not beconsidered as the only means of improvingspecies of cultivated plants. They should beseen as complementary to hybridizationmethods and efficient agricultural prac¬tices. The success of biotechnologies in thedeveloping countries will depend to a largeextent on their being closely associated withclassical methods of crossing and improvingplants, with agricultural training pro¬grammes, the establishment of remunera¬tive farm prices and the existence of a goodmarketing network for agro-food products.

Fourthly, the choice of appropriate bio¬technologies does not mean that we shouldresign ourselves to accepting an interna¬tional division of biotechnologies: high techfor the technologically advanced countries,outworn technologies for the developingcountries. A range of biotechnologies, ofvarying degrees of sophistication and com

plexity, should exist in each specific situa¬tion. Every national scientific and tech¬nological community should take intoaccount international developments in bio¬technology when considering local needs,and be able to use the most advanced

techniques or adapt them to developmentprojects.

Whatever options for the development ofbiotechnologies are chosen, education andtraining are bound to play an essential role.Standing as they do at the crossroads ofseveral disciplines of the life sciences(genetics, biochemistry, physiology andmicrobiology), and of engineering (fermen¬tation technology, automization of produc¬tion techniques, chemical and industrialmicrobiology), biotechnologies call forinterdisciplinary training programmes andan integrated approach.

There is a chronic lack of specialists andbiotechnology technicians in the developingcountries. According to one survey, in 1983there were 23,000 researchers in this field in

the USA, 12,000 in the USSR, 8,000 inJapan, 3,400 in the rest of Asia, 1,900 inLatin America and 400 in Africa.

International and regional co-operationundoubtedly has a major role to play inencouraging the transfer of biotechnologiesand the fulfilment of their promise in thedeveloping world, as well as helping to solvethe ethical problems involved. It should be

From test-tube to forest

Biotechnology opens new possibilities forforest management in developing coun¬tries. In vitro tissue culture methods,above, make possible the rapid productionof genetically uniform elite specimenswhich must then be tested in field condi¬

tions in the outdoor laboratory theforest. Lines of eucalyptus in the Congo,right, stretch as far as the eye can see.They were grown from clones of carefullyselected hybrids.

32

possible for countries within a given regionto carry out joint research projects into mat¬ters of common concern and to obtain

results which can be applied in several coun¬tries. Efforts must be made to encourageco-operation between developing andindustrialized countries, including privatesector institutions in these countries. Exam¬

ples of such co-operation already exist.They include the production of vaccinesagainst foot and mouth disease in Botswanawith the co-operation of Rhône-Mérieux inFrance; biogas production from wastesthrough co-operation between India, Chinaand several developing countries; and thecloning of the oil palm and the creation ofnew oil palm plantations in Ivory Coast,Malaysia and Indonesia in co-operationwith the French Office of Scientific and

Technical Research Overseas (ORSTOM)and the French Research Institute for Oils

and Oil-Producing Substances (IRHO).The role of international intergovern¬

mental organizations is important in help¬ing to provide governments with con¬sultative services with a view to the

formulation of national policies andprogrammes in biotechnology; to encour¬age joint research projects and other jointactivities between developing and in¬dustrialized countries; to encourageresearchers and technicians from all coun¬

tries to take part in these activities, and to

strengthen national research and trainingcapacities.

Ever since its early days, Unesco has laidgreat stress in its scientific programmes oninternational co-operation in research andtraining in the life sciences, and at an earlystage drew attention to the importance ofresearch into micro-organisms and em¬barked on a programme in applied micro¬biology. In 1962 Unesco sponsored thecreation of the International Cell Research

Organization (ICRO), and in 1972 joinedwith ICRO and the United Nations

Environment Programme (UNEP) inlaunching a world programme to safeguardthe genetic heritage of microbial resourcesand to make this heritage accessible todeveloping countries. Then, in 1975,Unesco began to create the world networkof Microbiological Resources Centres(MIRCEN) whose activities are describedin the article on page 27.

Following the adoption of Unesco's sec¬ond Medium-Term Plan (1984-1989),activities relating to training, research andinternational co-operation in appliedmicrobiology were strengthened and fur¬ther extended into the field of bio¬

technologies. Today, in close collaborationwith FAO, the United Nations Industrial

Development Organization (UNIDO), theWorld Health Organization (WHO) andother specialized institutions of the United

Nations system and with international non¬governmental organizations, Unesco con¬tinues this work as part of the broader effortto enable the developing countries to con¬tribute to and benefit from advances in sci¬

entific knowledge.

ALBERT SASSON, Moroccan microbiologist, isa doctor of natural sciences of the University ofParis. From 1954 to 1973 he was engaged inresearch at the Rabat (Morocco) Faculty of Sci¬ences into algology, the microflora of arid lands,and free and symbiotic nitrogen-fixing micro¬organisms. A member of the Unesco secretariatsince 1974, Dr. Sasson is the author of several

books and studies on biology, microbiology andbiotechnologies and their applications to de¬velopment, notably Biotechnologies: challengesand promises (Unesco, 1984), which has so farbeen published in English, French, Spanish, Ita¬lian, Chinese and Russian and will soon be

appearing in Bulgarian, Portuguese and Roma¬nian. In preparing this issue, the Editors havemade extensive use of Dr. Sasson 's book Quel¬

les biotechnologies pour les pays en dévelop¬pement ? (Unesco and Biofutur publishers, Par¬is, 1986), from which the above article has beenadapted. Dr. Sasson's latest book is Nourrir de-main les hommes, ("Feeding mankind tomor¬row") published by Unesco, 1986.

33

Recent issues of the Unesco Courier on scientific themes:

The Story of the Earth (July 1986)

The New World of the Ocean (February 1986)

Water and Man (January 1985)

The Story of the Universe (September 1984)

Forthcoming:

The World of Medicine Genetics and Society

biotechnologies:

\i«on

Biotechnologies: Challenges and Promises is a comprehensivesurvey, accessible to the general reader, of new developments inthe different branches of biotechnology. The book outlines thepromises offered by the biotechnologies and emphasizes the role thatinternational co-operation will play in fulfilling them. It also discussesthe conflicting interests, problems and challenges raised by thesetechnologies in industrial development, their transfer to developingcountries and their adaptation to various economic, social andcultural situations.

Contents include:

Nature and variety of biotechnological processesGenetic recombination and areas of applicationHybridomas

Biotechnologies and the increase of plant productivityProduction of useful substances by micro-organismsMicrobial conversion of wastes and agricultural and industrial by-productsEnergy production from biomass by micro-organismsDevelopment of bio-industry

315 pages, photos, drawings, graphs 85 French francs ISBN 92-3-102091-9Also published in French and Spanish

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