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-----Original Message-----
From: Biotech-Mod2
Sent: 05 March 2007 17:44
To: 'biotech-room2@mailserv.fao.org'
Subject: 1: A number of selected issues

[Welcome everybody to this FAO e-mail conference on "Coping with water scarcity in developing countries: What role for agricultural biotechnologies?". The four weeks available for this conference will go very fast, so we encourage you to participate actively right from the beginning to get the maximum benefit from it. Participants are also reminded to briefly introduce themselves in their first message to the conference and to try to limit their messages to 600 words...Moderator].

This is from Prof. S.K.T. Nasar, Visiting Professor (Genetics), Department of Environmental Science, University of Burdwan and Former Director of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India.

I would like to address a number of selected issues:

1. I would add what I call "embedded water", i.e. the "real water" that essentially moves with the traded commodities, to the issue of "Virtual water and food trade" [in Section 3c) of the Background Document...Moderator]. Cut flowers or succulent fruits carry 40-75% while grains carry 4-8% of embedded water. This embedded water, different from molecular water, is present in cell vacuoles, intercellular spaces, xylem vessels, or as moisture of dead tissues. The amount of embedded water is considerable, depending upon the traded commodity. More importantly, this water is the vehicle for the transport of unwanted contaminants from the site of origin to the destination point thereby exposing the commodity to Sanitary and Phytosanitary and other like measures. Trade is all about procuring commodities, production systems, raw materials or value added products, in full or part, at a cheaper rate from a spot of abundance and selling these in demand-rich and availability-poor locations. An example of part trade is country ‘x’ exporting tissue-cultured flower plantlets to country ‘y’ where the production system is cheaper. Country ‘y’ hardens the plantlets and grows these for 3-6 months to produce saplings, or for longer periods to produce flowers. Products are then dispatched on behalf of country ‘x’ to the destination country ‘z’ or to other countries. This production outsourcing is not new to either global or local trade in agri-horticulture. Partitioning of national and international agri-horticultural trade into virtual water, virtual labour, virtual climate, or virtual partial factor productivity is not effectively useful. I argue that items vulnerable to non-tariff trade barriers such as Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Convention on Biological Diversity, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) or other international instruments call for immediate concern. I further argue that trade in the "embedded water" is, in the present context, more significant than that in "virtual water". [References here are to the 1995 WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/sps_e.htm) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (www.biodiv.org/) ...Moderator].

2. Biotechnology is divided into two broad categories: the "first generation non-rDNA" biotechnology and the "second generation rDNA" biotechnology. The non-rDNA (i.e. non recombinant DNA) biotechnology is largely in the public domain and is, therefore, accessible to all. On the other hand, the rDNA biotechnology is basically and mostly in the IPR domain and, thereby, allows constricted accessibility to the poor end-users in the developing and underdeveloped countries. I hold a firm view that rDNA biotechnologies are the greatest gifts of the twentieth century to the humankind, but alas for the monopolistic restrictions on use by poor economies. I suggest a combination of both first and second-generation biotechnologies with emphasis on the former for research and development (R&D) and end use by developing and undeveloped economies.

3. Enhancement of water use efficiency – the famous "more crop per drop" rhetoric – is certainly possible at the stages of crop husbandry and at post harvest processing and value addition. Providing uncontaminated irrigation water is essential. The state of West Bengal, India is a case of diverse agro-ecologies. The Himalayan hill zone is short of enough irrigation water despite the presence of perpetual streams. The foothills are acidic and large chunks of land are prone to flash flooding or are waterlogged. The Laterite zone is perpetually dry while the Indian Sundarbans show flooded land for over six months. The most fertile alluvial zones show good productivity but remain flood- or drought-prone. Location-specific biotechnologies are needed here. This situation is representative of conditions in most underdeveloped countries. And, here lies the catch for application of appropriate and location specific biotechnologies; who will do it without profits?

4. The results of our farmer-participatory experiments over several years have shown that the use of microbial fertilisers in combination with organic compost, in place of chemical NPK fertilisers, reduced the amount of irrigation water, lowered the quantum of diseases and pests yet improved crop productivity and quality. Water holding capacity of the soil improved. Interestingly, the seed-to-harvest time was shortened by up to fifteen days for some crops. The lessons learned are: biofertiliser-cum-organic manuring cuts the amount of irrigation water and cuts seed-to-harvest time thereby decreasing the number of irrigations, depending upon the crop, cropping system and agro-ecology. [NPK fertilisers contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) as the main nutrients...Moderator].

5. We used conventionally selected and improved free living azobacteria, rhizobia and phosphate-solubilising bacteria in our experiments. This is an example of non-rDNA biotechnology. In the case of rhizobium-pulse combinations, we are considering to set up Rural Biotechnology Centres where local youth trained in good laboratories and provided with specific rhizobium-pulse combinations will regrow under protected conditions. Supply of fresh rhizobium cells will be obtained by crushing root nodules for use as inoculants. Several laboratories are already maintaining live Azolla-Anabaena combinations at village centres. Similar efforts with other non-rDNA microbes and rDNA microbes will pay dividends in poorer economies. [Rhizobia are bacteria that create symbiotic associations with legumes, infecting their roots and providing the plants with nitrogen (see e.g. http://www.fao.org/AG/aGL/agll/soilbiod/highligh.stm#micro). Azolla, an aquatic fern, forms a symbiotic relationship with Anabaena azollae, a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium...Moderator].

6. The widespread arsenic, mainly As III, contamination of groundwater-irrigation water-soil-crop-animal-human continuum is a global concern. We find that soil (soil biota?) acts as an effective sink and absorbs arsenic thereby reducing its entry into the food web. A number of species of weedy flowering plants, crop varieties, bacteria and cyanobacteria have been identified that absorb high amount of the contaminant. These are used for bioremediation. More research is needed to work out remediation options. There is, however, an indication that similar strategies can be adopted on the basis of different contaminants and locations. [More information regarding arsenic can be found e.g. in the WHO 2001 factsheet on "Arsenic in drinking water", which notes that "inorganic arsenic can occur in the environment in several forms but in natural waters, and thus in drinking-water, it is mostly found as trivalent arsenite (As(III)) or pentavalent arsenate (As (V)). Organic arsenic species, abundant in seafood, are very much less harmful to health, and are readily eliminated by the body" (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs210/en/index.html) and the 2006 FAO report on "Arsenic contamination of irrigation water, soil and crops in Bangladesh: Risk implications for sustainable agriculture and food safety in Asia" by Alex Heikens (at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ag105e/ag105e00.pdf or request a copy from Zhijun.Chen@fao.org)...Moderator].

7. Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT), now established as a fact, can be utilised to create more efficient microbes. The most efficient agriculturally important microbes can be collected from soils with high levels of contaminations or with low levels of N, P or K and tested in laboratories. Selected colonies may then be inoculated into the soil of desired croplands with non-rDNA microbes. The efficiency of microbial community will improve and, under certain conditions, novel genomes will most likely emerge. This strategy will imitate rDNA biotechnology and yet remain in the public domain.

8. Mycorrhizal association of phycomycetous-glomaceous fungus and roots of terrestrial plants is universal but non-specific. Mycorrhizal fungus always grows in association with actinomycetous fungi. The relevance of this fungus-fungus association is not understood. Scientists claiming to increase water availability by infusing selected mycorrhizal fungal strains into the rhizosphere have not been able to trace its growth in cropped soils. Our group’s study on the cytology of mycorrhizal fungi of lychee and sweet potato did not lead us far. At present, rDNA biotechnology of mycorrhizal fungal association needs more ground work. [The rhizosphere is the soil region in the immediate vicinity of growing plant roots...Moderator].

Prof. S.K.T. Nasar,
Visiting Professor (Genetics),
Department of Environmental Science,
University of Burdwan
India
sktnasar (at) hotmail.com