Crop Biotechnology: Feeds for the Dairy Industry
Bruce R. Thomas, Kent J. Bradford
Seed Biotechnology Center, Univ. California, Davis
(http://sbc.ucdavis.edu)(email:
sbc@ucdavis.edu)
Lecture at Dairy
Cattle Day, UC Davis, March 21, 2001
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Current Biotech Feed Crops
Methods of plant breeding and biotechnology. Genetic
modification of plants and animals has been practiced for approximately
10,000 years. By selecting the best plants and animals to serve as
the parents for the next generation, our ancestors gradually modified wild
plants and animals to create our familiar domesticated crops and livestock.
Over the last century, new methods of plant breeding have been introduced,
including wide crosses, F1 hybridization, mutagenesis, and induction of
polyploidy. Biotechnology methods developed in the last few decades
include tissue culture, embryo culture, anther culture, somaclonal variation,
micropropagation, protoplast fusion, marker-assisted breeding, and transgenic
plants. The discussion below will focus on the transgenic crop plants
used for livestock feeds.
Plant
Biotechnology Tutorials - Resource Series
http://sbc.ucdavis.edu/outreach/resource/tutorial_biotech.htm
Plant
Biotechnology Dictionaries - Resource Series
http://sbc.ucdavis.edu/outreach/resource/dictionary_biotech.htm
Transgenic Crop Traits. Among the transgenic crop
plants approved by APHIS for commercial production in the US are canola,
corn, cotton and soybeans engineered for herbicide compatibility and protection
against insects. Herbicide tolerance in transgenic crops provides
better weed control and improves soil conservation. Bt genes help
to control insects in transgenic crops. Mycotoxin contents are reduced
in transgenic plants due to reduced insect feeding and fewer damaged sites
at which fungal infection of the crop plant can occur. Engineering
pest protection traits into the seed may reduce the need for pesticide
chemicals in crop production, and may enable the grower to choose pesticides
that are less harmful to the environment. Recent economic studies
document benefits of transgenic crops including yield increases, cost savings
to growers and reductions in chemical application. These benefits
have led to rapid adoption of transgenic crops on over 100 million acres
worldwide.
USDA APHIS
- New List of De-Regulated Crops
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotech/not_reg.html
Agricultural
Biotechnology Briefing Room, ERS/USDA
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Biotechnology/
Impacts
of adopting genetically engineered crops in the United States, ERS USDA
07mar2001
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Emphases/Harmony/issues/genengcrops/genengcrops.htm
Agronomic
& Economic Assessment of Transgenic Canola, Canola Council of Canada
jan2001
http://www.canola-council.org/manual/GMO/gmo_main.htm
ISAAA
Brief No. 21 - 2000 : Global Status of Commercialized Transgenic Crops
http://www.canola-council.org/manual/GMO/gmo_main.htm
US Government Regulation of Transgenic Crops. The
use of crops produced via biotechnology is regulated by a number of US
government agencies. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) regulates field-testing of biotechnology-derived plant
varieties. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the lead agency
for evaluating crop plants with pesticidal traits developed via biotechnology.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the primary agency regulating
the safety of foods developed via biotechnology. USDA has recently published
new regulations for organic agriculture certification that exclude the
use of transgenic crop plants and some other production technologies that
are used in conventional agriculture. An additional consumer choice is
provided by recent FDA regulations for voluntary labeling of foods produced
without transgenic ingredients.
USDA - Agricultural Biotechnology
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/bbep/bp/
EPA - Biopesticides
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/
FDA - Center for Food Safety and
Applied Nutrition
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/
National
Organic Standards - Final Rule
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/nop2000/nop/finalrulepages/finalrulemap.htm
FDA - voluntary
labeling of foods produced without transgenic ingredients
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/biolabgu.html
International Government Regulation of Transgenic Crops.
Export markets for transgenic crops are very complicated at present. Public
reactions to transgenics in other countries vary widely. Many governments
are still setting up mechanisms to regulate biotechnology crops and food
products. Two recent developments demonstrate some progress.
The European Union Parliament recently repealed the moratorium on approval
of new genetically modified (GM) food crops. Japan has set reasonable
tolerance limits for small amounts of unintentional transgenic content
in shipments of conventional crop products.
Repeal
of moratorium on GMO release into the environment, European Parliament
29jan2001
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/OM-Europarl?PROG=REPORT&L=EN&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT
+REPORT+A5-2001-0032+0+NOT+SGML+V0//EN
The
future of the biotechnology industry, Reports of the European Parliament
28feb2001
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/OM-Europarl?PROG=REPORT&L=EN&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT
+REPORT+A5-2001-0080+0+NOT+SGML+V0//EN
European
Union parliament pledges support for GM technologies, Reuters 15march2001
http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet/2001/3-2001/ag-03-15-01-02.txt
Japan
to allow foods to contain up to 5 percent biotech, Tokyo (AP) 20march2001
http://agbioview.listbot.com/cgi-bin/subscriber?Act=view_message&list_id=agbioview&msg_num=1017&start_num=
Consumer survey. A recent public survey in the US demonstrated
that a majority expect biotechnology to provide benefits. When asked
about food safety issues, very few people indicated any concerns about
biotechnology in foods. Thus, in the US we are generally optimistic
about biotechnology and believe that government regulation of the technology
is working to protect public safety.
Wirthlin
Group Quorum Survey of consumers in USA, Jan 2001
http://ific.org/ (What's New at IFIC)
Feeding trials. Feeding trials have demonstrated
the safety and effectiveness of feeds derived from transgenic crop plants.
Transgenic feeds are digested normally, so there is no effect on safety
of meat, milk or eggs produced by the livestock.
GM
Food Safety Assessment - Resource Series
http://sbc.ucdavis.edu/outreach/resource/gm_food_safety.htm
Crop
Biotechnology: Feeds for Livestock
http://sbc.ucdavis.edu/outreach/lecture/livestock_feeds.htm
Future Biotech Feed Crops
Potential future traits in transgenic crops include more "output traits"
that will enhance food and feed qualities. Transgenic crop traits
that may reach the marketplace within the next 5 years include traits such
as improved nutritional value through increased digestibility, oil quality
and protein quality. The content of antinutritional substances such
as phytate can be reduced. Vaccines delivered via feeds may help
to maintain the health of livestock. Use of antifungal peptides may
reduce fungi and mycotoxins in feeds, thus improving feed quality, animal
health and dairy product quality. New strategies may help protect
alfalfa and other plants against insect attack and reduce the need to spray
chemicals for insect control.
USDA APHIS
- Current Status of Notifications
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/bbep/bp/notday.html
USDA APHIS
- Current Status of Petitions
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotech/petday.html
Conclusions
This is an important time in the development of agricultural biotechnology.
The initial “proof of concept” transgenic crops have performed well in
the field, providing agronomic and economic benefits to growers.
The first generation of transgenic crops have provided a safe and effective
supply of feeds to livestock producers. New biotechnology crop traits under
development will provide additional benefits to the dairy industry in the
future. Transgenic crops require fewer agrichemical applications
which provides environmental benefits.
US government regulators have worked to establish public confidence
in their ability to ensure the environmental and food safety of crop plants
developed using biotechnology. Export markets for transgenic crops
are complicated by wide variability in international government regulations
and consumer reactions to biotechnology.
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Dr. Kent J. Bradford
Director |
Dr. Bruce R. Thomas
Technical Director |
Susan Webster
Program Representative |
Seed Biotechnology Center
University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis CA 95616
Tel: 530-754-7333 . . . Fax: 530-754-7222
http://sbc.ucdavis.edu . . . email:
sbc@ucdavis.edu