Tissue culture can improve agriculture production
A scientific study done by a lecturer of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Dennis Ochieno on endophyte enhanced resistance to banana weevils has raised contentious views about the use of endophyte to enhance banana resistance to nematode attack.
A scientific study done by a lecturer of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Dennis Ochieno on endophyte enhanced resistance to banana weevils has raised contentious views about the use of endophyte to enhance banana resistance to nematode attack.
The contentious views have been generated based on the conclusions of Ochieno’s PhD thesis at Wageningen University in the Netherlands supervised by Dr. Thomas DuBois and Prof Arnold van Huis.
Dr. Thomas DuBois is a Uganda-based banana researcher with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Prof Arnold van Huis is based at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Ochieno’s research concluded that inoculating bananas with endophyte may increase their susceptibility to attach against weevils.
The contradictions in research results have raised doubts among the consumers of research doubting the use and adoption of science technology in improving agricultural research. Both Ugandan and Kenyan media have questioned the use of tissue culture in improving agricultural production.
Fungal endophytes occur in all plants, and often infect their hosts without causing any observable disease symptoms. In Uganda and Kenya where the study was undertaken, pest management practices are severely hampered by economical and environmental constraints. The use of synthetic pesticides is discouraged due to their persistence in soils and their negative effect on the environment and human health. These pesticides are also expensive, often unavailable and poorly understood by farmers.
Breeding bananas for host resistance is slow and difficult. It was, therefore, thought that the most appropriate mechanism to confer resistance would be the inoculation of bananas with endophyte. Endophytes are beneficial to host plants because they induce pest and disease resistance in plants.
Endophytes inoculated in bananas confer bananas with resistance to nematode attack.
Results of the initial study by Pamela Paparu, Thomas Dubois, Danny Coyne and Altus Viljoen concluded that inoculation of bananas with endophyte increased plant resistance to nematode attack.
A similar study by Dennis Ochieno, Thomas Dubois, and Arnold van Huis implemented by Wageningen University concluded that inoculation of bananas with the endophyte increased their susceptibility to attack by nematodes. So what does these studies mean to basic and applied science and the ethics of scientists?
In order to advance basic science there must be a contradiction and or a problem with the current research findings. A hypothesis is developed to address this crisis. Endophyte technology cannot be commercialised until more study shows stability of the technology.
For now there is no doubt about the role of tissue culture in improving agricultural production. Tissue culture is a biotechnological tool which uses fragments of tissue from animal or plant in a culture to multiply, change size, form, or function. The technology is used for mass production of planting materials, production of virus-free plants, plant breeding purposes, conservation, and multiplication of crops and livestock.
Studies done in Uganda indicate that by using tissue culture banana planting materials, the gross gain from bananas increase to sh3.5m per hectare per year as opposed to using suckers with a gross of sh2.3m from each hectare per year.
The contentious views have been generated based on the conclusions of Ochieno’s PhD thesis at Wageningen University in the Netherlands supervised by Dr. Thomas DuBois and Prof Arnold van Huis.
Dr. Thomas DuBois is a Uganda-based banana researcher with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Prof Arnold van Huis is based at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Ochieno’s research concluded that inoculating bananas with endophyte may increase their susceptibility to attach against weevils.
The contradictions in research results have raised doubts among the consumers of research doubting the use and adoption of science technology in improving agricultural research. Both Ugandan and Kenyan media have questioned the use of tissue culture in improving agricultural production.
Fungal endophytes occur in all plants, and often infect their hosts without causing any observable disease symptoms. In Uganda and Kenya where the study was undertaken, pest management practices are severely hampered by economical and environmental constraints. The use of synthetic pesticides is discouraged due to their persistence in soils and their negative effect on the environment and human health. These pesticides are also expensive, often unavailable and poorly understood by farmers.
Breeding bananas for host resistance is slow and difficult. It was, therefore, thought that the most appropriate mechanism to confer resistance would be the inoculation of bananas with endophyte. Endophytes are beneficial to host plants because they induce pest and disease resistance in plants.
Endophytes inoculated in bananas confer bananas with resistance to nematode attack.
Results of the initial study by Pamela Paparu, Thomas Dubois, Danny Coyne and Altus Viljoen concluded that inoculation of bananas with endophyte increased plant resistance to nematode attack.
A similar study by Dennis Ochieno, Thomas Dubois, and Arnold van Huis implemented by Wageningen University concluded that inoculation of bananas with the endophyte increased their susceptibility to attack by nematodes. So what does these studies mean to basic and applied science and the ethics of scientists?
In order to advance basic science there must be a contradiction and or a problem with the current research findings. A hypothesis is developed to address this crisis. Endophyte technology cannot be commercialised until more study shows stability of the technology.
For now there is no doubt about the role of tissue culture in improving agricultural production. Tissue culture is a biotechnological tool which uses fragments of tissue from animal or plant in a culture to multiply, change size, form, or function. The technology is used for mass production of planting materials, production of virus-free plants, plant breeding purposes, conservation, and multiplication of crops and livestock.
Studies done in Uganda indicate that by using tissue culture banana planting materials, the gross gain from bananas increase to sh3.5m per hectare per year as opposed to using suckers with a gross of sh2.3m from each hectare per year.