Selective breeding (A.K.A artificial selection) is a procedure in which humans intentionally choose which traits they desire of an organism to pass on to their offspring. Selective breeding is a practice that has been done by humans since hundreds of years ago. Farmers chose crops and cattle with beneficial desirable traits (e.g. larger size) and made them breed. Despite the fact that they did not know the concept of genes and selective breeding, it was probably noticeable to them that when two parents with desirable genes were made to breed, it was very likely for the offspring to inherit these desirable genes. This is now a widely used practice for all sorts of plants and animals in order to achieve offspring with desirable traits. The banana is no exception to this.
Presently, when we examine a banana that we are able to obtain from the supermarket; we are able to discover that it has a nice and sweet taste, the length and thickness of it are reasonably impeccable so it fits nicely in a person’s hands, the surface of the banana is anti-slip making it easy to hold and there is a small flap at the top of every banana so that all one is required to do is just pull it lightly and the skin peels away; giving one access to the edible fruit inside.
However the banana did not always have these desirable traits. In the wild (around thousands of years ago) bananas were nothing like their current derivatives; they were small and oval with extremely thick and tough skin. The interior of the fruit also contained many large and hard seeds.
In the past, people would have needed to peel bananas with sharp rocks and continuously spit out seeds when eating bananas. However, the humans back in those times realized the diversity of each ban...
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...lready as much as 50 per cent of the world's banana harvest is lost to insects and disease”. This is evident as recently a new potent plant pathogen, the Black Sigatoka fungus, has infiltrated many Cavendish banana plantations around the world. Because of their genetic uniformity, the domestic banana stock and plantations are all equally vulnerable to this pathogen and it is said that banana harvests have already dropped by approximately 50-70 per cent since this pathogen first appeared. Hence we are able to see quite clearly the biological implications that selective breeding and artificial selection has on the diversity and survival of the banana population as it is no exaggeration to say that the genetic uniformity of the banana can possibly be a contributing factor to the obsolescence and annihilation of the convenient, common and consumable banana population.
When the outbreak of the Panama disease began the United Fruit ordered their field workers to put disinfectant on their tools and clothing in order to decrease the spread of disease. They burned the diseased plants, which took care of the infected bananas, but companies still had problems with workers transferring diseases. Spreading the disease was not intentional but it happened. This lead the United Fruit to begin research programs to fight the disease in 1923 so that it did not worsen. The US department of agriculture had argued the cultivation a disease resistan species would have a higher success rate, for example, the “Chinese banana.” This fruit has a short shelf life though and was not very marketable to be purchased. So the US and British research program both began breeding programs to develop disease resistant varieties, but sadly this was not successful either. It was difficult to find a product that would work, biology did not work, farms kept moving to healthier land, and this created schisms among companies and the government. The diseases were driving the production costs and soil exploitation up, fruit companies were already under public scrutiny for their land grabs and extensive holdings. They all needed a solution; the solution was when the Cavendish bananas began to be boxed in production, which then opened jobs for women. All of the bananas traveling to the
The idea of eugenics was first introduced by Sir Francis Galton, who believed that the breeding of two wealthy and successful members of society would produce a child superior to that of two members of the lower class. This assumption was based on the idea that genes for success or particular excellence were present in our DNA, which is passed from parent to child. Despite the blatant lack of research, two men, Georges Vacher de Lapouge and Jon Alfred Mjoen, played to the white supremacists’ desires and claimed that white genes were inherently superior to other races, and with this base formed the first eugenics society. The American Eugenics Movement attempted to unethically obliterate the rising tide of lower classes by immorally mandating organized sterilization and race based experimentation.
The Brazil Nut is the fruit of a tree that grows mostly wild in rainforests. Castanheiro do Para, which is the Brazilian name given to this tree, is found in many Amazonian states of Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela and Ecudor. It is most pervalent in the Brazilian states of Marahao, Mato Grosso, Acre, Para, Rondonia, and the Amazonas. The tree is enormous, Frequently attaining the height of 160 feet or more. The fruit is a large spherical woody capsule or pod and measures an average of six inches in diameter and can weigh up to 5 pounds. The fruit pods grow at the ends of thick branches, then ripens and falls from the tree from January to June. Inside each fruit pod is 12 to 25 Brazil nuts with their own indvidual shell(1).
In the 1920s, a company in New York started a movement known as “The Eugenics Movement.” The idea of eugenics was eventually picked up by Germany, China, Peru, India and Bangladesh. The movement is still in effect till this day; however, it is not as prevalent as it once was.
Since the birth of agriculture farmers across the world have been altering the genetic makeup of the crops they grow. Ancient farmers chose only the best looking plants and
Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection explains the general laws by which any given species transforms into other varieties and species. Darwin extends the application of his theory to the entire hierarchy of classification and states that all forms of life have descended from one incredibly remote ancestor. The process of natural selection entails the divergence of character of specific varieties and the subsequent classification of once-related living forms as distinct entities on one or many levels of classification. The process occurs as a species varies slightly over the course of numerous generations. Through inheritance, natural selection preserves each variation that proves advantageous to that species in its present circumstances of living, which include its interaction with closely related species in the “struggle for existence” (Darwin 62).
With plants of the genus Brassica importance in the form of vegetables and oilseeds (Wang and Freeling 2013), the results of this experiment offer a view into their inheritance patterns which can in the long term be replicated for different outcomes. Augustine et al. discuss the importance of these plants’ traits in terms of food production by stating that studying the mutations of Brassica may lead to improvement of crops by expressing mutations that are desirable phenotypic traits (2014). Brassica are an important part of the global food supply and if any plants can be genetically altered by selective fertilization then those steps should be taken to produce larger, more efficient, or shorter cycling plants. This experiment has supported the inheritance of traits according to Mendel by examining the inheritance of anthocyanin in B. rapa.
Jose Antonio Burciaga, in his essay “Tortillas”, leads us to believe that tortillas actually helped to make him who he is (507). I am not convinced that banana pudding helped to mold me into the man I am today, but it definitely plays a big role in many of the memories I have made throughout my life. As far as my family is concerned, banana pudding is more than a desert; it is a reminder of family gatherings, loved ones, and days gone by.
First, bananas are grown in large monocultures that enable the large-scale production but cause a bunch of environmental problems. Second, the large companies are concentrating on marketing and distribution. In this way, they exacerbate the situation of the dependence of the producing countries such as Colombia and create social problems.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The term GM foods or GMO (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques (Whitman, 2000). These plants have been modified in the laboratory to offer desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. Also, genetic engineering techniques have been applied to create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and accurately. For example, this is done by the geneticist isolating the gene responsible for drought tolerance and inserts it into another plant. The new genetically-modified plant will now have gained drought tolerance as well.
Selective breeding A breed is a particular set of domestic animals or plants having uniform look and behavior, that differentiate it from other animals or plants. Domestication is the process whereby a population of living organisms is changed at the genetic level, through generations of selective breeding, to accentuate traits that ultimately benefit humans. The deliberate breeding of animals and other species to obtain required features by human beings is called selective breeding. It includes breeding methods such as inbreeding, line breeding, etc. The animals that are produced are tamed, and the breeding is usually done by an expert breeder.
The human’s natural urge to generate an ideal offspring and strive to live in some degree of a utopian society has caused man to be disheartened by the mental and/or physical disfigurations in which they possess. With this mind set and the seemingly infinite increase in intelligence of the Homo-sapiens species an innovative new pseudo-science is born; Eugenics. Eugenics is the researching of or direct belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of humans. This is done with the use of one of the two different methods. Although the people who started this interesting area of research did not know it yet, the birth of this new field of study will lead to some horrid events affecting the world and many acts of discrimination
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk who revolutionized our understanding and perception of genetics. Mendel’s experiments in his monastery garden provided future geneticists with the basic principles of hereditary through the experimentation in both hybrid and pure bred pea plants, which he found to follow specific patterns in their offspring. The choice to use peas was because of their distinct varieties and their ability to produce offspring quickly and the ability to easily regulate fertilization simply with the use of a paintbrush. When conducting these experiments Before Mendel Pea Plant Experimentation it was commonly accepted that a child’s genetic traits were simply half from the mother and half from the father. This evidence was supported by experiments were generally conducted over a short period of time resulting in skewed and unreliable data, whereas Mendel’s experiments were conducted over an eight year period involving tens of thousands of plants. Two of Mendel’s traits that he focused on were the texture of the seed pod. E.g. smooth and round or wrinkled. In the first generation of these plants 100% of the pea plants possessed the Smooth and round texture. On the second generation of the pea plants of every 4 pea plants 3 posessed the smooth trait and a singular pea plant produced wrinkled seeds. Upon the review of his results Mendel concluded that characteristics could be expressed through dominant and recessive traits. The Dominant trait masks or completely covers the recessive, whereas a recessive gene is an allele that is only present in a homozygous genotype. Through Mendel’s experiments he proposed three principles of inheritance, whether you are looking at humans or pea plants, the apparent genetic traits t...
2. Cook, A. A. 1975. Diseases of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits and Nuts, Hafner Press,
Genetic engineering is a way in which specific genes for an animal or plant can be extracted, and reproduced to form a new animal or plant. These new organisms will express the required trait for that gene. This practice is a very controversial topic within the scientific world. It is being implemented in various areas such as agriculture even though there are many alternatives that can be found for genetic engineered crops, such as organic materials and reducing leeching of the soil. The controversy regarding this practice occurs as it is believed to contribute both negative and positive implications and dangers, not only to oneself but the environment as a whole. Genetic engineering increases the agricultural economy, the yields of agricultural produce, and also causes negative effects on the ecosystem.