Improving Plants

Today the topic is about improving plants, for understand it better we need to understand how happens the reproduction.
Guaraná is monoecious, it means that the plant have separate male and the female flower on the same plant. So a cross pollination happens in those plants, by insects and wind. (tropical.theferns, n.d.) (Cristiane Krug, 2016) Those plants have strategies to prevent self-pollination, the pistil and stamen maturing at different times, so it can't reproduce by itself. (Britannica, n.d.)
To be a self-pollinated specie the plant need to have the male and the female part in the same flower in the same plant, then the flower can reproduce by itself without any intervention, it can even occur when the flower still closed, in cross pollination the flower is lacking the male or the female part and need intervention from outside factors, it only occurs when the flower is open, normally the flowers are attractive with colourful colours and attractive smell for the insects.
The picture bellow shows the different kind of pollination that I was discussing in a clearly and illustrated.
Resultado de imagem para cross pollination vs self pollination http://byjus.com/biology/difference-between-cross-pollination-and-self-pollination/

 Most of the cross pollinated plant can become a transgenic plant, this genetic transformation can have some benefits as increase resistance of species to pathogens and parasites, increase tolerance to environmental variables and also to add some vitamins or make some modifications at the plants as fruits without seeds. (Fao, n.d.) But on the other hand those genetic plants can reduce the genetic diversity, and once the genes of a transgenic plant have contact with the natural plant, so all those plants will have this transgenic material, what changes the natural genetics of the plants.  (URBAN, 2010) So still a doubt about transgenic plants and I think more researches need to be done to be sure that it is a safe way for the plants and for us.

Resultado de imagem para guarana tree http://lotrminecraftmod.wikia.com/wiki/File:Guarana_bush.jpg
For guaraná there is a breeding program, which the aim to see if guaraná clones can be productive and divergent and used in a cross-breeding program to obtain hybrids with high heterotic value and materials for vegetative propagation, with uniform vegetative development for use in commercial plantations. Crossbreeding was utilised in this experiment. The genetic divergence of the clones currently in use in the guaraná breeding program of the Embrapa-Agroforestry Research Center of the Western Amazon is not large. The results for this experiment were: The formation of segregating populations, from biparental or multiple crosses, among the most productive clones of each group, increases the probability of emergence of higher hybrid combination, the genetic divergence of the clones currently in use in the guaraná breeding program of the Embrapa-Agroforestry Research Center of the Western Amazon is not large and genetically closest clones can be used in the formation of a population with uniform vegetative development for use in commercial plantations. (Firmino José do Nascimento Filho, 2001)

Bibliography
Britannica, K. (n.d.). http://kids.britannica.com. Retrieved septemeber 2017, from http://kids.britannica.com/students/article/flower/274354/200877-toc
Cristiane Krug, M. V. (2016, March). Retrieved september 2017, from https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01284430/document
Fao. (n.d.). http://www.fao.org. Retrieved september 2017, from http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4955e/y4955e04.htm
Firmino José do Nascimento Filho, A. L. (2001). Divergência genética entre clones de guaranazeiro.
tropical.theferns. (n.d.). http://tropical.theferns.info. Retrieved september 2017, from http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Paullinia+cupana

URBAN, S. (2010, august). http://www.organicauthority.com. Retrieved september 2017, from http://www.organicauthority.com/foodie-buzz/eight-reasons-gmos-are-bad-for-you.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plant Disease and Insects

Image
Today the topic will be about diseases and insects that can have interference in the guarana production.     The main disease for the guarana plants is the  anthracnose ,   caused by the fungus  Colletotrichum   guaranicola , it is one of the main problems for the low production of guarana in the Amazon.   https://www.acritica.com/channels/governo/news/embrapa-lanca-novas-plantas-de-guarana-resistentes-a-doencas-e-de-alta-produtividade-comercial   A nthracnose   The main insect that  attacks  the guarana plants is the  Liothrips   adisi .   This species has only been founded in  guaraná  plants.    https://www.embrapa.br/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/665200/observacoes-sobre-o-tripes-liothrips-adisi-strassen-1977-do-guaranazeiro   Liothrips   adisi The  insects, in order  to feed,  suck the plant sap, which causes morphophysiological changes in the ...
Read more

Final Weblog

Image
An overview of Guaraná  Guaraná is a special plant and it needs really specific conditions to grow and becomes productive. The Brazil Rain Forest from where the plant comes from could not be a better place for this plant to grow. Currently, the fruits that are commercialized and have a commercial value, but also other parts can be used, as the leaves, trunk, and seeds. All them have different properties and teas are made from it, it can provide several benefits for human health which makes guarana a magic and unique plant, and the levels of caffeine that the plants contain are incredibly higher than coffee's! Because the guaraná plant pass through dry periods the type of photosynthesis that it realizes is the C4 and the photoperiod is relevant for the growth, due to the location, the Amazon forest, the day light is always similar, once Brazil is located in the Ecuador line do not have changes in the day light. So, a regular daylight is necessary. Guaraná is monoecious, s...
Read more

Soils

Image
Today the topic we will discuss is soil! Such as an important factor for plants. people and for the world.                                             The soil of Amazon rainforest is the deepest in the world,  it have been formed from the underlying rock and rain. Some places of the Amazon River Basin, the soil is white and sandy. How is a rainforest, the rain has a lot of impact there, the soils are often washed out, so large amounts of nutrients and minerals are being removed from the subsoil, due to it, most of the soils are lacking many of the fundamental nutrients needed by the above ground vegetation. Composed by a thin topsoil, made up mainly of decaying vegetable and animals, what provide a high amount of organic matter. http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/ecosystems_amazon/rainforests/ http://www.soil-net.com/dev/pag...
Read more