Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

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Agricultural Biotechnology Status in Iran
sulting in increased cost and environmental contamination due to fertilizer residues. Phosphate
biofertilizer can decrease phosphate chemical fertilizer usage by 50% while increasing the yield
by 10%–50%, thus eventually doubling the benefit to farmers.
Nitrogeneous Biofertilizer
Economic, health, and environmental problems have resulted from the use chemical nitrogen
fertilizers, demonstrating the importance of alternative plant feeding methods. Countries
using biological nitrogen fixation (BNF)—China, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Canada, the
U.S., Russia, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba—have shown that it has not only theoretical and experimental
but also has practical applications. After seven years of research, Iranian researchers
have produced nitrogen fertilizers containing native rhizobacters as a nitrogen fixative. These
bacteria can increase N-uptake in native rice cultivars by 69%.
Biopesticides
Pests reduce crop yield worldwide by 10%–20% annually. About 23,000 tons of chemical
pesticide were used on Iranian farms in 2002 and 2003 to protect crops against pests. Of this
amount, 8,000 tons were used solely against insects. Because of both the harmful effects of
chemical pesticides and the economic cost, biopesticides are considered to be a viable alternative.
Bt-derived pesticides are the most conventional and environmentally friendly. In Iran, Bt-derived
Cry proteins are produced on a large scale as a biopesticide, which has been shown to effectively
control one of the most important rice pests, the green rice caterpillar (Naranga
aenescens).
Bt-transgenic Rice
According to FAO statistics, Iran is the third-largest rice-importing country (926,000 tons
annually). An effort has been made to compensate for this deficiency through classic agronomic
and breeding methods. However, there is an emerging opinion that new genetic engineering
technologies should be adopted to complement these methods. In 1997, a Bt gene, developed in
cooperation with more than 20 scientists from India, Malaysia, the U.S., and Australia, was
transferred into Tarom Molaii rice cultivar, an Iranian rice, to achieve rice lines resistant to green
rice caterpillars (Naranga aenescens) and striped stem borers (Chilo suppressalis). After 12
years, these efforts resulted in several Bt-transgenic rice varieties. Three-year field trials proved
that the insect resistance gave higher yields (10%) compared to the unmodified control. The
most important characteristic of this transgenic rice is that it expresses Cry 1Ab protein only in
its green tissues (not in seed) and kills only striped stem borers and green rice caterpillars, with
no harmful effects to humans or live farm organisms, as shown in data collected when the transgenic
rice was fed to mice and chickens. It has been estimated that Bt-transgenic rice cultivation
will prevent the loss of 200,000 tons of rice yield due to pests and result in a benefit to Iranian
rice producers of about USD125 million.
In vitro-produced Pistachio Seedlings
The pistachio is native to Iran; more than 380,000 ha are devoted to this invaluable plant.
The average yield of 1000 kg/ha annually is lower than the yield of other competing countries
(2500 kg/ha). This inefficiency is the result of a lack of adequate research. Having access to
highly productive and homogeneous pistachio seedlings is very important in increasing the yield.
Micropropagation via tissue culture techniques has been adopted to accomplish this, which has
resulted in highly productive stock tolerant of environmental stress. The results have been very
satisfactory, and there are now optimized micropropagation protocols for large-scale production
of root stocks from several pistachio stocks. This is a two-month process, as opposed to the year
required to produce pistachio seedlings using traditional methods. It is possible to produce more