Agriculture – genetic engineering techniques
In animal nutrition, the use of genetic engineering techniques can reduce the ecological impact of increased animal production. Unlike ruminants, pigs and poultry are unable to tap the vital nutrient phosphorus contained in plant-based foods. This deficiency can be corrected by the addition of phytase to the feed, which eliminates the need for the supplementary feeding of phosphate. At the same time, phosphate pollution of the environment decreases by an average of 30% when liquid manure is used as fertiliser.
The use of specially selected probiotic microbial strains enables, on the one hand, healthier animal husbandry without antibiotics; on the other hand, it enables plants to better access nutrients like phosphate and to ward off pests while promoting plant growth through targeted stimulation. In the agricultural industry, suitable microbial strains are already being sown with plants (e.g. as seed coating) and enable significant increases in yield while simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions.
Looking to the future, the use of genetic engineering techniques in crops will help to enable a more sustainable production of food, feed and biologically produced raw materials in the plant-based bioeconomy. In addition to agronomic traits, the focus is particularly on improved food and feed quality.
The use of genetic engineering techniques in the agricultural industry can contribute to achieving the following SDGs:
