THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN INNOVATIONS IN PLANT BREEDING AND CLIMATE CHANGE: TRAILING THEIR MOTTLED RANGE OF IMPRESSIONS UPON EACH OTHER

Abstract

The process of plant breeding and evolving newer varieties of plants requires great skills, efforts, time, and experimentation on the part of the Breeders and, in some instances, even farmers. This process involves the employment of a certain degree of modification, either in the genetic makeup of the plants or in the process of their cultivation. This makes it possible for breeders to effectively combat the elements that lead to the degeneration or deterioration of plants and guarantees that the elements that adversely affect their growth are minimised to the greatest possible extent. The climate of the nations where new plant breeding techniques are used can be observed to have both beneficial and detrimental effects. Plant breeding enhances plant quality, but it may also be considered as occupying a medium ground between the two extremes of climate change. At one end of the continuum, plant breeding has a number of positive implications, like an improved agricultural output and resultantly, a boost in the economies of the nations they are developed in. Additionally, by utilising cutting-edge production techniques, the environment is not overworked throughout the plant-generation process. Albeit, on the other extreme, not all changes it brings about are positive. Some of the negative implications include a rise in chemical production, a decline in biodiversity, and excessive water and land consumption. These aspects merely cover the tip of the iceberg. This paper is, therefore, an attempt to shed light over all the grey areas in the domain of plant breeding and highlight the black as opposed to the white. This is an attempt at familiarizing the readers with all the positive and negative implications that plant breeding has the potential to cast over the climate. The researchers suggest ways in which the plant breeders modify their praxes in ways that can minimize the negative impacts on the environment without compromising the production of new varieties of plants.