ENV100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Crop Trust, Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Percy Schmeiser

• School: UTSG
• Department: School of Environment
• Course: ENV100H1
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Hand pollination preserves genetic diversity: laborious process, controlling how much diversity there is. Svalbard global seed vault: doomsday vault, norway. Still preserving less favored varieties of crops. If used crops fail, we have something to fall back on. The green revolution involved development of new cultivars. Cultivars variety of plant that has been intentionally selected for: like domestic animal breed. Been going on for 1000s of years. Selected for: more plant energy into growth of grain instead of leaves or stem, early-maturing multiple harvests, more uniform easier mechanized harvesting, better response to fertilizers. Can use less fertilizers and less are wasted: drought-resistant, pest-resistant. Artificial selection has produced a huge change. Night blindness: not only at night always, some people go completely blind. Gmo rice to combat vitamin a deficiency. Issues of ownership and patenting of things that have always been in the public domain.