Difference between revisions of "Team:SECA NZ/Description"

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      <h1>Description</h1>
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            <h1>Our <mark class="green-mark">Vision</mark></h1>
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                What we wanted to see with our project
  
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  <p>With an ever-growing world population, having sustainable and reliable crops for food production
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is becoming increasingly important. However, every year millions of dollars’ worth of produce is damaged, lost, or never produced because of frosts.  
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                In New Zealand, 91% of kiwifruit growers cite winter temperatures as the greatest threat to crop yield. Source: Cradock-Henry, N. (2017).
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                Cold temperatures can stunt growth, cause severe plant damage, and even kill growing plants, making them a severe risk to the industry that needs to be addressed.
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                            Fig1. shows a Négociant in Bordeaux, France lighting candles to protect his grapes from frost. This shows the lengths growers will go protect their livelihoods.
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                            Source:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/28/french-winemakers-candles-heaters-helicopters-save-vines-frost-bordeaux-champagne
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  <p>Frost damages new shoots and buds of crop plants through the formation of ice crystals within the tissues, which rupture the surrounding cells. As a result, new plant and fruit growth is severely inhibited.  
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  <p>Despite promising research into frost resistance mechanisms, the majority of producers still utilise costly, and often ineffective, traditional methods of frost avoidance. </p>
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  <p>Our team seeks to introduce a variety of frost resistance genes into the model organisms Arabidopsis thaliana and Escherichia coli for characterisation. This will provide insight into the varying ability of frost resistance genes to protect model organisms at sub-zero temperatures, ultimately leading to the production of frost tolerant crops.
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  <p>We are using Arabidopsis and E.coli to test both the function of these mechanisms and their protein output. </p>
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                Our vision is to have crop plants that do not require these costly interventions in order to be protected from winter temperatures.
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  <p>We hope to create a pathway for future research to get frost-resistant plants into the ground in the coming years.</p>
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                We hope that in time farmers will not fear the oncoming of winter, or have their livelihood threatened by a sudden frost. Genetic engineering provides an avenue for this.
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                Frost resistance genes, in the form of Ice Recrystallisation Inhibition Proteins and Antifreeze Proteins are well documented in many species, both plants and animals and can be used to protect crop plants from the kind of damage caused by cold without the need for other interventions.
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                We hope to improve crop yields, therefore reducing waste and making better use of the farmland that is in current use. We hope to make it possible to grow crops in colder, or more unstable environments than it is currently possible to do, thorough improving cold tolerance of these plants.
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                In all, we hope to lift many of the limitations imposed upon crop farmers by cold winter temperatures.
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                Current methods of frost protection are expensive and  labour intensive. Current methods include:
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                        Selective Breeding
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                        Frost Covers
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                        Fans and Helicopters
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                        Sprinkler Systems
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                        Heaters and Candles
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                These, among other techniques employed, are highly costly and only reduce the damage done as well as only ‘saving’ some of the crop.
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Revision as of 03:14, 29 October 2017

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Our Vision

What we wanted to see with our project

In New Zealand, 91% of kiwifruit growers cite winter temperatures as the greatest threat to crop yield. Source: Cradock-Henry, N. (2017).

Cold temperatures can stunt growth, cause severe plant damage, and even kill growing plants, making them a severe risk to the industry that needs to be addressed. 

                   <img class="card-img-top" src="" alt="transform photo">

Fig1. shows a Négociant in Bordeaux, France lighting candles to protect his grapes from frost. This shows the lengths growers will go protect their livelihoods.

Source:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/28/french-winemakers-candles-heaters-helicopters-save-vines-frost-bordeaux-champagne

Our vision is to have crop plants that do not require these costly interventions in order to be protected from winter temperatures. 

               We hope that in time farmers will not fear the oncoming of winter, or have their livelihood threatened by a sudden frost. Genetic engineering provides an avenue for this.


               Frost resistance genes, in the form of Ice Recrystallisation Inhibition Proteins and Antifreeze Proteins are well documented in many species, both plants and animals and can be used to protect crop plants from the kind of damage caused by cold without the need for other interventions.


               We hope to improve crop yields, therefore reducing waste and making better use of the farmland that is in current use. We hope to make it possible to grow crops in colder, or more unstable environments than it is currently possible to do, thorough improving cold tolerance of these plants.


               In all, we hope to lift many of the limitations imposed upon crop farmers by cold winter temperatures.

Current methods of frost protection are expensive and labour intensive. Current methods include:

  • Selective Breeding
  • Frost Covers
  • Fans and Helicopters
  • Sprinkler Systems
  • Heaters and Candles 
               These, among other techniques employed, are highly costly and only reduce the damage done as well as only ‘saving’ some of the crop.