Current developments in plant biotechnology for genetic improvement: the case of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

As the World's population is expanding rapidly, all possible techniques for crop improvement must be utilized to meet the food demands of the next century. Although conventional breeding techniques have considerably increased the productivity of modern crops, the application of advanced molecular technologies could speed up further crop improvement. Use of biotechnology, such as the various tissue-culture methods and gene-transfer techniques now available, could significantly shorten the breeding process, and overcome some of the substantial agronomic and environmental problems that have not been solved using conventional methods. The present review discusses biotechnological developments in the genetic improvement of rice, the principal food for more than a third of the World's population.