Experts say Vietnam’s rapid progress in research and application of biotechnology in agriculture is contributing to the country’s goals for green growth and meeting the needs of farmers.
Nguyễn Ngọc Bảo Châu from the Department of Biotechnology at HCM City Open University told Việt Nam News that over the past five years, “many institutes, universities, centers and start-ups within the country, including HCM City, have conducted research and developed effective applications of biotechnology in agriculture “.
Châu was speaking on the sidelines of a global workshop on agricultural biotechnology organized by HCM City Open University yesterday.
Scientists within the country have used biotechnologies to enhance the standard of seeds and breeds of plants and animals, he said.
Biotechnological methods have enabled the rapid detection of plant diseases and have also been used to create products to stop diseases and pest invasions.
Nguyễn Bảo Quốc from Nông Lâm University said that many global scientists have developed quite a few techniques for detecting microbial pathogens, but these methods are laborious and time-consuming and might only be utilized in well-equipped laboratories.
His group has developed an alternate approach to rapidly detect multiple groups of phytoplasmas (bacteria transmitted to plants by insects) that cause witch broom and white leaf disease in longan, cassava and sugarcane plants.
Dương Hoa Xô, director of the Biotechnology Center at HCM City, said the middle has collected and preserved gene sources covering 360 varieties of orchids, including beneficial ones that grow within the country’s forests, 124 varieties of bonsai and 100 varieties of herbs.
A microbial gene bank has also been created, which uses scientific techniques to insert genes with useful traits, reminiscent of disease resistance in a single flower over one other.
During the workshop, researchers, scientists and students from universities in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam gave presentations on their research.
Source : News from Vietnam | Vietnamese network bridge
