Applications of forest Biotechnology

Description

Biotechnological innovation in forestry falls into three main areas: the use of vegetative reproduction methods; the use of genetic markers; and the production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or transgenic trees. Most of the biotechnologies used in forestry today involve vegetative reproduction through tissue culture and molecular marker applications. The benefits of biotechnology in forestry go beyond economic advantages-including increased production, lower costs to consumers, and trees modified for easy processing or specific production values-to such environmental benefits as helping to preserve biodiversity and mitigate global warming. Biotechnology, or more specifically the employment of biological agents, such as fungi, bacteria and more exclusively extracellular enzymes offers a wide range of potential applications, and consequently benefits for the forest products industry. Biotechnological manipulations have been shown to complement and/or enhance conventional wood processing operations, such as pulp and paper manufacture and paper recycling, and may provide many economic and environmental benefits through waste reduction, energy savings and reductions in toxic chemicals released into the environment. This book presents a comprehensive review of special research directed towards efficient and environmentally sensitive use of forests.