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Biotech breakthrough set to slash prices on expensive orchids
I assume "four bodied" means 4N. As they are talking about
"transplantation", then this is mechanical and not chemical like colchicine? Will this be workable for small breeders, or will it just work out for those huge breeding factories? FYI, NT$300 is about US$9. -- Reka This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it! http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html http://english.www.gov.tw/TaiwanHead...sp?categid=198 &recordid=88753 Those wishing to produce a new type of orchid must often devote a lifetime of hard effort to the task. But now, Kaohsiung university professor Chen Wen-hui has developed a new biotechnology featuring gene transplantation that hastens the process of nurturing new varieties, and can bring valuable, rare orchid varieties into large-scale standardized reproduction, so that a plant previously valued at NT$3 million could sell for a mere NT$300. Chen has been involved in orchid research for nearly three decades. A number of years ago, the professor decided to team up with a dozen-odd researchers including professor Lin Caiyun of Qinghua University's Department of Biotechnology and professor Chen Honghua of Chenggong University. The group got a grant from the National Science Foundation and published in major international journals in 2001 and 2003. At present, patent applications are underway for the technology they developed, and when it comes into use, it is estimated that it will cause great turmoil among the ranks of traditional growers, while allowing consumers to enjoy high-class orchids at cut-rate prices. The technology is on the cutting edge of plant propagation technologies worldwide. Taiwan is the world's largest exporter of butterfly orchids, shipping about NT$4 billion worth of plants annually. However, traditional orchid raising involved hybrid breeding, and a healthy element of luck. Only plants that grew well could fetch attractive prices, and new varieties were not certain to be viable after two or three generations. Chen's research focused on developing a "four-bodied butterfly orchid," technology as a breakthrough in the propagation of the plants. He says that the Taiwanese orchid that won the world orchid competition in 1993 was a naturally-occurring four-bodied flower, the blooms of which were one-third larger than others and which had rounder, thicker leaves and superior resistance to disease. Chen says that original orchids were all "two-bodied." He takes two- bodied flowers and uses artificial means to hasten their development into improved four-bodied flowers, then interbreeds them with other four-bodied plants to produce a new variety. -- Reka This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it! http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html |
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