ABSTRACT
In crop improvement, conventional breeding and hybrid seed production are the mainstays in ongoing efforts directed toward varietal development (Morandini and Salamini, 2003). Nonetheless, modern genetic engineering technologies offer several unique advantages over conventional hybridization approaches. For example, in vitro DNA transfer techniques permit the introduction of genes and other genetic elements among sexually unrelated organisms, thereby bypassing biological barriers. Such genetic manipulation can be accomplished using a large quantity of plant materials in a relatively small space with a year-round articially controlled growth environment. Hence, use of genetic engineering techniques can complement and expedite conventional breeding programs by increasing the diversity of genetic resources, enhancing efciency, and reducing length of time needed to introgress desirable traits into existing elite crop varieties. Genetic engineering also allows utilization of exotic genes for the development of transgenic plants to produce proteins with novel nutritive, pharmaceutical, agrichemical, and industrial characteristics (Fischer and Emans, 2000).
