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Techniques aimed at crop improvement have been utilized for centuries.
Today, applied plant science has three overall goals: increased crop
yield, improved crop quality, and reduced production costs.
Biotechnology is proving its value in meeting these goals. Progress
has, however, been slower than with medical and other areas of
research. Because plants are genetically and physiologically more
complex than single-cell organisms such as bacteria and yeasts, the
necessary technologies are developing more slowly.

1.Improvements in Crop Yield and Quality

In one active area of plant research, scientists are exploring ways to
use genetic modification to confer desirable characteristics on food
crops. Similarly, agronomists are looking for ways to harden plants
against adverse environmental conditions such as soil salinity,
drought, alkaline earth metals, and anaerobic (lacking air) soil
conditions.
Genetic engineering methods to improve fruit and vegetable crop
characteristics - such as taste, texture, size, color, acidity or
sweetness, and ripening process, are being explored as a potentially
superior strategy to the traditional method of cross-breeding.
Research in this area of agricultural biotechnology is complicated by
the fact that many of a crop's traits are encoded not by one gene but
by many genes working together. Therefore, one must first identify all
of the genes that function as a set to express a particular property.
This knowledge can then be applied to altering the germlines of
commercially important food crops. For example, it will be possible to
transfer the genes regulating nutrient content from one variety of
tomatoes into a variety that naturally grows to a larger size.
Similarly, by modifying the genes that control ripening, agronomists
can provide supplies of seasonal fruits and vegetables for extended
periods of time.
Biotechnological methods for improving field crops, such as wheat,
corn and soybeans, are also being sought, since seeds serve both as a
source of nutrition for people and animals and as the material for
producing the next plant generation. By increasing the quality and
quantity of protein or varying the types in these crops, we can
improve their nutritional value.