Reply from Promila ji: "Sharad Ji, In my childhood I saw cotton seeds, which is known as binaula, were given to milch animals. I was told by one of the family member that it enriches the quality of milk and enhence the quality as well. Promila"
2009/12/8 J.M. Garg <[email protected]> > Forwarding pl. > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Sharad Murdeshwar <[email protected]> > Date: 2009/12/8 > Subject: Cotton heads for the dinner table > To: [email protected] > Cc: Sudha Nair <[email protected]>, Mangala Heble < > [email protected]> > > > Dear Mr Garg, > > You may find this article interesting. > > Regards, > > Sharad > > Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KL08Df04.html > > *Cotton heads for the dinner table* > By Raja Murthy > > MUMBAI - Professor Keerti Singh Rathore and his colleagues have given a > surprisingly tasty twist to the 7,000-year history of cotton. After serving > a mundane but essential multi-millennia function as a material for covering > the Earth's post-Garden of Eden inhabitants, the plant's seeds may now be > used to help feed folk, including malnourished millions in Asia and Africa. > > Cotton Inc, a North Carolina-based industry body that touts a celebrated > American advertisement campaign "Fabric of Our Lives", could have hardly > expected cotton to emerge as food to save lives. > > Further west, in Texas, India-born Rathore and genetic scientists are > creating the possibility of cotton seeds being an abundantly available, > protein-rich, cheaper and stronger nutrition source than cereals such as > rice, wheat, maize and millet. > > Rathore, who studied at Rajasthan University and then Gujarat University > before earning his PhD at Imperial College, London, is now associate > professor and director of the Laboratory for Crop Transformation at Texas > A&M University, where he and his colleagues have cracked a scientific riddle > of making cotton seeds edible without harming the cotton plant. > > They have reduced the presence of a toxic substance called gossypol, which > protects the cotton plant from insects but is poisonous to humans and > animals other than those, such as cows, with multi-chambered stomach > digestion capacity. > > An earlier version of cotton seed without gossypol, called "glandless > cotton", was tried decades ago and as early as the 1930s cotton seed flour > was used in doughnuts, biscuits, crackers and bread in the US and Canada. > But without gossypol, the cotton crop died early from insect attacks, and > the idea of "glandless cotton" also perished, with no takers among farmers. > > The breakthrough to a possible new chapter in the age-old cotton story > involves a process developed by Rathore and his involving RNA interference > (RNAi), a biotechnology that targets and suppresses a key gene in the > embryonic cotton seed. [1] > > The RNAi process reduces gossypol levels in the seed to make cotton seeds > safe enough for human stomachs while keeping it high enough in the rest of > the cotton plant to protect the plant from predatory insects. It means the > cotton crop, widely grown in 80 countries, can now both clothe and nourish > us. > > The result, with the big breakthrough in 2006 having taken Rathore 12 years > of work, is the prospect of a healthy, inexpensive new food source in the > near future, with cotton seed breads, cookies, protein bars and cotton stew. > The cotton seed flour can boost nutritional value by being mixed with > conventional cooking flours. > > "We have tested our engineered plants for five generations in the > greenhouse to make sure that the trait is stable," Rathore told Asia Times > Online. "We conducted our first field study this year and confirmed that the > engineered plants grew normally and were still maintaining the ultra-low > gossypol cottonseed (ULGC) trait." He says the new cotton seed has a > "pleasant nutty flavor". Others say it tastes better than soya bean. > > Rathore's cotton seed meets with World Health Organization and US Food and > Drug Administration standards for food consumption, and is undergoing > further tests ahead of appearing on shop shelves and as cheaper and better > animal feed. > > The new biotechnology gives cotton a much-changed status. Its earlier > history as a "white gold' whose cultivation went hand-in-hand with slavery - > more than six million slaves are estimated to have suffered in cotton, > coffee and sugar plantations in southern USA, Cuba and Brazil as late as > 1860. > > Even if the ultra-low gossypol cotton seed delivers half its promise, the > possibility of it tackling global hunger on a massive scale makes the > Rathore team effort one of the more significant food-related scientific > breakthroughs in recent times. > > Nearly 200 million children in poor countries suffer stunted growth due to > insufficient nutrition, according to a new United Nations report publishedon > December 2, as part of a three-day international summit in Rome to > address hunger across the world. Over 90% of those malnourished children > live in Africa and Asia. > > The Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declared this > year that a record 1.02 billion people worldwide, or one in six humans, > suffer from hunger - with family finances ruined with high food prices, > recession, drought and war. > > Nor has hunger spared the world's richest country. Ahead of Thanksgiving, > the US Department of Agriculture revealed that one in seven American > families suffer without regular and reliable access to food, and 17 million > American families and four million American children regularly go hungry. > > "Technology similar to the one we have used in ultra-low gossypol cotton > seed certainly opens up some new sources for use as food," says Rathore. "As > the global climatic conditions worsen, as many are predicting, humanity may > have to turn to new sources to meet the food requirement." > > Cotton seeds contain about 22% protein, say research scientists, as > compared to 7% to 10% protein levels in rice, wheat and other cereals. > > For every kilogram of cotton fibre, cotton plants also produce 1.65 kg of > seed a year. According to Rathore and team, "Forty-four million tonnes of > cotton seed [9.4 million tonnes of available protein] produced each year > could provide the total protein requirements of half a billion people for > one year [at 50 grams per day] if the seed were safe for human consumption." > > > This nutrition source, they say, would significantly contribute to > improving health in developing countries, and cope with a predicted 50% > increase in the world population in the next 50 years. FAO says global food > output has to increase 70% by 2050 to feed a projected population of 9.1 > billion. > > "The ultra-low gossypol cotton seed will have to go through the regulatory > approval process of individual African or Asian country before it can be > grown by the farmers." Rathore informed Asia Times Online. "Several other > types of analyses are yet to be carried out on the ultra-low gossypol cotton > seeds, and all the results will be published next year." > > The results would be keenly scanned by watchdogs of the genetically > modified food industry, though Rathore believes there could be less > concern about eating genetically altered cotton seeds than there is > regarding other genetically altered foodstuffs because his RNAi technique > involves "shutting down a chemical process within the seed, not adding > something to it". > > Even so, farmers in places such as India may prove cautious in adopting the > new seed. Early this decade, a new genetically modified seed, Bt, made by > US-based Monsanto, was introduced into India with the backing of local > governments. Monsanto, the the world's largest seed producer, said it was > resistant to cotton bollworm. This and the hope of higher yields helped to > persuade farmers to switch to the product despite it costing about four and > a half times the cost of normal seed. > > Yet within two years, the modified cotton plants were afflicted by blight > and crops were ruined, leading indebted farmers to commit suicide; figures > indicate more than 100,000 farmers of cotton and other crops have taken > their own lives in the past decade. > > Still, the nature of volition and motives influence the result of any > endeavor. Rathore and his team have no plans to cash in on their > groundbreaking work at the expense of poor farmers "We, of course, wish to > make it [the ultra-low gossypol cotton seed] available freely for > humanitarian use," says Rathore. > > *Notes* > 1. "Engineering cottonseed for use in human nutrition by tissue-specific > reduction of toxic gossypol" by Ganesan Sunilkumar, LeAnne M Campbell, > Lorraine Puckhaber, Robert D Stipanovic, and Keerti S Rathore. > > (Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. > Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.) > > > > -- > With regards, > J.M.Garg ([email protected]) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 > 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' > Image Resource of more than a thousand species of Birds, Butterflies, > Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg > For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Indiantreepix: > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en > > -- With regards, J.M.Garg ([email protected]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' Image Resource of more than a thousand species of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Indiantreepix: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix?hl=en.
