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Biology > Improving food production > Flashcards

Improving food production Flashcards

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1
Q

Increasing food production efficiency in plants

A
  • Improving growth rate of crops
  • Increase the size of yield from each plant
  • Reduce losses of crop due to disease and pests
  • Make harvesting easier by standardising plant size
  • Improve plant reponses to fertilisers
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2
Q

Increasing food production efficiency in animals

A
  • Improve rate of growth
  • Increase productivity
  • Increase resistance to disease
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3
Q

Use of selective breeding in the food industry

A
  • Increase productivity
  • Increase resistance to disease
  • Enhance appearance
  • Enhance flavour and texture
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4
Q

Problem with selective breeding

A

Selective breeding involves line breeding and inbreeding so any recessive disease characteristics will be amplified

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5
Q

Difference between natural selection and selective breeding

A

In selective breeding, we have control over the outcome while in natural selection, nature has control

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6
Q

Three stages of selective breeding

A
  • Isolation
  • Artificial selection
  • Inbreeding/Linebreeding
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7
Q

Isolation

A

Isolate species with the desired characteristics from original group of species

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8
Q

Artificial selection

A

Selected species will be forced to reproduce to produce offspring with similar characteristics

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9
Q

Inbreeding/Linebreeding

A

Best offspring are bred to produce more offspring with the desired characteristics

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10
Q

Difference between linebreeding and inbreeding

A

Inbreeding is breeding between siblings and parentsw while line breeding is breeding between less close relations e.g. uncle+niece, aunt+nephew

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11
Q

What is Progeny testing?

A

A test where a single male is bred with multiple females, creating many offspring that are subsequently exposed to different environments over a long period of time. The average performance of the offspring is then found giving the male’s respective value to the breeder.

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12
Q

How does Progeny testing help with selective breeding?

A

During selective breeding over a large area using a handful of cows, this test can show how well offspring from this cow will perform in different environmental conditions

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13
Q

What is marker-assisted selection (MAS)?

A

When a section of DNA is used as marker to recognise the desired characteristics from the parents in the offspring

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14
Q

Examples of MAS

A
  • Apples being bred with higher tolerance to disease

- Disease resitant soybean (Glycine Max)

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15
Q

Benefits of MAS

A
  • Simple in comparison to phenotypic screening
  • Selection can be carried out at a seeding stage
  • Single plants may be selected with high reliability
  • This in turn leads to accelerated line development in breeding programs
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16
Q

How do fertilisers help improve food production?

A
  • Fertilisers replenish depleted mineral content of the soil as minerals have been used up by previous crop
  • Fertilisers contain nitrates, phosphates, potassium and magnesium that increase growth rate of plants
17
Q

How do pesticides help improve food production?

A
  • Pesticides kil organims that would otherwise eat the crop and sometimes cause disease
  • This increases crop yield as less crop is killed
18
Q

How do antibiotics help improve food production?

A
  • Antibiotics kill bacteria
  • This reduces the spread of diseases between animals that are intesively farmed
  • This improves growth performance and quality
19
Q

How do microorganisms spoil food?

A
  • By secreting enzymes
  • Borrowing on the surface of the food
  • By causing infection
  • By releasing toxins
20
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Cooking

A

The heat denatures enzymes and proteins and kills the microorganisms

21
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Pasteurisation

A

Heat the solution to 72 degrees then cool to 4 degrees to kill off any microorganisms

22
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Drying

A

This process dehydrates microorganisms by removing water by osmosis

23
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Smoking

A
  • The food develops a hard outer coat protecting it from microorganisms
  • Smoke also contains some anti bacterial chemicals
24
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Pickling

A

An acid pH denatures enzymes and proteins and kills the microorganisms

25
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Irradiation

A

Ionising radiation kills microorganisms by disrupting DNA structure

26
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Cooling and Freezing

A

Microorganisms are not killed but enzyme activity and metabolism is slowed down significantly

27
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Canning

A
  • Heated to denature enzymes and proteins

- Canned so microorganisms cannot get in

28
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Vacuum wrapping

A

Microorganisms cannot respire aerobically

29
Q

Preventing food spoilage: Plastic or paper packaging

A

Microorganisms cannot get in

30
Q

Examples of using microorganisms in the food industry

A
  • Lactobacillus is used to make drinks, yoghurt and cheese
  • Yeast is used in making bread and alcohol
  • Fungi are used to make mycoproteins
31
Q

Advantage of using mycoproteins

A
  • It can be used as a protein substitute for vegetarians

- Healthier than meat as it contains no animal fat or cholesterol

32
Q

Advantages of using microorganisms in food production

A
  • Production of protein can be carried out faster than plants and animals
  • Production can be adjusted according to demand
  • There are no animal welfare issues
  • They provide a good source of protein for vegtarians
  • The protein contains no animal fat or cholesterol
  • SCP production could be combined with removal of waste products
33
Q

Disadvantages of using microorganisms in food production

A
  • People may not want to eat fungal protein as it has been grown on waste
  • Proteins must be isolated from the material its been grown on
  • The protein has to be purified
  • Care must be taken to prevent pathogenic infection
  • Palatability: The protein doesn’t have the same texture or taste as traditional proteins
34
Q

How does bacteria cause food spoilage?

A
  • Bacteria digests the food and leaves waste products
  • These waste products cause infection as they are toxic
  • As the bacteria digest the food, they will grow all over the food until it is visible
  • At this point, the food is classed as spoilt
35
Q

Selective breeding

A

Where humans select the individual organisms that are allowed to breed according to chosen characteristics

Biology (18 decks)

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