Genetic Improvement of Industrial Crops Through Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering is one of the modern biotechnology techniques that allows the transfer of genes between unrelated genera or species. It is being applied to crop improvement as one of the latest tools in plant breeding. Advances in biotechnology and breeding techniques offer new opportunities to further improve the efficiency of industrial crops. Genetic engineering tool has already generated tremendous benefits for farmers due to improved farm efficiency and profitability in industrial crops. Since the first transgenic crop was commercialized in 1994, industrial crops like cotton, soybean, and rapeseed have become among the major crops improved using genetic engineering and are the main commercially grown transgenic crops worldwide. The central objective of this chapter is to highlight the important advancements in plant genetic improvement using genetic engineering with an emphasis on industrial crops such as fiber, oil, and sugar crops.