Biotechnological Applications In Agriculture

One of the central goals of biotechnology in agriculture is the creation of pest-resistant transgenic crops, which lessens dependence on chemical pesticides while improving yield, a theme emphasised in NCERT Class 12, Chapter 11 (Biotechnology and its Applications). By engineering plants such as Bt cotton to produce their own insecticidal proteins, farmers can reduce pesticide spraying, lowering both costs and environmental contamination. The production of antibiotics in fungi relates to microbial fermentation and medicine rather than to crop pest resistance, so it is incorrect. The manufacture of vaccines in bacteria is a medical biotechnology application and does not address agricultural pest control. Cleaning oil spills using microbes is an example of bioremediation, an environmental application unrelated to enhancing crop protection. A consistency check supports the answer: the question explicitly links reduced pesticide use with engineered pest resistance and higher yield, which is precisely the aim of developing pest-resistant transgenic crops.