Cottonseed, a source of nutrients for human consumption

This expert has begun giving his special seed shrimp, one of the studies expected to culminate with the flour of cotton in the bowl of humans. "The amount of seed cotton produced worldwide satisfy the basic requirements protein of 500 million people, "Rathore said in an interview with Efe during a visit to Quito, as part of an exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. In a world that has just passed the threshold of 7,000 million people and has suffered significant increases in food prices in recent years, finding an untapped source of nutrients is a very tempting prospect. The idea is of particular interest for more than 20 million farmers who grow cotton, especially in countries like China, India, USA, Brazil and Argentina, who now collect white fiber but wasted the rest.
     
Rathore shouted "Eureka" after 10 years working in his lab at Texas University, after which for some time had to shelve the project almost a hobby to the initial failures. The cotton has glands that secrete gossypol, a compound toxic that helps you defend against pests and most herbivores, including, so far, man. 50 years ago achieved a botanical plant cotton, this compound after crossing a wild variety of cotton, gossypol with commercial varieties. It was an exciting time, which led to studies among humans in Africa, India and Central America, where it was given to children, which proved that the cottonseed was a good nutrient without adverse effects said Rathore. At the University of Texas A & M a volunteer group of salted and "I most liked the flavor," he said. However, the project failed because the succulent cotton plants without gossypol were prey to all kinds of insects. He had to get genetic engineering to solve the problem, from the hands of Indian Rathore, who in 2006 "silence" the gene responsible for the production of gossypol in the seed only, which are kept with the compound glands as protection the other tissues. Since then his team of five people, has grown eight generations of the special seed, both in greenhouses and outdoors, and has concluded that the genetic peculiarity "is stable and transmissible."

With his discovery Rathore seeks to change the relationship between man and cotton, a plant native to Africa that is grown for its tissue from 7,000 years ago, but which produces 1.6 times more seed fiber. Currently the seed oil is used to human consumption, it is possible to remove the gossypol by mechanical and chemical means, while the rest is given to cows, which are able to digest thanks to the powerful four compartments of the stomach. However, cattle are a vehicle which inefficient processing of food, since they need 5.8 kilos of feed to produce 1 kilo of meat. In contrast, the proportion in chickens is 2 for 1 and some fish such as salmon is about 1 to 1 . For its combination of amino acids, like shrimp especially the seed, Rathore also offer chickens and pigs in future studies, he said. However, he believes that even take ten years to meet safety requirements imposed by the U.S. regulatory agencies and thus remove the seed to market, although Washington is the most tolerant of the genetically modified foods. In Europe, where opposition is concentrated to the human genes alter what we eat , expected to take much longer.