Plant Genomics Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Molecular Engineering, Genetic Engineering, Others), By Trait (Yield Improvement, Disease Resistance, Herbicide Tolerance, Others), By Application (Cereals & Grains, Fruits & Vegetables, Oilseeds & Pulses, Others.) And Regional Forecast, 2024-2032

The global plant genomics market is expected to grow in recent years owing to the increasing demand for genetically modified crops. Plant genomics aims to study the genetic composition of entire plants and its implications on plant breeding along with genetic manipulation to improve the quality of the plants. The development of genetically modified crops helps to ensure disease resistance. Additionally, the availability of faster-growing plants helps maintain food security and ensures the availability of nutritious food in the market. 

According to the data published by United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, around 20-30% of the vegetated surface of earth is declining due to the loss of vegetative cover. Additionally, the decline in protein-rich plants is causing protein deficiency in around 76% of the global population. This resulted in a need to find alternative scientific methods to improve the vegetation cover; also increase plant productivity thus, creating a demand for balanced food security, a demand for bio-based economy to improve food security.  

With the growing population and the increasing awareness about health there is a growing demand for high quality fruits, vegetables, and cereals in the market. Although plant breeding techniques using conventional methods have progressed in recent years, there is a constant gap between the supply and demand of new crop varieties. Hence, there is a need to integrate crop improvement programs using genomics. The major areas of genomics that are adopted to improve the quality of crops are genetic engineering, tissue culture, molecular diagnostics, molecular marker, and the development of beneficial microbes. 

Genomics in agriculture will be helpful in accelerating the application of gene technology in this field. The advancements in plant genomics will be helpful in improving crop protection by preventing mycotoxin contamination in plants, improved disease resistance, and improved crop ability to survive extreme temperature conditions. Plant genomics in agriculture will also be helpful in improving the quality of grains produced by enhancing the quality as well as quantity of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients present in the grains. Hence, the use of this technology will be helpful in improving the food security by enhancing food productivity, food safety, as well as food diversity. These drivers positively support the growth of plant genomics market, globally.

The number of animal genomes that are used for sequencing is comparatively higher than plants used for genetic sequencing. Furthermore, the sequencing of genomes are mostly done on economically important crops. Primary importance is given to cereal crops (such as rice, wheat and others) and fruits and vegetables (such as apple and tomato). Sequencing of the plants are mainly driven by factors such as cost efficiency and the complexity of the genome. Therefore, researchers use plants that have small genome sequences with median size of 466 Mbp. Additionally, genetically modified crops developed using plant genomics cause high levels of toxicity in the soil and increase the soil's weediness. 

Traditional sequencing methods are time-consuming as well as labor, hence new technologies are used in the plants for gene sequencing. New technologies which developed in recent years and are used for gene-editing are zinc finger nuclease (ZFN), Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nuclease (TALEN) and CRISPR associated protein 9 nuclease methods which are simple, flexible and effective are used for gene editing.

Key Players Covered:

The key players operating in the global plant genomics market are Eurofins Scientific, Illumina, Inc., NRGene, Neogen Corporation, and Qiagen. Other major players are Agilent Technologies, KeyGene, LC Sciences, and Novogene Corporation.

In order to ensure that the genetically modified crops are safe to use, stringent regulatory bodies such as Food & Drug Administration Agency (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lay down regulations. The crop developer needs to submit the details related to the scientific assessment of food and FDA determines the safety of the food based on the provided scientific assessment information submitted by the developer.    

Large corporations and research institutes are increasing their investment in developing new varieties of plants and domestication of crops that were pending for many years. For instance, New York-based institute Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory are working on domesticating ground cherry using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. The aim of the process is to develop ground cherry that can be mass-produced and sold in the market as a berry crop.  Use of new and advanced technologies such as data mining and increasing use of artificial intelligence; and automation plays a very crucial role; and opens opportunities for companies to explore new areas of plant genomics.    

Regional Analysis:

The European region is expected to witness significant growth in plant genomics market in the upcoming period. This could be attributed to the increasing demand for high-quality food products. Furthermore, government initiatives aimed at improving crop quality also helps to ensure that the market keeps on growing in this region.

Segmentation

Key Industry Developments

• In 2020, plant-based technology company Calyxt, Inc., entered into a research collaboration with NRGene, which included use of NRGene’s cloud-based genomics platform to evaluate and accelerate trait discovery and breeding across multiple crops.