How can genetic engineering improve crop production? a. genetic engineering can eliminate the threat of disease to crops. b.genetic engineering removes the need of plants for watering. c.genetic engineering can reduce the effects of pests and weather on crop production. d.genetic engineering can make crops more susceptible to herbicides.

c.  Genetic engineering can help reduce the effects of pests and weather on crop production.

Genetic engineering can be defined as the process of manipulating the organisms genome by either inserting a gene of interest in the organism or removal of a gene from an organism. The genetic engineering is performed in order to make an organism disease free, improving health and to test the impact of a functional gene over an organism. Genetic engineering can help in reducing the effects of pests and weather on crop production.  This can be explained by an example of Bt cotton. The genes of bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, was inserted into cotton plants to make it resistant against pests. These genes produced Bt toxic which were ingested by the pests and acted like a toxic substance in piercing the gut walls of several insect species. Another example of genetic engineering which allows the growth of crops under unfavorable weather conditions comes from Japan. Japan is using genetic engineering to create rice plants that can produce high yields in drought conditions. They are using a gene from a rice plant growing in Philippines. The main characteristics of this plant is it's roots are deep and grow erect downward to find water in soil, as compared to root systems that are small and grows sideways in the typical rice plants. This can facilitate growth of rice plant in drought conditions.