Are Rainbow Carrot Genetically Modified?- No, Rainbow carrots are not genetically modified plants.
This is a very common searched question on the internet. Also, many readers have asked the same on forums and in the comments. So today we will address the facts behind the question- are rainbow carrots genetically modified? The answer is a straight no. Still for a detailed answer keep reading.
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Are colored carrots natural?
Yes, Most of the colored carrots that we consume are Natural. Red, Yellow, Purple, White, and even black carrots are naturally grown plants.
Carrots with different colors are different varieties grown worldwide. All of these colors are the result of the successful breeding of a particular variety.
It takes effort and time to get the desired color of carrots. The selection of varieties was done by us. Whereas the selection for traits being developed was entirely a Natural process. This is a natural way of hybridization. every single color of carrot fond today shares a common ancestor.
This gives rise to another question. Before that, you can read this: 13 Tips for Gardening in Rainy Season: Monsoon Gardening
How do rainbow carrots get their color?
Rainbow Carrot or colored carrots gets their color from the Carotenes. Carotenes are natural coloring pigments. These are made of hydrocarbons and minerals. These pigments absorb light of certain wavelengths to reflect a specific visible spectrum of light.
In simple words, we can say that different colors in carrots and other plants are mostly due to the presence of several carotenes. Yellow or Orange color in Carrot is due to the Beta carotene present in it.
Several Carotenes are chemically reducing substances. That’s why they are a natural antioxidant.
What color are carrots originally?
Some say Collorless but red carrot is considered the original colored commercial carrot.
It is an interesting question with many available answers. Some say white or red other says Yellow and Orange but neither one is scientifically correct.
The traits or the hierarchy of every carrot points to one single wild plant. In its ancient form carrots of the modern world has no visible similarities.
It was a wild herb-like plant with a central taproot. This tap-root was further modified to carrots. Earlier those roots were of ordinary root-like color. Some people can say it was colorless buy aging this was not true.
Those ancient roots were yellowish-brown on outside and white inside. It was one of the first members of the Carota family.
Latter with time and natural interference the modern carrot gets its structure and color.
Why We can’t say Rainbow Carrots as GMO?
After all this discussion it is clear that Rainbow carrots are not genetically modified. Still, there are facts that they have evolved from other species. So isn’t it contradicting?
No actually not. Rainbow carrots are naturally evolved non-GMO varieties of carrots.
To understand this concept you first need to understand what are GMO and how are they different from other natural plants?
GMO or genetically modified organisms or plants are the plants with artificially acquired characters. New improved and desired characters are artificially introduced in these plants. These are true man-made varieties of plants. Scientists use genetic engineering techniques to develop plants with desired characters.
Now, When we talk about Rainbow carrots it means the real carrot with different colors. These carrots were evolved naturally a long time before any scientific experiment done on them.
Most of these colored carrots were developed more than 450-1000 years ago. It was not a spontaneous phenomenon. The entire development takes place in the wild during the 1000s of years.
If you still consider rainbow carrot as a genetically modified plant. Then nature must be the scientist and environmental factors were the tools. The forest and fields were the laboratories and Natual hybridization was the experiment. All of this was perfectly synchronized to formulate modern colorful carrots.
Do you Know?– Orange Carrot was developed by dutch farmers somewhere around 1400. The Orange color was developed from selective breeding of yellow carrot varieties with other carrots.
Do you know- Why did they do so?- The orange carrot was developed by the dutch to celebrate their dutch color-Orange.
Similarly, Most of the colors of carrots we see is a result of successive breeding of selected varieties. There are very few GMO varieties of carrots that you can buy from a grocery store.
Just visit your nearest store to purchase some rainbow carrots.
Final Words
Rainbow carrots are real edible healthy carrots with different colors. These carrots are of different varieties. They are either sold together in a bundle or grown together in a single bed. Whatever you do you can not make a single carrot with all the rainbow color. Or maybe you can just with some paint and a brush.
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Enjoy the day. Keep reading keep gardening!
Credit: http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/