Which of the following types of biotechnology involves altering plants and animals?

Agricultural biotechnology is focused specifically on the manipulation of plants and animals to enhance their qualities, increase yield, and improve resistance to pests and diseases. This area of biotechnology employs techniques such as genetic engineering, marker-assisted selection, and tissue culture to develop organisms with desirable traits.

For example, genetic modification of crops can lead to the creation of plants that are resistant to pests or herbicides, which ultimately benefits agricultural productivity and food security. Similarly, in animal biotechnology, techniques might be applied to enhance growth rates, disease resistance, or other beneficial traits in livestock. This targeted alteration separates agricultural biotechnology from the other fields listed, as it specifically emphasizes the genetic modification of organisms within agricultural contexts.

In contrast, pharmaceutical biotechnology focuses on the development of drugs and vaccines, environmental biotechnology is concerned with the utilization of microorganisms to improve environmental health, and industrial biotechnology applies biological processes to manufacturing and production. Each of these fields applies biotechnology in distinct ways but does not primarily focus on altering the genetics of plants and animals as agricultural biotechnology does.