Introduction of plant breeding

Definition

Plant breeding is the art and science of improvement of agricultural crops in order to feed the ever-increasing population. Improvement of crop means changing in genetic makeup/heredity of a plant.
The one who is engaged in plant breeding is called as plant breeder. The role of plant breeder is to combine the desired characters in one plant in order to make high-yielding, input-responsive, disease resistant, drought resistant, etc.
Plant breeding is practiced since ancient time. It was more an art, however, after the Mendel’s work (during 1800s) it is more a science.

Scope of plant breeding

• Plant breeding has vast scope in enhancement of productivity of crop plants.
• Plant breeding can improve the quality as well as production of seed crops, oil seed, pulses and vegetables.
• Through the plant breeding the desired alleles in a population can be accumulated in crop plant.
• It has scope to improve the crop management practices.

Objectives of plant breeding

Plant breeding has following (but not limited to) objectives

Improvement in quantity

• Grain in maize, jowar, bajra, etc.

Improvement in quality

• Size, shape and color of grains
• Cooking quality of rice
• Milling and baking qualities of wheat
• Malting in barley
• Protein content in pulses
• Shape, size and flavor of fruits
• Keeping quality of vegetable
• Oil content in oilseeds
• Length, strength and fitness of fiber in cotton

Abiotic stress

• Drought
• Salinity
• Temperature
• Frost

Disease and pest resistance

• Rust resistance in wheat
• False smut resistance in rice

Elimination of toxic substances

• Lathyrogen (neurotoxin) content in Lathyrus sativus (Khesari lentil)
• Hydrogen cyanide in jowar
• Cucurbitacin in cucurbits
• Erucic acid in Brassicas

Synchronizing maturity

• In pulses, e.g., Black gram, mung bean several pickings are required.

Development of photo and thermo-insensitive varieties of wheat and rice to extend their cultivation on new areas.
Change in maturity duration
Desirable changes in agronomic traits

• Dwarfness in rice
• Tallness, high tillering, profuse branching in fodder

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First published on 13-04-2021
Last updated on 06-05-2021