Plant Breeding

Plant Breeding

The technique of producing improved varieties of crop plants by the introduction of several desired characters into them is called as plant breeding. Scientists concerned with the improvement of crop varieties are called as plant breeders.

AIMS OF PLANT BREEDING:

New varieties of crop plants have:

• Higher yield.
• Resistance to heat, frost, drought
• Pest resistance
• Early maturing varieties

METHODS FOR THE GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF CROP PLANTS:

• Selection: It is the process in which economic plants having best desired characters are picked up from the given population and seeds of such plants are used for future cultivation, e.g. Maize & Cabbage are represented by their cultivated varieties only.
• Hybridization: It means the process of crossbreeding of two genetically dissimilar varieties of crop plants (each having specific and better characteristics) to obtain a new crop plant having both the desired characteristics is called as hybridization. Crop plants produced in this way are called as hybrid varieties or high yielding varieties.