Selection Methods In Plant Breeding

Our requirement for plant breeders to be successful has never been greater. However one views the forecasted numbers for future population growth we will need, in the immediate future, to be feeding, clothing and housing many more people than we do, inadequately, at present. Plant breeding represents the most valuable strategy in increasing our productivity in a way that is sustainable and environmentally sensitive. Plant breeding can rightly be considered as one of the oldest multidisciplin ary subjects that is known to humans. It was practised by people who first started to carry out a settled form of agriculture. The art, as it must have been at that stage, was applied without any formal underlying framework, but achieved dramatic results, as witnessed by the forms of cultivated plants we have today. We are now learning how to apply successfully the results of yet imperfect scientific knowledge. This knowledge is, however, rapidly develop ing, particularly in areas of tissue culture, biotechnology and molecular biology. Plant breeding's inherent multifaceted nature means that alongside obvious subject areas like genetics we also need to consider areas such as: statistics, physiology, plant pathology, entomology, biochemistry, weed science, quality, seed characteristics, reproductive biology, trial design, se lection and computing.

The role of plant breeding; The genetic and cytogenetic basis of plant breeding; Heterosis; Mode of reproduction in relation to breeding methods; Techniques in selfing and crossing; The pure-line method of breeding naturally self-pollinated plants; Hybridization as a method of improving self-fertilized plants; The backcross method of plant breeding; Breeding for disease and insect resistance; Special techniques; Inheritance in small grains and flax; Cotton and sorghum breeding; Development of methods of corn breeding; Inheritance in maize; Forage-crop improvement; Breeding other cross-pollinated plants; Seed production; Some commonly used measures of type and variability; Correlation and regression in relation to plant breeding; Chi-squre testes; Field-plot technique; Experimental designs and statistical methods for simple plant-breeding experiments; Heritability.

First Published in 1986, this book explores the application of Selection Indices in the process of plant breeding. Carefully compiled and filled with a vast repertoire of notes, diagrams, and references this book serves as a useful reference for Students of Medicine, Chiropractors, and other practitioners in their respective fields.

Perspectives in plant breeding. The evolution of cultivated plants. Plant introductions. Mode of reproduction in relation to plant-breeding methods. Variability in plants. Genes and qualitative characters. Genes and qualitative characters. Quantitative inheritance. Role of the environment in plant breeding. Selection in self-pollinated crops. Hybridization and gene combinations. Breeding self-pollinated crops by hybridization and pedigree selection. Bulk population method of breeding self-pollinated plants. The backcross method of breeding. Cross-pollinated crops. Control of cross-pollination. Selection in cross-pollinated crops. Inbreeding and heterosis. Hybrid varieties. Recurrent selection. Synthetic varieties. Autoploidy in plant breeding. Alloploidy.Aneuploids. Mutagens and crop improvement. Interspecific hybridization. Interspecific transfer of characters. Genetics of resistance to diseases and insects. Breeding for resistance to diseases and insects. Maintenance and distribution of varieties. Field-plot technique and experimental design.

No detailed description available for "Fundamentals of Plant Breeding".

Genomic Selection for Crop Improvement serves as handbook for users by providing basic as well as advanced understandings of genomic selection. This useful review explains germplasm use, phenotyping evaluation, marker genotyping methods, and statistical models involved in genomic selection. It also includes examples of ongoing activities of genomic selection for crop improvement and efforts initiated to deploy the genomic selection in some important crops. In order to understand the potential of GS breeding, it is high time to bring complete information in the form of a book that can serve as a ready reference for geneticist and plant breeders.

Plants have been successfully selectively bred for thousands of years, culminating in incredible yields, quality, resistance and so on that we see in our modern day crops and ornamental plants. In recent years the techniques used have been rapidly advanced and refined to include molecular, cell and genetic techniques. An Introduction to Plant Breeding provides comprehensive coverage of the whole area of plant breeding. Covering modes of reproduction in plants, breeding objectives and schemes, genetics, predictions, selection, alternative techniques and practical considerations. Each chapter is carefully laid out in a student friendly way and includes questions for the reader. The book is essential reading for all those studying, teaching and researching plant breeding.