Accelerated Plant Breeding, Volume 5
Springer Nature
Human population growth and potentially irreversible climate changes have raised worldwide concerns regarding food and nutritional security. Plant breeding that once considered “art and science for changing and improving the characteristics of plants” is now heavily dependent on biotechnologies. The endeavor is a continuous process which results in new varieties required by farmers to improve their crop yields and quality of the produce. On the other hand, in the current scenarios of challenging environmental impact, there is emergence of new insect-pests and new pathotypes of disease causing agents. Accordingly what used to be minor insect-pests/pathogens are rapidly becoming major biotic stress factors. Along with heat and drought, they pose serious threats to crop productivity in many parts of the world. Current WTO analysis reveals that farmers want new high yielding varieties suitable not only for local consumption but also for commercial export. Conventional breeding approaches at this juncture seem inadequate to meet the growing demand for superior varieties. Efficiency improvement of existing cultivars is one way to meet these challenges. Historically, plant improvement…
