INTRODUCTION OF PLANT BREEDING


   INTRODUCTION OF PLANT BREEDING 




The agricultural food production in India had increased from merely 50.82 million tonnes- in
1950-51 to 252.53 million tonnes in 2015-16. This represents an increase of over 397%during
period of 57 years. During this period, there was an increase of 27.87% in the cultivated area,
while yield per hectare increased by 255%. As a result, the nation became almost self-sufficient
food grains. But the population in India is growing at an alarming rate of around 2.5 per cent
Def year. This makes it necessary that the food grain production should also increase at least at
effect  same rate or even at a faster rate to improve the nutritional status of masses. The above
increase In yield resulted from increased quantum and better management of inputs, such as
fertilizers, irrigation water, plant protection and cultural practices, and from improved crop
varieties. It is doubtful that the net cropped area can be increased indefinitely, but there is still
some scope through double and multiple cropping. Improved input management practices are
yet to be fully exploited, and vast tracts of cultivated lands are very poorly managed. In future,'
agricultural production is most likely to increase from providing better environment through
input management, and from crop varieties capable of fully exploiting the prevailing environment
In fact, R.B. Singh has argued that during 1961-87, the increase in the production of cereals in
the Asia and Pacific region I was primarily due to increased yield per unit area alone, Singh,
concluded that during the decade 1977-1987, the entire increase in production was due
Increased yields alone.
                     Better environment alone cannot lead to better yields from inferior varieties beyond a
limit; the limit being set by the genetic makeup of the variety, In fact improving the
environment beyond a certain point for any variety may aversely performance. This
point is, amply illustrated by the tall and dwarf varieties of wheat. Tall wheat varieties
 respond to nitrogen application up to 60 kg/ha, while higher doses reduce yields primarily
 due to severe lodging. Dwarf wheat varieties, on the other hand, give increased yields up to ,
or even beyond, 120 kg nitrogen per hectare. It is believed that the genetic makeup of crop
plants. is such that it would permit considerable, perhaps endless, changes and improvements;
Further, the changes brought about in the present varieties probably represent only a small
1% portion of the possibilities. Thus continuous favourable changes in the genotypes of crop
'*Varieties are a must for increasing yields from crop plants.
Plant breeding deals precisely with the above aspect of crop production: It consists of
The princeple and the methods required for favourably changing the genetic constitution Of
Crop plant. This activity usually produces crop varieties better suited to human needs, in one
or than the existing ones. This would explain why Vavilov defined- plant
breeding as 'plant evolution directed by man



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