The Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding

Plant breeding has always remained an interesting field as a creative activity. This was so even in the ages of primitive agriculture when the Stone Age man (rather women) recognized the differences between the grains of different landraces (now we call them genotypes), not so much for yield potential because there was no crop cultivation, but for organoleptic properties and cooking quality. Selection from the wild was the first step on the long journey leading to the present-day efforts on developing high yielding varieties for intensive agriculture, heterosis breeding, and trans-specific migration of genes (transgenics). While one has to recognize the great strides made in crop improvement, unfortunately, plant breeders failed to exploit the wealth of knowledge generated through the giant leaps in basic genetics which ultimately led to the creation of disciplines like molecular genetics and biotechnology. Advances in genetic manipulation at molecular level have made it possible to transport genes across the species barriers from any organism to cultivated plants. An extremely powerful tool is now available in the hands of the plant breeder which can direct the course of crop breeding in a very precise manner. The fruits of these recent developments are not restricted to the world of transgenics. Using the procedures of marker assisted selection the routine plant breeding can achieve much greater speed and precision. The size of F₂ population can be increased thousand fold while cutting significantly on time, space and manpower. Combining the procedures of selection under laboratory conditions with the conventional field evaluation and simultaneously advancing a few hundred progenies from F₂ onward through the SSD route will yield homozygous RILs after 6–8 generations. This can be achieved within 3–4 years through shuttle breeding. Some of the RILs may turn out to be stable genotypes with gene combinations of breeding value and can go as varieties straight away. At the same time, this will generate enough data for basic genetics of the crop in question and ensure quality publications. Varieties coming from conventional field trials as well as from SSD progenies coupled with research publications will make the modern-day plant breeding more rewarding and attractive.