Dev Hingra discusses techniques for improving plant characteristics in breeding programs. Genetic variation is created through crosses between plants and new varieties are selected and tested. Classical breeding techniques include self-pollination and cross-pollination to produce new varieties. Modern techniques use molecular biology and genetic modification to insert desirable traits. Genetic modification can produce desired traits faster than classical breeding. Future plant breeding will integrate both classical and new techniques like molecular markers to improve efficiency and effectiveness in crop improvement.

1. Characteristics improvement in plant breeding
Dev Hingra
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Faculty of Agriculture
Sam Higginbottom Institute Agriculture, Technology and Sciences
(Formerly Allahabad Agriculture Institute)
Deemed-to-be-University
Allahabad
Mail Id- mail2devhingra@gmail.com

2. Plant breeding for improvement of
crops
“Plant breeding is the art and science of the genetic
improvement of crops to produce new varieties … Genetic
variation is the engine that propels breeding to meet future
challenges.”
Genetic variation
Crosses
New variety for testing
Selection
In plant breeding the aim is to
produce new, improved
varieties/cultivars and so we
need, as a first requirement of
any breeding programme, to
release or produce genetic
variation in the characters (or
traits) in which we are
interested. Once such variation
is released it is necessary to
identify and then select the
desired types – those that have
a better expression of a
particular character or
combination of characters.

3. Higher yielding
better quality of seeds
Resistance to virus, fungi &
bacteria.
Resistance to diseases.
Tolerance to insect pest
Tolerance to environmental
pressures(salinity, extreme
temperature, drought)
Early maturity
Get maximum
characteristics in one plant
i.e. Development of hybrid
Characteristics
improvement in plant
breeding deals with all the
positive aspects related to
plant .

4. For improvement of characteristics in plant breeding
there are certain techniques
Classical plant breeding
Modern plant breeding
Genetic modification

5. Classical plant breeding
• Classical plant breeding uses deliberate interbreeding (crossing) of closely or distantly related
individuals to produce new crop varieties or lines with desirable properties.
• For example, a mildew-resistant pea may be crossed with a high-yielding but susceptible pea,
the goal of the cross being to introduce mildew resistance without losing the high-yield
characteristics.
• Progeny from the cross would then be crossed with the high-yielding parent to ensure that
the progeny were most like the high-yielding parent, (backcrossing). The progeny from that
cross would then be tested for yield and mildew resistance and high-yielding resistant plants
would be further developed. Plants may also be crossed with themselves to produce inbred
varieties for breeding.
• Classical breeding relies largely on homologous recombination between chromosomes to
generate genetic diversity.
• The classical plant breeder may also makes use of a number of in vitro techniques such as
protoplast fusion, embryo rescue or mutagenesis to generate diversity and produce hybrid
plants that would not exist in nature

6. Classical breeding method includes
It includes breeding methods of self pollinated and cross pollinated crops
• Plant introduction
• Plant selection includes mass selection pure line selection
• Hybridization: pedigree method, back cross method, single decent method
• In cross pollinated crops
(1) mass selection;
(2) development of hybrid varieties; and
(3) development of synthetic varieties.

7. Modern plant breeding
1.Modern plant
breeding
2.uses techniques of molecular biology
3.genetic modification, to insert, desirable traits
into plants.
4.Modern facilities in molecular biology has converted classical plant
breeding to molecular plant breed.

8. Modern plant breeding
Modern plant breeding uses techniques of molecular biology to select,
or in the case of genetic modification, to insert, desirable traits into
plants.
Sometimes many different genes can influence a desirable trait in plant
breeding. The use of tools such as molecular markers or DNA
fingerprinting can map thousands of genes. This allows plant breeders
to screen large populations of plants for those that possess the trait of
interest. The screening is based on the presence or absence of a certain
gene as determined by laboratory procedures, rather than on the visual
identification of the expressed trait in the plant.

9. Steps of Plant Breeding
Major activities of plant breeding are following;
Creation - variation
Selection
Evaluation
Release
Multiplication
Distribution of the new variety

10. Genetic modification of plants is achieved by adding a specific gene
or genes to a plant, or by knocking out a gene with RNAi, to produce
a desirable phenotype. The plants resulting from adding a gene are
often referred to as transgenic plants. Genetic modification can
produce a plant with the desired trait or traits faster than classical
breeding because the majority of the plant's genome is not altered.
The majority of commercially released transgenic plants, are
currently limited to plants that have introduced resistance to insect
pests and herbicides. Insect resistance is achieved through
incorporation of a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that encodes
a protein that is toxic to some insects. For example, the cotton
bollworm, a common cotton pest, feeds on Bt cotton it will ingest
the toxin and die. Herbicides usually work by binding to certain
plant enzymes and inhibiting their action. The enzymes that the
herbicide inhibits are known as the herbicides target site. Herbicide
resistance can be engineered into crops by expressing a version of
target site protein that is not inhibited by the herbicide. This is the
method used to produce glyphosate resistant crop plants Genetic
modification of plants that can produce pharmaceuticals (and
industrial chemicals), sometimes called pharmacrops, is a rather
radical new area of plant breeding.

11. New Genetic Approaches for improvement of characteristics are:
Tissue culture (in vitro) techniques
micro propagation,
haploid production,
protoplasts,
embryo culture,
apical culture,
somatic embryogenesis,
Improving plant breeding with exotic genetic libraries
Use Wild species in breeding
Use of Molecular markers in plant breeding

12. • Haploidy
Establishing true breeding, homozygous, lines is an essential part of developing new cultivars
in many crop species. These homozygous lines are used either as cultivars in their own right
(i.e. for inbreeding crop species) or as parents in hybrid variety development. a haploid plant
can develop which can then be treated to encourage its chromosomes to double, to produce
a completely homo- zygous line (a doubled haploid)
• Improving plant breeding with exotic genetic libraries
Naturally occurring variation among wild relatives of cultivated crops is an under- exploited
resource in plant breeding. exotic libraries, which consist of marker-defined genomic regions
taken from wild species and introgressed onto the background of elite crop lines, provide
plant breeders with an important opportunity to improve the agricultural performance of
modern crop varieties. These libraries can also act as reagents for the discovery and
characterization of genes that underlie traits of agricultural value.

13. • Use of Molecular markers in plant breeding
Although plant breeders have practised their art for many centuries, genetics is a
subject that really only came of age in the twentieth century with the rediscovery
of Mendel’s work. Since then research in genetics has covered many aspects of the
inheritance of qualitative and quantitative traits, but plant breeders usually still
have little, or no, information about:
the locations of many of these loci in the genome or on which chromosome they
reside; . the number of loci involved in any trait; . the relative size of the
contribution of individual alleles at each loci on the observed phenotype, except
where there is an obvious major effect(e.g. height and dwarfing genes)
• Wild species in breeding
The potential of wild species as a source of genetic variation to bring about crop
improvement was recognized early in the twentieth century

14. Future Potential
Plant breeding will continue to be highly
dependent on classical techniques but will
undoubtedly increase in efficiency and
electiveness by the addition of these new
approaches, which will be used in parallel with
the more classical ones. Thus the future will see
the range of techniques expanding in such a way
as to maximize their benefits by their integrated
exploitation

15. conclusion
There are many classical and modern breeding
techniques that can be utilized for crop improvement in
agriculture despite the ban on genetically modified
organisms. For instance, controlled crosses between
individuals allow desirable genetic variation to be
recombined and transferred to seed progeny via natural
processes. Marker assisted selection can also be
employed as a diagnostics tool to facilitate selection of
progeny who possess the desired trait(s), greatly
speeding up the breeding process. This technique has
proven particularly useful for the introgression of
resistance genes into new backgrounds, as well as the
efficient selection of many resistance genes pyramided
into a single individual. Unfortunately, molecular markers
are not currently available for many important traits,
especially complex ones controlled by many genes.

16. THANK YOU ..!!!