The concept of plant breeding has been in use since centuries. It is practised across the world by commercial enterprises and government institutions. The increasing requirement of food security has made breeding new crops important.

1. Concept And Purpose Of Plant Breeding In Modern
Environment
The concept of plant breeding has been in use since centuries. It is practised across the
world by commercial enterprises and government institutions. The increasing requirement
of food security has made breeding new crops important.
Plant breeding
The concept of plant breeding applies genetic principles for producing crops that satisfy
requirements of humans. The breeding process involves selection and mating control of
aesthetically or economically desirable plant species.
The best progeny produced as a result of controlled mating is then selected for farming
processes and human consumption. These processes, when repeated over a period of time
may produce significant hereditary changes in the plant. The key factors of plant breeding
include:
 Plant breeding involves changing the key characteristics of plants to produce crops
with high nutritional value.
 It involves growing the selected plants to their full seed and using the seeds for
future crop production.
 Selective breeding leads to changes in genetic composition of plants.
 The breeding process involves genetic engineering and controlled pollination.
 It involves creation of phenotypes and genotypes for specific purposes.
 Genetic variation is an important aspect of plant breeding which involves the
crossing of various plant species.
 Plant breeding results in entirely different plant species.
 Breeding may often lead to domestication of plants.
The practice of plant breeding has long been used by plant breeders to recognize high
quality plant breeds and manipulating them for growing better crops. The early plant

2. breeding processes often resulted in plant species that failed to survive in the natural
environment.
With the advent of scientific breeding concepts, it has become possible to produce
genetically different varieties of plants that are capable of survival in the natural
environment. This has significantly improved the quality of plants.
Goals of breeding plants
Plant breeding focuses on the following two goals:
Increasing yield
The primary purpose of plant breeding is increasing the yield from the plant. This can be
achieved by the selection of the morphological variants of plants. Yield can also be increased
by developing plant varieties that are resistant to insects and diseases. Plant varieties which
are tolerant to diverse weather conditions may also give higher yield.
Modifying constitution and range
Plant breeding also focuses on extending the scope of production of particular plant species.
It focuses on developing species that are fit for mechanized agriculture. Mechanized
agriculture requires uniformity of plants in order to facilitate the implementation of crop
production techniques. Plant breeding is also undertaken to improve the nutritional content
in the plants.
Plant breeding is important as it provides a number of benefits. It produces plants that give
higher yield and are suitable for human consumption. It is widely adopted by farmers to
produce better quality crops.
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