Free Essay: the Objectives of Plant Breeding
Plant breeding comes with many benefits. It is the science of adapting genetics of plants for the benefit of humans. It is carried out with an aim of enhancing the quality as well as well performance of a wide range of crops. Plant breeding is also done with the objective of developing plant varieties much better to the needs of humans.
Through plant breeding, the characteristics of plants are also improved to make them useful economically. In addition, plant breeding is carried out to
Generate high yields of fiber, sugar, oil grain and fodder among others. It also helps to generate highbred varieties of bajara, jawar and maize among other crops
It helps farmers to achieve improved quality on their produce. This is because quality characters vary a great deal from one crop to the other especially in grain color, size, and shape, milling and backing quality of say, wheat.
- Malting quality in barley also varies from cook’s quality in rice among other characters.
- Flavor in fruits also varies from size shape in other plants as well as keeping quality of different vegetables.
- Protein content in legumes, tryptophan contents in pulses and methionine also varies.
Plant breeding is also carried out to help plants develop the best pest and disease resistance features. Resistant varieties offer the most convenient method of pest and disease control. They help to increase plant production and to stabilize productivity especially rust resistance in wheat.
Plant breeding is also carried out because of maturity duration. The breeding permits new crop rotation and it helps to extend crop area. As a result, early maturity is achieved from varieties especially those that are suitable for different planting dates. Farmers will therefore be in a position to take up to 3 crops in a year.
The breeding is also done to help in the development of thermo and photo sensitivity. Photo and thermo sensitive plant varieties including wheat and rice often permit to extend their cultivation to new areas. For instance, cultivation of wheat in West Bengal and Kerala and cultivation of rice in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab helps breeders to develop thermo sensitivity.
Plant breeding is also done for dormancy purposes. Seeds germinate before harvesting in some crops especially during rainy season. A period of dormancy in such a situation would therefore help to check the loss due to early germination. It may also prevent it in some cases.
Plant breeding helps farmers to manage moisture stress and salt tolerance in plants. The development of different plant varieties especially for saline soils and rain fed areas helps to increase crop production in India.
It also helps to determinate plant growth habits. Therefore, it is highly desirable in pigeon pea, cotton and mung among other plants.
Plant breeding is carried out to eliminate toxic substances in plants. It helps to make plants much safer for consumption for example Lathyrus Sativus seeds that has a bad neurotoxin that causes paralysis in plants.
Similarly, plant breeding is carried out because it helps plants to achieve a wider adaptability. It stabilizes crop production over different seasons and in a region.
It is also useful for mechanical cultivation where the developed variety gives response to application of manures, fertilizers and irrigation for mechanical cultivation.
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Online sources:
http://www.euroseeds.org/what-is-the-value-of-seed
http://www.agriinfo.in/default.aspx?page=topic&superid=3&topicid=1727