CROP IMPROVEMENT II

(RABI CROPS)

By :
Dr. Sonali Kar
Dr. Nandan Mehta

DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS AND PLANT BREEDING

INDIRA GANDHI KRISHI VISHWAVIDYALAYA, RAIPUR (C.G.)

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 INDEX

S.NO. CHAPTERS PAGE NO.

1 CENTER OF ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES, WILD RELATIVES IN 3-8
DIFFERENT CEREALS; PULSES; OILSEEDS; FIBRES; FODDERS AND
CASH CROPS
2 PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES, ITS UTILIZATION AND 9-14
CONSERVATION; STUDY OF GENETICS OF QUALITATIVE AND
QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERS
3 MAJOR BREEDING OBJECTIVES AND PROCEDURES INCLUDING 15-27
CONVENTIONAL AND MODERN INNOVATIVE APPROACHES FOR
DEVELOPMENT OF HYBRIDS AND VARIETIES FOR YIELD,
ADAPTABILITY AND STABILITY
4 BREEDING FOR ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC STRESSES 28-35
5 QUALITY (PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL) OF RABI 36-39
CROPS
6 HYBRID SEED PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES OF RABI CROPS 40-78
7 IDEOTYPE CONCEPT AND CLIMATE RESILIENT CROP VARIETIES 79-104

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CHAPTER 1
CENTER OF ORIGIN

INTRODUCTION-

Definition:-
Center of origin is a geographical area where a group of organism either
domesticated or wild , first developed its distinctive properties.
Concept of center of diversity was given by Vavilov based on his studies of a vast
collection of plants at the Institute of Plant Industry, Leningrad.
Center of origin was first identified in 1924.
N.I.Vavilov proposed that crop plants evolved from wild species in the area
showing great diversity and termed them as primary center of origin.
But in some areas certain crop species show considerable diversity of forms
although they did not originate there such areas are known as secondary center
of origin of these species.
N.I.Vavilov originally proposed following center of origin-
 Hindustan
 China
 Central asia
 Asia minor
 Cental America
 South America
 Mediterranian
 Abyssinia.
Later, in 1935 Vavilov divided the Hindustan center of origin into two centers,viz ,
Indo-Burma and Siam-Malaya-Java.
Similarly the South America center was divided into 3 centers, namely Peru, Chile
andBrazil-Paraguay.
Center of Origin and Center of Diversity
The terms ‘center of origin’ and ‘center of diversity’ have been used interchangeably.
Though the two concepts are related and highly intertwined, there is a distinction
between the two. One, center of diversity, is frequently used to identify the other.
Though the principle behind centers of origin and diversity applies to all organisms,
they are most often used in relation to plants, particularly in plant breeding and
studies of crop domestication.
The center of origin of a plant is that location where it is considered to have first
appeared. The primary criterion in identifying a center of origin is the presence of
wild relatives whereas
the center of diversity of a plant is defined as the geographic area wherein the plant

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 exhibits the highest degree of variation. This variation manifests itself both at the
population and genetic levels.

Types of center of origin/ diversity-

1. Primary center of origin- regions of vast genetic diversity, original home of
plants, generally cultivated areas.

Features- wide genetic diversity, large number of dominant genes, mostly have
wild relatives, exhibit less crossing over, natural selection operates.

According to Vavilov crop plants evolved from wild species in areas showing
greatdiversity called primary center of origin.

2. Secondary center of origin – according to Vavilov the value form of crops

area found far away from the place of origin called secondary center of origin.

Features- lesser genetic diversity than primary center, large number of recessive
genes, mostly have desirable characters, exhibits more crossing over, both
natural and artificial selection operates.

Microcenters- Small area within the center of diversity exhibit tremendous

genetic diversityof crop plants.

NOTE- Microcenters are important centers for valueable plant forms and also
of evolution of species.

Features of Microcenter:
 They represent small area within center of diversity.
 Exhibits tremendous genetic diversity.
 Rate of Natural Evolution is faster than larger areas.
 These are the important sites for study of evolution.

1.Chinese Center of Origin:

Largest and the oldest independent center that includes the mountainous
regions of central and western china and adjacent lowlands.

A total of 136 endemic plants are listed, such as Soybean, Radish, Opium poppy,
Brinjal, Peach, Plum, Maize, Rajma, Turnip, Cowpea etc.

2. Mediterranean Center:
It includes borders of Mediterranean Sea.
84 plant species are listed such as, Durum Wheat, Flax, Peppermint etc.

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3. Hindustan Center:
It is divided into 2 sub centers-

(i) Indo-Burma: (Main center India) It includes Assam and Burma but not
Northwest India, Punjab nor Northwest Frontier Provinces.
177 plants species are listed such as Rice, Chickpea, Sugarcane, Cotton,
Mango, Tamarind and Black pepper etc.
(ii) Siam-Malaya-Java: It includes Indo-China and Malaya-Archipelago. 55 plant
species are listed such as, Banana, Coconut Palm, Clove etc.

4. Central Asiatic Center:

Also referred as Afghanistan Center, includes Northwest India (Punjab,
Northwest Frontier Provinces and Kashmir), Afghanistan, Soviet Republic of
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and western Tian-Shan.
43 plant species are included such as, Pea, Wheat, Mungbean, Rye, Hemp etc.

5. Asia Minor Center:

Also called as Middle East or Persian Center, includes interior of Asia Minor, all
of Transcaucasia, Iran and highlands of Turkmenistan.
83 plants are listed under such as, Jowar, Bajra, Gram, Safflower, Linseed,
Broadbean etc.
6. Abyssinian:
Also referred as Ethiopia that includes Abyssinia, Eritrea and parts of Somaliland.
38 species are listed such as coffee etc.

7. Central American Center:

Also called as South Mexico Center, includes southern sections of Mexico,
Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica.
Example. Sweet Potato, Maize, Avocado, Melons, Pumpkin etc.

8. South American Center:

It includes 3 sub centers-
i. Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia Center: It comprise of mainly high mountainous
areas. Species include Tomato, Guava etc.
ii. Chile Center: It includes island near the coast of southern Chile. Species
include such as Sweet Potato etc.
iii. Brazil-Paraguay Center: Species include Pineapple, Rubber, Cashew etc.

9. USA Center:
No major cultivated crop origin. It relies on introduced crops. Many minor fruits
and nut crops are included.

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 Note: 2 plant species Sunflower (Helianthus annus) and Jerusalem Artichoke
(Helianthus tuberosus) believed to have originated in USA center of origin.

DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES
Depending upon the history and the dispersal capabilities, species can either
occupy large areas or be restricted to small regions.

Some important terms-

Native Species:
A species which is found within its natural or original area of distribution based
on its potential for natural dispersal and are typically well adapted to local
conditions.

Endemic Species:
A species which is restricted to one region and are vulnerable to disturbances as
their entire area of distribution may be altered.

Distribution of importantrabi agricultural and horticultural crops are as follows:

1. Wheat – U.S.A., Canada, Latin America, Europe, China, Japan, Argentina, Mexico,
India, Pakistan. In India, Northwest India, Eastern India, Central Plain, to some extent
Southern Peninsular Zone.
2. Oat – USSR, USA, Canada, Poland, China, France, India and Australia.
3. Barley – Europe, USSR, China, Canada, USA, Spain, France, Australia, UK, India.
4. Chick pea – India, Pakistan, Mexico, Turkey, Ethiopia, Burma and Myanmar.
5. Field pea – Mediterranean region
6. Lentil – Western Asia, Egypt, Southern Europe.
7. Rajma – In India, Maharashtra, Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar
PradeshHills and other parts.
8. Horse gram – India, Uganda, Kenya, West Indies, Burma etc.
9. Mustard – China, Canada, India, Europe, Pakistan.
10. Sunflower – USSR, Romania, Canada, USA, India.
11. Safflower – Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, USA, Egypt Middle East.
12. Berseem – Mediterranean region.
13. Sugarcane – India, Brazil, Cuba, China, USA, Mexico, France, Germany, Australia
14. Tomato – Western South America, Tanzania.
15. Chilli – Brazil, Mexico, Spain South and Cental America, China And India.
16. Onion – Middle East, Central Asia, Indian Subcontinent.

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Wild Species in Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds, Fodder Crops, Horticultural Crops and
Vegetables

Wild Species
A Crop Wild Relative is a wild plant closely related to a domesticated plant,
whose geographical origins can be traced to regions known as ‘Vavilov Centers’.
It may be wild ancestor or progenitor species of the domesticated plant, or
another closely related species of cultivated crops.

Importance
The wild relatives of crop plants constitute an increasingly important resource for
improving agricultural production and for maintaining sustainable agro-
ecosystems. Accumulates a rich set of useful traits that can be introduced in
crop plants by crossing and improve yields. More recently, plant breeders have
utilized Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) genes to improve a wide range of crops,
especially for biotic resistance.

Wild Relatives of Cereals

Oats (Avena sativa) - Avena byzantine

Finger Millet(Eleusine coracana) – Eleusine Africana
Barley (Hordeum vulgare )– Hordeum arizonicum
Rice (Oryza sativa ) –Oryza rufipogan
African Rice(Oryza glaberrima) – Oryza barthii
Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) – Pennisetum purpureum
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) – Sorghum halpense
Wheat(Triticum aestivum ) – Eincorn wheat (Triticum monococcum)
Maize(Zea mays) – Zea diploperennis
Mustard (Brassica juncea) – Brassica carinata

Wild Relatives of Pulses

Mung bean (Vigna radiata) – Vigna stipulacea
Black gram (Vigna mungo) – Vigna grandiflora
Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) – Cajanus albicans
Cowpea(Vigna unguiculata) – Vigna monantha
Lentil(Lens culinaris) – Lens ervoides
Garden Pea (Pisum sativum) – Pisum fulvum
Garden Bean(Phaseolus vulgaris) – Phaseolus coccineus

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Wild Relatives of Oilseeds
Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) – Arachis duranensis
Sunflower (Helianthus annus) – Helianthus exilis
Soybean (Glycine max) – Glycine clandestine
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) – Carthamus creticus
Rapeseed (Brassica napus) – Brassica rapa, Brassica oleracea

Wild Relatives of Fodder Crops

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) – Vigna monantha
Desmanthus(Desmanthus virgatus) – Leucaena sp.
Napier Grass (Pennisetum purpureum) – Pennisetum glaucum

Wild Relatives of Horticultural crops

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) – Brassica elongata
Carrot(Daucus carota) – Daucus gracilis
Garlic (Allium sativum var. sativum) – Allium atroviolaceum
Onion (Allium cepa) – Allium galanthum
Apple(Malus domestica) – Malus sieversii, Malus sylvestris
Almond(Prunus dulcis) – Prunus salicina
Banana –Musa acuminate and Musa balbisiana
Eggplant (Solanum melongena) – Solanum incanum
Grape (Vitis vinifera) – Vitis sylvestris
Lemon(Citrus limon) – Citrus indica
Mango (Mangifera indica) – Mangifera altissima
Tomato(Solanum lycopersicum) – Solanum chilense
Potato (Solanum tuberosum) – Solanum chacoense
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) – Ipomoea triloba
Note. Many different vegetables share one common ancestor, particularly in the
Brassica Family and plants.

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CHAPTER 2
PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES

Definition:
Genetic resources can be defined as all materials that are available for
improvement of a cultivated plant species (Becker, 1993).

In the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(1998) FAO defined Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA)
as the diversity of genetic material contained in traditional varieties and modern
cultivars as well as crop wild relatives and other wild plant species that can be
used now or in the future for food and agriculture.

Types of Genetic resources: According to the extended gene pool concept,

genetic resources may be divided into primary gene pool, secondary gene pool,
tertiary gene pool and isolated genes (Harlan and de Wet, 1971; Becker, 1993).

Primary gene pool -. The primary gene pool consists of the crop species itself
and other species that can be easily crossed with it.

Secondary gene pool -The secondary gene pool is composed of related species
that are more difficult to cross with the target crop, i.e. where crossing is less
successful (low percentage of viable kernels) and where crossing progenies are
partially sterile

Tertiary gene pool -The tertiary gene pool consists of species which can only be
used by employing special techniques like embryo rescue or protoplast fusion.
Isolated genes -. The fourth class of genetic resources, isolated genes, may
derive from related or unrelated plant species, from animals or microorganisms.
Germplasm: A germplasm is a collection of genetic resources for an organism.
For plants, the germplasm may be stored as a seed collection,or for trees,in a
nursery.
Germplasm consists of land races, modern cultivars, obsolete cultivars, breeding
stocks, wild forms and wild species of cultivated crops

Germplasm activities

There are six important activities related to plant genetic resources.

1. Exploration and collection

2. Conservation
3. Evaluation
4. Documentation

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 5. Multiplication and Distribution
6. Utilization

1. Exploration: Exploration refers to collection trips and collection refer to

tapping of genetic diversity from various sources and assembling the same at
one place. The exploration and collection is a highly scientific process. This
process takes into account six important items,viz ,
(1) sources of collection,
(2) priority of collection,
(3) agencies of collection,
(4) methods of collection,
(5) methods of sampling and
(6) sample size.
Merits and Demerits- There are several merits and demerits of exploration and
collection of germplasm, some of which are as discussed below:

Merits
1. Collection helps in tapping crop genetic diversity and assembling the same at
one place.
2. It reduces the loss of genetic diversity due to genetic erosion.
3. Sometimes, we get material of special interest during exploration trips.
4. Collection also helps in saving certain genotypes from extinction.
Demerits
1. Collection of germplasm especially from other countries, sometimes leads to
entry of new diseases, new insects and new weeds.
2. Collection is a tedious job.
3. Collector, sometimes has encounter with wild animals like elephants, tigers etc.
4. Transportation of huge collections also poses difficulties in the exploration and
collection.

2. Germplasm Conservation: Conservation refers to protection of genetic

diversity of crop plants from genetic erosion. There are two important methods
of germpalsm conservation or preservation.
1.Ex situ conservation.
2.In-situ conservation
Ex-situ conservation
Ex-situ conservation involves maintenance and breeding of endangered plants
and animals under partially or wholly controlled conditions in specific areas
including zoo, gardens, nurseries, etc. That is, the conservation of selected plants
and animals in selected areas outside their natural habitat is known as ex-situ
conservation
The different advantages of ex-situ conservation are,

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• It gives longer life time and breeding activity to living organisms
• Genetic techniques can be utilized in the process
• Captivity breed species can again be reintroduced in the wild
The ex-situ conservation strategies include botanical gardens, zoological
gardens, conservation stands and gene, pollen, seed, seedling, tissue culture and
DNA banks.
Seed banks:
Germplasm is stored as seeds of various genotypes. Seed conservation is quite
easy, relatively safe and needs minimum space. Roberts in 1973 classified seeds
on the basis of their storability, into two major groups.viz .,
1) Orthodox and 2) Recalcitrant
Orthodox seeds: Seeds which can be dried to low moisture content and stored at
low temperature without losing their viability for long periods of time is known as
orthodox seeds. (eg.) Seeds of corn, wheat, rice, carrot, papaya, pepper, chickpea,
cotton, sunflower.
Recalcitrant seeds: Seeds which show very drastic loss in viability with a
decrease in moisture content below 12 to 13% are known as recalcitrant seeds.
(e.g) citrus, cocoa, coffee, rubber, oilpalm, mango, jack fruit etc.
Seed storage: Based on duration of storage, seed bank collects are classified
into three groups.
(1) Base collections. (2) Active collections and (3) Working collection.
Base collections: Seeds can be conserved under long term (50 to 100 years), at
about -20OC with 5% moisture content. They are disturbed only for regeneration.
Active collection: Seeds are stored at 0OC temperature and the seed moisture is
between 5 and 8%. The storage is for medium duration, i.e., 10-15 years. These
collections are used for evaluation, multiplication, and distribution of the
accessions.
Working collections: Seeds are stored for 3-5 years at 5-10OC and usually contain
about 10% moisture. Such materials are regularly used in crop improvement
programmes.
Shoot tip banks: Germplasm is conserved as slow growth cultures of shoot-tips
and node segments.
DNA banks: In these banks, DNA segments from the genomes of germplasm
accessions are maintained and conserved.
In-situ conservation
Conservation of germplasm under natural conditions is referred to as in situ
conservation. This is achieved by protecting the area from – human interference,
such an area is often called natural park, biosphere reserve or gene sanctuary.
NBPGR, New Delhi, established gene sanctuaries in Meghalaya for Citrus , North
Eastern regions forMusa, Citrus, Oryza and Saccharum.
Merits : Gene sanctuaries offer the following two advantages.

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1. A gene sanctuary not only conserves the existing genetic diversity present in
the population, it also allows evolution to continue. As a result, new alleles and
new gene combinations would appear with time.
2. The risks associated withex situ conservation are not operative
Demerits: This method of preservation has following main disadvantages
1) Each protected area will cover only very small portion of total diversity of a
crop species, hence several areas will have to be conserved for a single species.
2) The management of such areas also poses several problems.
3) This is a costly method of germplasm conservation
3. Evaluation: Evaluation refers to screening of germplasm in respect of
morphological, genetical, economic, biochemical, physiological, pathological and
entomological attributes. Evaluation requires a team of specialists from the
disciplines of plant breeding, physiology, biochemistry, pathology and
entomology. First of all a list of descriptors (characters) for which evaluation has
to be done is prepared. This task is completed by a team of experts from IPGRI,
Rome, Italy. The descriptors are ready for various crops. The evaluation of
germplasm is executed in three different places, viz., (1) in the field, (2) in green
house, and (3) in the laboratory.
4. Documentation: It refers to compilation, analysis, classification storage and
dissemination of information. In plant genetic resources, documentation means
dissemination of information about various activities such as collection,
evaluation, conservation, storage and retrieval of data. Now the term
documentation is more appropriately known as information system.
Documentation is one of the important activities of genetic resources.
5. Distribution: The specific germplasm lines are supplied to the users on
demand for utilization in the crop improvement programmes. Distribution of
germplasm is the responsibility of the gene bank centres. The germplasm is usually
supplied to the workers who are engaged in research work of a particular crop species. It
is supplied free of cost to avoid cumbersome work of book keeping. The quantity of
seed samples depends on the availability of seed material and demands. Proper records
are maintained about the distribution of material. It helps in acclimatization and
purification of the material.
6. Germplasm utilisation: The germplasm can be used in a breeding programme
in the following ways:
1. Direct release as a variety.
2. It may be subjected to selection for developing a variety .
3.It may be used as a parent in hybridization programmes.
Direct release as a variety:
Semidwarf varieties of wheat Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo were released directly
for cultivation. TN 1 rice was introduced from Taiwan .
Several introduction of vegetables like cowpea, cauliflower, onion, lettuce,

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watermelon,etc have been released as variety .
Variety selected from introduction:
Varieties of wheat like Kalyan Sona and Sonalika were selected from introduction
.
Variety developed through hybridization :
Almost all the semidwarf rice and wheat varieties have been developed using
hybridisation involving introduction.
Eg: TN1, IR8 - rice
Pusa Ruby ,Pusa Early Dwarf- tomato
Organizations associated with germplasm
IPGRI – International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy
NBPGR – National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delh

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STUDY OF GENETICS OF QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE TRAITS

Traits – A trait is a characteristic or a distinguishing feature present in a person.

The attributes of the traits can be physical or behavioral and are determined by
one or many genes.
Qualitative Traits – A qualitative trait is a feature, that is either present or not
present depending on whether the gene responsible for that trait is present ( or
functional ) or absent (or non-functional). A qualitative trait is a trait that fits into
discrete categories. This means that you can neatly categorize a trait.
- For example if a species of plant had either red leaves or yellow leaves
and nothing in between this would be a discrete trait.
Usually a single gene or small group of genes control qualitative traits. This trait
usually do not change in response to the environment.
- For example if a flower is genetically programmed to produce blue color
flowers, it will continue to produce blue flower no matter where and how
they are grown.
Since qualitative traits are discrete values, they can be analyzed by counts and
ratios.
- For example, the number of blue flower in a plant can be counted exactly,
and flowers to plant ratio can be determined precisely.

Quantitative Traits – A quantitative trait is an attribute that falls on continue.

Quantitative traits occurs as a continuous range of variation. This means that
these traits occur over a range.
- An example for quantitative trait would be height of a plant. These are not
constant values even though the plants and animals belong to the same
species.
Quantitative traits are usually determined by a larger number of genes. These
traits can change under the influence of the environment.
- For example, if a plant usually grows to be about 6 feet tall, it may exhibit
variations in its height depending on how much sunlight, water or nutrient
it receives.
Since quantitative traits are spread over a range of values, they cannot be
analyzed by counts and ratios, but must be analyzed statistically.
- For example, one can create a database of trees in a forest that are 10 to
15 feet tall, 15 to 20 feet tall & 20 to 25 feet tall and determine the mean,
median, mode and calculate the standard deviation within each group.
Generally a larger group of genes control quantitative traits, when multiple genes
influence a trait, you can also describe it as a “polygenic trait”.

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 Qualitative v/s Quantitative Traits

Qualitative traits Quantitative traits

Phenotypic Distribution Discrete Continuous
Genetic Aspect One or two genes Numerous genes confer
determine the the
phenotypic expression phenotypic expression
Environmental Aspect Phenotypic expression is Phenotypic expression
the same in different vary continuously in
environmental condition different environmental
condition
Examples Seed color in plants, leaves Grain yield in crop plant,
color of flower color, leaf height of trees, plant width,
arrangement, leaf apices, sepal length, stigma
leaf bases, leaf length, style length, ovary
attachment, bloom type, width, ovary length etc
stigma type, style type,
calyx color, corolla, color
etc

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CHAPTER 3
MAJOR BREEDING OBJECTIVES OF RABI CROPS

Aim :
Plant breeding aims to improve the characteristics of plants so that they become
more desirable agronomically and economically. The specific objectives may
vary greatlydepending on the crop under consideration.

Objectives of Plant Breeding :

1. Higher yield : The ultimate aim of plant breeding is to improve the yield of
“economic produce on economic part”. It may be grain yield, fodder yield, fibre
yield, tuber yield, cane yield or oil yield depending upon the crop species.
Improvement in yield can be achieved either by evolving high yielding varieties or
hybrids.

2. Improved quality: Quality of produce is another important objective in plant

breeding. The quality characters vary from crop to crop. Eg. grain size, colour,
milling and baking quality in wheat, cooking quality in rice, malting quality in
barley, colour and size of fruits, nutritive and keeping quality in vegetables,
protein content in pulses, oil content in oilseeds, fibre length, strength and
fineness in cotton.

3. Abiotic resistance : Crop plants also suffer from abiotic factors such as
drought, soil salinity, extreme temperatures, heat, wind, cold and frost, breeder
has to develop resistant varieties for such environmental conditions.

4. Biotic resistance : Crop plants are attacked by various diseases and insects,
resulting in considerable yield losses. Genetic resistance is the cheapest and the
best method of minimizing such losses. Resistant varieties are developed
through the use of resistant donors.

5. Change in maturity Duration / Earliness : Earliness is the most desirable

character which has several advantages. It requires less crop management
period, less insecticidal sprays, permits new crop rotations and often extends the
crop area. Development of wheat varieties suitable for late planting has
permitted rice-wheat rotation. Thus breeding for early maturing crop varieties, or
varieties suitable for different dates of planting may be an important objective.
Maturity has been reduced from 270 days to 170 days in cotton, from 270 days to
120 days in pigeonpea, from 360 days to 270 days in sugarcane.

6. Determinate Growth : Development of varieties with determinate growth is

16
desirable
in crops like mung, pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan ), cotton (Gossypium sp. ), etc.
parents available in the gene pool.

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7. Dormancy : In some crops, seeds germinate even before harvesting in the
standing crop if there are rains at the time of maturity, e.g., Greengram,
Blackgram, Barley and Pea, etc. A period of dormancy has to be introduced in
these crops to check loss due to germination. In some other cases, however, it
may be desirable to remove dormancy.

8. Desirable Agronomic Characteristics: It includes plant height, branching,

tillering capacity, growth habit, erect or trailing habit etc., is often desirable. For
example, dwarfness in cereals is generally associated with lodging resistance
and better fertilizer response. Tallness, high tillering and profuse branching are
desirable characters infodder crops.

9. Elimination of Toxic Substances : It is essential to develop varieties free from

toxic compounds in some crops to make them safe for human consumption. For
example, removal of neurotoxin in Khesari – lentil (Lathyruys sativus ) which
leads to paralysis of lower limbs, erucic acid from Brassica which is harmful for
human health, and gossypol from the seed of cotton is necessary to make them
fit for human consumption. Removal of such toxic substances would increase
the nutritional value of these crops.

9. Non-shattering characteristics: The shattering of pods is serious problem in

green gram. Hence resistance to shattering is an important objective in green
gram.

10. Synchronous Maturity: It refers to maturity of a crop species at one time. The
character is highly desirable in crops like greengram, cowpea, castor and cotton
where several pickings are required for crop harvest.

11. Photo and Thermo insensitivity: Development of varieties insensitive to light

and temperature helps in crossing the cultivation boundaries of crop plants.
Photo and thermo-insensitive varieties of wheat and rice has permitted their
cultivation in new areas. Rice is now cultivated in Punjab, while wheat is a major
rabi crop in West Bengal.

12. Wider adaptability: Adaptability refers to suitability of a variety for general

cultivation over a wide range of environmental conditions. Adaptability is an
important objective in plant breeding because it helps in stabilizing the crop
production over regions and seasons.

13. Varieties for New Seasons: Traditionally maize is akharif crop. But scientists
are now able to grow maize as rabi and zaid crops. Similarly, mung is grown as a

18
summer crop in addition to the mainkharif crop.

Scope of plant breeding (Future Prospects)

From times immemorial, the plant breeding has been helping the mankind. With
knowledge of classical genetics, number of varieties have been evolved in
different crop plants. Since the population is increasing at an alarming rate, there
is need to strengthen the food production which is serious challenge to those
scientists concerned with agriculture. Advances in molecular biology have
sharpened the tools of the breeders, and brighten the prospects of confidence to
serve the humanity. The application of biotechnology to field crop has already led
to the field testing of genetically modified crop plants. Genetically engineered
rice, maize, soybean, cotton, oilseeds rape, sugar beet and alfalfa cultivars are
expected to be commercialized before the close of 20th century. Genes from
varied organisms may be expected to boost the performance of crops especially
with regard to their resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, crop
plants are likely to be cultivated for recovery of valuable compounds like
pharmaceuticals produced by genes introduced into them through genetic
engineering. It may be pointed out that in Europe hirudin, an anti-thrombin protein
is already being produced from transgenicBrassica napus.

BREEDING OBJECTIVES OF MAJOR RABI CROPS

WHEAT – (Triticum aestivum ) 2n = 6x = 42

Breeding objectives
1. High yield
High yield depends on
a) The number of heads / unit area
b) The number of grains / head.
c) The average weight of grain
While breeding for high yielding varieties all the above three components must be
looked
into. Omitting any one of them may not yield results. Further while breeding for
high yield it is necessary to combine into a variety a favourable combination of
genes influencing all yield process.
2. Breeding non- lodging varieties:
This is achieved after the identification of dwarfing gene in Japanese variety
Norin 10. Most of our dwarf wheats are two gene dwarfs. E.g. Sonara 63, sonara
64, kalyan sona. Emphasis is now on triple gene dwarfs.

19
3. Breeding for disease resistance
Rust is the major disease. Both stem rust and leaf rust are important ones. There
are different races of rust. So while breeding for rust resistance horizontal
resistance is to be looked into. Back cross method of breeding and development
of multilines are the methods.
4. Breeding for insect resistance
Hessian fly is the major pest. Resistance in most varieties is through Antibiosis.
5. Breeding for quality.
Different wheat varieties vary greatly in their chemical composition which is
considerably influenced by environment. The varieties of hard wheat or bread
wheat which have higher gluten content. The soft wheat contain lesser gluten
content which is suitable for cake making, pastries etc. The durum wheats are
unsuited for either cakes or bread but they are suitable for making macaroni. So
depending upon the use the quality breeding objective is to be fixed.

SUGARCANE (Saccharum officinarum ) 2n = 80

Breeding objectives:-
1. High cane yield / height of stem, thickness, tillering capacity, number of
violable canes /plant and weight of individual cane.
2. Moderate high sucrose content
3. Early to full season maturity
4. Resistance to diseases.
a) Red rot b) Smut c) Wilt d) Mosaic e) Ratoon – stunting disease f) Grassy –
shoot
5. Resistance / tolerance to insect pests
a) Shoot borer b) Cane borer c) Pyrilla d) Mealy bugs e) White flies f) Termites g)
White grub
6. Tolerance to abiotic stresses
a) Drought b) Salinity c) Flooding d) High temperature
7. Wider adaptability

BENGAL GRAM – CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum ) 2n = 16

Breeding Objectives:
1. Increased seed yield
2. Increased biomass, tall, erect and compact cultivars
3. Resistance to diseases like Alternaria blight, Fusarium wilt , Root rot, Botrytis
grey mold.
4. Resistance to insect pests – Pod borer
5. Tolerance to stress environments
a) Cold b) Heat c) Drought d) Saline and Alkaline.

20
 SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus ) (2n=34)
Breeding objectives
1. To develop short duration varieties suitable for dry land and irrigated
conditions . Dryland cultivation is successful in black soils only. In red soil under
rainfed it is not successful.
2. Breeding varieties with high oil content :
Ranges 38 to 48%. Complex character yield and oil content are negatively
correlated. To increase oil content the shell must be thin.
3. Breeding for self fertile lines.
Protoandry and self incompatability mechanism operates in sunflower. Hence
hand pollination is necessary. To avoid this self fertile lines can be evolved.
4. Breeding for disease resistance.
Major diseases in Sunflower for which durable resistance is required are
Sclerotinia rot, downy mildew, powdery mildew, charcoal rot and phomopsis. Wild
species likeH .hirsuta are moderately resistant toAlternaria.
5. Resistant to insect pests
Major insect pests in Sunflower areHeliothis , Grass hopper and Jassids.

SAFFLOWER (Carthamus tinctories ) (2n=24)

Breeding objectives :
1. Breeding for high oil content :
Normal oil content is 32% of which 72% is linoleic acid, the factor which reduces
blood cholesterol. Oil content is negatively correlated with yield. Wild species of
C. oxycanthus having 28% oil were utilised in hybridization programme to
increase yield and oil content but success was not achieved.
2. Breeding for non -spiny varieties with high oil content.
Varieties / cultivars with non spiny character and high oil content is required
3. Breeding varieties having thin shell
Thin shelled varieties have high oil content.
4. Breeding varieties for dry land conditions.
Under dry land conditions the spiny nature will be more pronounced. However dry
land varieties with less pronounced spines were evolved. E.g. K.l.
5. Breeding varieties resistant to insect pest and diseases :
Pests like Prodenia and Heliothis are important pests. The wild species C.
oxycanthus is moderately resistant to pests. This is being utilised in breeding
programme.

MUSTARD(Brassica nigra) (2n=16, 18, 20, 22, 36)

Breeding objectives :
1. Seed yield :
Yield is the end product of many biological processes which are under control of

21
complex polygenic systems. An ideal plant type is having increased branch
number, pods per plant, seeds per pod and seed size. Further yield increase could
result from increase in biomass and harvest index. Increased biomass can result
from reduced photo respiration and increased light saturated rate of
photosynthesis.
2. Early maturity :
For use in various multiple cropping sequence.
3. Resistance to abiotic factors
Frost resistance is needed to prevent yield losses. Winter hardiness is very
important.
4. Resistance to biotic stresses
Powdery mildew, Black leg, Sclerotinia rot, alternaria blight, mustard aphid are the
major challenges.
5. Herbicide resistance :
(Atrazine, simabine) A few sources of resistance is available.
6. Shattering resistance
B.napus - highly shattering
B.juncea - tolerant. Introgressive breeding done.
7. Increased oil content and quality
High oil content 45% yellow seed varieties > oil. For industrial purpose > Erucic
acid. Development of low erucic acid cultivars for edible purpose. Reduced
linolenic acid content is also desirable.
8. Meal quality
Meal having less Glucosinolate content is desirable.

TOMATO (Lycopersicon esculentum ) (2n=24)

Breeding objectives
1. Breeding for earliness
2. Breeding for increased fruit yield
3. Fruit quality like large round, uniform size, deep red colour and increased shelf
life etc.
4. Breeding for disease resistance like (Fusarium wilt, late blight anthracnose,
bacterial wilt).
5. Breeding for insect resistance (fruit borer, whitefly etc).
6. Breeding for Abiotic Stresses (cold tolerant, drought tolerant, salt tolerant, low
temperature tolerant, herbicide tolerance.
7. To breed varieties for prolonged storage and transportatione. g, flavr Savr
8. To breed varieties suitable for processing.

CHILLI (Capsicum annuum ) (2n=24)

22
Breeding objectives:
1. Breeding for earliness
2. Desirable fruit shape and size (obovate and round fruit in bell pepper and long
fruits in chilli)
3. Superior fruit quality (pleasing flavour, high sugar / acid ratio, high pigment
content and vitamin C in bell pepper and high capsaicin.
4. Resistance to diseases (fruit rot, Cercospora leaf spot, powdery mildew,
bacterial leaf spot, phytophthra root rot, root knot, common TMV).
5. Resistance to insects (thrips, mite, aphid, fruit borer)
6. Resistance or tolerance to abiotic stress (heat, water stress, salinity etc).

BREEDING PROCEDURES: CONVENTIONAL AND NON CONVENTIONAL

METHODS

8000-10000 years ago, farmers have been altering the genetic makeup of the
crops they grow. Early farmers selected the best looking plants and seeds and
saved them to plant for next season. By using science of genetics breeders use
that knowledge to develop the improved varieties with the desired traits.
The selection of characteristics such as, faster growth, higher yields, pest and
disease resistance, larger seeds, sweeter fruits have dramatically changed
domesticated plant species compared to their wild relatives.
- For example. Initially thousands of years ago Corn was found like finger of
a hand. Today, there are hundreds of corn varieties which having various
sizes are available.

Conventional Methods of Crop Improvement

Conventional plant breeding has been the method used to develop new varieties
of crops for hundreds of years. However, conventional plant breeding can no
longer sustain the global demand with the increasing population, decline in
agricultural resources such as land and water and the decreasing of yield curve
of the staple crops. Thus, new crop improvement technologies should be
developed and utilized.

Mutation Breeding
A few superior traits occasionally arise spontaneously through a process called
mutation, but the natural rate of mutation is very slow. Plants were exposed to
gamma rays, protons, neutrons, alpha particles and beta particles to see if there
would induce useful mutations. Chemicals such as sodium azide and ethyl
methane sulphonate were also used to cause mutations. More than 3,218
varieties obtained through mutation breeding.

23
Pure line selection
Procedure:
1. The plants are selected for their desirability of characters that may not be
similar phenotype.
2. The selected plants are subjected to progeny test.
3. The procedure is more effective as careful progeny test and yield trials are
conducted.
4. Generally 9-10 years are required to develop a new variety.
5. This method is used in self pollinated crops only.
Product:
1. The new variety is a pure line.
2. The new variety is highly uniform, genetic variation is very less.
3. Pure line variety is expected to have a narrower adaptation and lower stability
in performance as there is less genetic variation.
4. The variety is easily identified in seed certification programmes.
Quality of improvement:
The improvement of quality of the variety is generally the best which is present
within the existing variety of the original population, i.e., this method brings about
the best improvement over the original variety.

Mass Selection:
1. The selected plants should be of similar phenotype as the seeds are mixed
together.
2. In normal mass selection progeny test is not performed.
3. As a large number of plants are selected, extensive yield trials are not
necessary; less demanding process.
4. Generally 5-7 years are required to develop a new variety
5. This method is used in both self and cross pollinated crops.
Product:
1. The new variety is a mixture of pure lines.
2. The variety has genetic variation, so in general appearance it is less uniform.
3. The variety has wider adaptation and greater stability than pure line varieties.
4. The variety is relatively more difficult to identify in seed certification
programme.
Quality of improvement:

24
 The variety is inferior to the best pure line because most of the lines included
within it will be inferior the best pure line.

Hybrid Seed Technology

In hybrid seed technology, two pure lines with complementing traits are derived
from diversely related parents are bred together by hand. F1 hybrids are tested for
hybrid vigor in all agronomic and yield parameters and compared to both parents.
The resulting offsprings will usually perform more vigorously than either parents.

Utilized for self-pollinating crops including development of CMS lines.

Limitations of Conventional Methods

 Breeding can only be done between two plants that can sexually mate with each
other. These limits the new traits that can be added to those that already exist in
that species.
 When plants are crossed, many traits are transferred along with the trait of
interest including traits with undesirable effects on yield potential.

Non Conventional Methods of Crop Improvements

Over the last 50 years, the field of genetic engineering has developed rapidly due
to the greater understanding of DNA. The term Genetic Engineering is used to
describe the process by which the genetic makeup of an organism can be altered
using “recombinant DNA technology”.

25
26
Plant Tissue Culture

Tissue culture is the cultivation of plant cells, tissues, or organs on specially

formulated nutrient media.
Under the right conditions, an entire plant can be regenerated from a single cell.
Plant Tissue Culture is a technique that has been around for more than 30 years.
There are several types of tissue culture depending on the part of the plant
(explants) used such as, Anther Tissue Culture (in rice), Micro propagation,
Embryo Rescue, Somaclonal Variation, Pollen Culture, Ovary Culture etc.

Molecular Breeding and Marker Assisted Selection

To help identify specific genes, scientist use what are called molecular markers,
which are short strings or sequence of nucleic acid which makes up a segment
of DNA. The markers are located near the DNA sequence of the desired gene.
Since the markers and the genes are close together on the same chromosome,
they tend to stay together as each generation of plants is produced. This is called
genetic linkage.

NOTE. This linkage helps to predict whether a plant will have the desired gene.

Genetic Engineering and GM Crops

Genetic Engineering/Genetic Manipulation is a process where the gene for a

particular character is introduced inside the chromosome of a cell and with the
result, a transgenic plant is produced. Genetically Modified Crops, are the ones
wherein the DNA has been modified using engineering techniques. In most cases
the aim is to introduce a new trait to plant which does not occur naturally in
species.

Development of Transgenic Plants

Transgene, a foreign gene/genetic material that has been transferred naturally or

by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques from one organism to
another.
The plants whose genome is altered by adding one or more transgenes are
known as transgenic plants

27
28
.

29
30
CHAPTER 4
BREEDING FOR ABIOTIC & BIOTIC STRESSES
Introduction
Stress in plants refers to external conditions that adversely affect growth, development
or productivity of plants. Stresses trigger a wide range of plant responses like altered
gene expression, cellular metabolism, changes in growth rates, crop yields, etc.
Plant stress can be divided into two primary categories namely

1. Abiotic stress -. Abiotic stress is imposed on plants by environment may be

either physical or chemical.

2. Biotic stress- Biotic stress in plants is caused by living organisms, specially

viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes,insects, arachnids and weeds.

Abiotic stress :
Abiotic stresses such as drought (water stress), excessive watering (water
logging), extreme temperatures (cold, frost and heat), salinity and mineral toxicity
negatively impact growth, development, yield and seed quality of crop and other
plants.

 Drought
Among all abiotic stresses, drought stress is considered to be a major threat
to sustaining food security under current and more so in future climates.

 Salinity
Soil salinity poses a global threat to world agriculture by reducing the yield of
crops and ultimately the crop productivity in the salt affected areas. Two
primary effects are imposed on crop plants by salt stress; osmotic stress and
ion toxicity.

 Cold
Cold stress as abiotic stress has proved to be the main abiotic stresses that
decrease productivity of agricultural crops by affecting the quality of crops
and their post-harvest life

 Heat
When plants encounter heat stress the percentage of seed germination,
photosynthetic efficiency and yield declines. Under heat stress, during the
reproductive growth period, the function of tapetal cells is lost, and the anther
is dysplastic.

 Toxin

31
 The increased dependence of agriculture on chemical fertilizers and sewage
waste water irrigation and rapid industrialization has added toxic metals to
agriculture soils causing harmful effects on soil-plant environment system.

DROUGHT RESISTANCE

Mechanisms of drought resistance

There are 4 mechanisms of drought resistance.

1. Drought Escape : It is due to ability of a genotype to mature early, before

occurrence of drought. Drought escape is most common is plants grown is
desert region. Eg. Early maturing varieties of sorghum, maize, bajra, wheat, rice
etc; give more yield than late maturing under drought.
2. Drought Avoidance (Dehydration avoidance) : It is due to the ability of plants
to maintain favourable water balance even under stress. The plants which avoid
drought retain high moisture content is their tissues and lose less water.
3. Drought Tolerance (Dehydration tolerance) : Ability of plants to produce
higher yield even under ‘low water potential’. In cereals drought tolerance
generally occur during reproductive phase. Tolerant cultivars exhibit better
germination, seedling growth and photosynthesis.
4. Drought Resistance : It is the sum total of avoidance and tolerance. It refers
to the genetic ability of plants to give good yield under moisture stress
conditions.

Sources of drought resistance

1. Cultivated varieties
2. Land (old or desi primitive varieties)
3. Wild relatives (reported in several crops)
4.Transgene

Breeding Methods and Approaches

Breeding for drought resistance refers to breeding for yield under moisture stress,
i.e. developing varieties which can give high yields under stress. The common
methods are
1. Introduction
2. Selection
3. Hybridization
4. Mutation
5. Biotechnology

32
 BREEDING FOR SALT TOLERANCE

Mechanisms of salt tolerance :

1. Salt Tolerance : Plants respond to salinity stress by accumulating salt,
generally in their cells or glands and roots etc.

2. Salt avoidance : Plants avoid salt stress by maintaining their cell salt
concentration unchanged either by water absorption eg. Rice, chenopodiaceae
family or by salt exclusion eg. Tomato, soybean, citrus, wheat grass.
- Glycophytes (Non-halophytes) plants owe their resistance primarily to
avoidance. Eg. Barley
- Halophytes (plants that grew in salty or alkaline soils) show tolerance by ion
accumulation mechanism

Breeding methods

Breeding methods are same but breeding strategies are

1. Breeding for yield potential should have greater emphasis than breeding for
salt resistance per se (As screening is done on the basis of yield reduction in
stress environment as compared to non-stress Environment.).
2. Selection should be done in stresses target environments (As abiotic stress
resistance is an important part of Environment Fitness and is bound to be
location specific i.e. it is related to narrow adaptation.

BREEDING FOR COLD TOLERANCE

A. Chilling Stress
When temperatures remain above freezing i.e. >00C to <100-150C it is called
chilling. When temperature remain below freezing i.e.<00C it is called Freezing.
Chilling sensitive plants are typically tropical plants. Temperate plants are
generally tolerant to chilling injury.

Mechanisms of chilling tolerance:

1. Membrane lipid un-saturation
2. Reduced sensitivity of photosynthesis
3. Increased chlorophyll accumulation
4. Improved germination
5. Improved fruit / seed set
6. Pollen fertility

33
 Sources of Chilling Tolerance :
1. Late adopted breeding populations eg. maize
2. Germplasm (eg. That collected from high altitude, low temperature
geographic regions)
3. Induced mutants for cold tolerance
4. Cold tolerant somaclonal variants
5. Related wild species eg. Tomato

B. Freezing Resistance Freezing injury / Frost injury / Cryo injury Freezing

Stress :
Dormant state is conducive to freezing resistance, while resistance in actively
growing tissue is rare. Thus freezing resistance largely involves surviving
freezing stress in such a manner as to enable subsequent regrowth when the
temperature rises. As water in plants cools below 0 0C, it may either
1. Freeze i.e. form ice or
2. Super cool without forming ice.
Mechanism of Freezing resistance.
1. Freezing avoidance : The ability of plant tissues / or genes (but the whole
plants) to avoid ice formation at sub zero temperature is called freezing
avoidance
Supercooling is a mechanism of freezing avoidance it is controlled by
1. Lack of ice-nucleators
2. Small cell size
3. Little or no intercellular space
4. Low moisture content
5. Barriers against external nucleators
6. Presence of antinucleators
2. Freezing Tolerance : Ability of plants to survive the stresses generated by
extra cellular ice formation and to recover and regrow after thawing is known as
freezing tolerance. The various components of freezing tolerance are as follows:
1) Osmotic adjustment
2) Amount of bound water
3) Plasma membrane stability
4) Cell wall components properties
5) Cold-responsive proteins Eg. ABA
Sources of freezing tolerance
1. Cultivated varieties
2. Germplasm lines
3. Induced Mutations
4. Related wild species Eg. Wheat Agropyron sps; rye Barley – H. jubatum,
H.brachyantherum x H.bogdanii, H.jubatum x H.compressum Oats – Avena

34
 sterilis
5. Transgenes : Eg. chemical synthesized antifreeze protein gene, ala 3, in tobacco

35
BREEDING FOR BIOTIC STRESS RESISTANCE
DISEASE RESISTANCE
MECHANISMS OF DISEASE RESISTANCE:

There are different ways of disease resistance viz ., disease escape, disease
endurance or tolerance disease resistance and immunity.

1. Disease escape : The ability of susceptible host plants to avoid attack of

disease due to environmental conditions factors, early varieties, charge in the
date of planting, change in the site of planting; balanced application of NPK etc.
Eg. Early varieties of groundnut and potato may escape ‘Tikka’ and ‘Late blight’
diseases respectively since they mature before the disease epidemic occurs.

2. Disease endurance or tolerance : The ability of the plants to tolerate the

invasion of the pathogen without showing much damage. This endurance is
brought about by the influence of external characters. Wheat varieties when
fertilized with potash and phosphorus are more tolerant to the rust and mildew infection

3. Disease Resistance : The ability of plants to withstand, oppose or overcome

the attack of pathogens. Resistance is a relative term and it generally refers to
any retardation in the development of the attacking pathogen.

4. Immunity: When the host does not show the symptoms of disease it is known
as immune reaction. Immunity may result from prevention of the pathogen to
reach the appropriate parts of the host.

5. Hypersensitivity: Immediately after the infection several host cells

surrounding the point of infection are so sensitive that they will die. This leads to
the death of the pathogen because the rust mycelium cannot grow through the
dead cells.

Sources of Disease Resistance

Resistance to diseases may be obtained from four different sources :

1. A known variety: Disease reactions of most of the cultivated varieties are

documented and a breeder may find the resistance he needs in a cultivated
variety. Resistant plants were isolated from commercial varieties as in the case
of cabbage yellows in cabbage curly top resistance etc. These provide the basis
for new resistant varieties.

36
 2. Germplasm collection : When resistance to a new disease or a new pathotype
of a disease is not known in a cultivated variety germplasm collection should be
screened. Several instances disease resistance were found from the germplasm
collections.

Eg. resistance to neckblotch in barley, resistance to wilt in watermelon

3. Related species : Often the resistance to a disease may be found in related

species and transferred through interspecific hybridization. Eg. Resistance to
stem, leaf & stripe rusts of wheat

4. Mutation : Resistance to diseases may be obtained through mutation arising

spontaneously or induced through mutagenic treatments. Eg. 1. Resistance to
Victoria blight in oats was induced by irradiation with x-rays or thermal neutrons /
also produced spontaneously 2. Resistance to stripe rust in wheat 3. Resistance to
brown rust in oats 4. Resistance to mildew in barley

Methods of Breeding for Disease Resistance

The methods of breeding for disease resistance are essentially same as those
used for other agronomic traits.

1. Introduction : Resistant varieties may be introduced for cultivation in a new

area.
Eg. • Early varieties of groundnut introduced from USA have been resistant to
leaf spot (Tikka)
Kalyanasona and Sonalika wheat varieties originated from segregating material
introduced from CIMMYT, Mexico, were rust resistant
African bajra introductions have been used in developing downy mildew resistant cms
lines.

2. Selection : Selection of resistant plants from commercial varieties is easiest

method. Eg. • Kufri Red potato is selection from Darjeeling Red round
• Pusa Sawani behind (yellow mosaic) selection from a collection obtained from
Bihar
• MCU I was selection from CO4 for black arm resistance in cotton

3. Hybridization : Transfering disease resistance from one variety or species to

the other. a. Pedigree method is quite suitable for horizontal resistance. Artificial
disease epiphytolics are produced to help in selection for diseaseresistance.
Eg. In wheat Kalyana Sona, Sonalaka, Malvika 12 Malvika 37, Malavika 206,
Malavika 234 Laxmi in Cotton (Gadag 1 x CO2) for leaf blight resistance
b. Backcross method is used to transfer resistance genes from an undersirable

37
agronomic variety to a susceptible, widely adoptable and is agronomically highly
desirable variety. If the resistant parent is a wholly unadapted variety, backcross
method is a logical choice. If resistant variety also possess some good qualities then
chose pedigree method of handling segregating material.

4. Budding & Grafting : The disease resistance in vegetatively propogated

material is transferred by adopting either by budding or grafting. By grafting or
budding the resistant material, the resistance can be transferred.

5. Mutation Breeding : When adequate resistance is not available in the

germplasm ; Mutation breeding is resorted to induce resistance. This is also used
to break the linkages between desirable resistant genes and other desirable
genes.
Varieties resistant to different diseases
Rice : Blast Co25, Co26,
Wheat : all three rusts : NP 809 Yellow rust : NP 785, NM86 Black rust : NP 789
Brown rust : NP 783, NP 784
Sugarcane : Red rot Co 419, Co 421, Co 527
Cotton : Wilt: Vijay, Kalyan, Suyog
Groundnut : Tikka leafspot: Ah 45
Chilli : Mosaic resistant Pusa red, Pusa orange

INSECT RESISTANCE

Mechanism of Insect Resistance : Insect resistance is grouped into four

categories :

1. Non preference : Host Varieties exhibiting this type of resistance are

unattractive or unsuitable for colonization, oviposition or both by an insect pest.
This type of resistance in also termed as non-acceptance and anti-xenosis. Non
preference involves various morphological and biochemical features of host
plants such as – color, hairness, leaf angle, taste etc

2. Antibiosis : Antibiosis refers to an adverse effect of feeding on a resistant host

plant on the development and/or reproduction of the insect pest. In severe cases,
it may even lead to the death of the insect pest. Antibiosis may involve
morphological, physiological or biochemical features of the host plant; some
cases of insect resistance involve a combination of features. Eg. Resistance to
BPH is due to antibiosis & non preference.

3. Tolerance : An insect tolerant variety is attacked by the insect pest to the

same degree as a susceptible variety. But at the same level of infestation, a
tolerant variety produces a higher yield than a susceptible variety. Ability of the

38
 host plant to withstand the insect population to a certain extent which might
have damaged a more susceptible host. Tolerance is mainly a host character and
it may be because of greater recovery from pest damage. Eg. Rice varieties
tolerant to stem borer/gall midge produce additional tillers to compensate yield
losses (as in stem borer in sorghum) or due to the ability of host to suffer less
damage by the pest eg. aphid tolerance in Sugarbeet & Brassica sps. And green
bugs tolerance in cereals. Inheritance of tolerance is complex in many cases and
is supposed to be governed by polygenes

4. Avoidance : Pest avoidance is the same as disease escape, and as such it is

not a case of true resistance Mostly insect avoidance result from the host plants
being at a much less susceptible developmental stage when the pest population
is at its peak. Eg. Early maturing cotton varieties escape pinkboll worm
infestation, which occurs late in the season.
Sources of Insect Resistance
1. Cultivated variety : Resistance to many insect pests may be found among the
cultivated varieties of the concerned crop. Varieties SRT 1, Khand waz ; DNJ 286
and B 1007 ofG. hirsutum are good sources of resistance to Jassids.

2. Germplasm collection : Germplasm collections are rich sources of resistance

to insect pests in wide range of crop plants.

3. Related wild species : Eg. 1) Resistance to both the species of potato

nematodes has been transferred from Solanum vernei to potato 2) Jassid
resistances is known in wild relatives of cottonG. tomentosum; G.anomalum and
G.armourianum

4. An unrelated organism : It is done through recombinant DNA technology a)

The ‘cry’ gene of Bacillus thuringiensis is the most successful example. Other
genes of importance are the Protease inhibitor encoding genes found in many
plants eg. the cowpea pea, trypsin inhibitor (cp TI) gene.

Breeding Methods for Insect Resistance

1. Introduction : Eg. Phylloxera vertifoliae resistance grape root-stocks from U.S.A.

into france

2. Selection : Eg. 1) Resistance to potato leaf hopper 2) Resistance to spotted

alfalfa aphid
3. Hybridization : Pedigree and Back cross
4. Genetic Engineering :B. thuningiensis (cry gene) resistance in maize, soybean,

39
 cotton etc.

Insect resistant variety

1. India – cotton varieties – G 27, MCU 7, LRK 516 – resistant to boll worms.
2. Rice – variety vijaya – resistant to leaf hopper, Rice – TKM 6, Ratna –
Stemborer
Rice –Vajram, chaitanya, Pratibha – BPH

CHAPTER 5
QUALITY (PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL) OF RABI CROPS
BREEDING FOR MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS
 Shorter stature, was earlier maturing

 Larger grain size

 Photoperiod response

 Plant height

 Number of tillers

 Grain yield per panicle

 Panicle shape and length

 Seed shape, colour and texture

 Seed yield and green fodder yield

 1.Breeding non-lodging varieties:

This is achieved after the identification of dwarfing gene in Japanese
variety Norin 10.
Most of our dwarf wheats are two gene warfs

40
 eg. Sonora 63, sonora 64, kalyan sona

2. Modification of agronomic characters:

modification of agronomic characters such as plant height, tillering,
branching, erect or trailing habit.

3. Change in maturity duration

it permits new crop rotation and often extend the crop area
 Grain hardness
 milling, flour and end-use properties of wheat
 Hard endosperm and soft endosperm
 Hardness locus on chromosome 5DS.
 This locus consists of three small genes: Pina-D1 , Pinb-D1
(Puroindoline a/b ) andgrain softness protein-1 (Gsp-1 ).

BREEDING FOR BIOCHEMICAL AND QUALITY PARAMETERS

 Improving nutrient efficiency is an important breeding objective. This
means that even if fertilization is limited, it should not impact the crop
yield and should maintain high productivity levels.
 As a quality characteristic, digestibility plays an important role in silage
corn breeding.
 The soft wheat contains lesser gluten content which is suitable for cake,
making pastries etc.
 The durum wheat, on the other hand, are suitable for making macroni so
depending on the use of quality breeding objective is to be fixed.
 Breeding for high protein in wheat:

Composed of two fractions. a) Protein in endosperm known as Zein which

is nutritionally not balanced since it is lesser in lysine and tryptophan. 80%
protein found in endosperm.
b) Protein in germ (embryo) 20% balanced one. By increasing the embryo
size we can increase protein content.
Breeding for increased oil content in wheat
12-15% in germ. By increasing the embryo size we can increase oil content.
Marker assisted wheat breeding for improved quality traits
 time-consuming and costly and require relatively large amounts of grain,
which is typically not available until late stages of breeding programs
 Thus, markers for wheat quality traits can be very useful, as they enable
screening of a high number of lines and can be used early in breeding

41
 programs
Other genes for improving quality
 wheat bread making (wbm ), that was highly expressed in developing
seeds of wheat varieties with good bread-making quality.
 Polymorphisms in the promoter region sequence were identified between
good- and poor-quality varieties.
 Breeding for physical quality – color, texture, appearance, test weight etc.
 Breeding for chemical composition – starch composition (desirable end
product), protein content, Protein quality (gluten/ gliadin ratio)
 Breeding for nutritional quality – negative correlation between protein
and lysine eg. Naphal
 Breeding for market quality – flour recovery milling quality and dough
quality
GENETIC ENHANCEMENT OF GRAIN QUALITY TRAITS
 It can be achieved by incorporating yellow endosperm to improve vitamin
A content or white endosperm to improve protein content.

 Biofortification of micronutrient: Biofortification in millet is still limited by

the presence of antinutrients like phytic acid, polyphenols, and tannins
(Phytate binds multivalent metal ions such as calcium and iron thereby
interfering with their absorption in the gut)

 So, the main objective for improving grain quality should be:

 Reduction of the level of phytic acid accumulated in the grain;

 Reduction of the potential health problems derived from the presence of

the goitrogenic C-glycosylflavones in the grain

GENETIC ENHANCEMENT FOR FORAGE QUALITY

Fodder Quality Can Be Enhanced By Improving:
 Tillering Capacity,

 Leafiness

42
 Biomass productivity

 Thicker stems and longer panicles

 and dry matter digestibility by largely using dwarfing genes to increase

leaf-to-stem ratio

 Sweetness of stem through genetic modifications (Jindalet al., 2009).

 Based on the negative relationship between lignin and digestibility, one of

the most effective means of increasing forage digestibility is by reducing
lignin content
 (Burton and Fortson, 1966). Development of dwarf pearl millet cultivars:
there are four recessive dwarfing genes (d1, d2, d3 and d4) in pearl millet
that control plant height and helps in improvement of forage nutritive
value by reducing stem percentage and increasing leafiness
BREEDING FOR VALUE ADDITION
It includes pearlmillet grain for malt extraction, biscuit and cake making
quality and many other food and feed products
 Malt and biscuit/cake making quality:
 The cooking quality of the grain is determined by amylose content.
 pearlmillet starch had higher amylase, swelling power, solubility and
inherent viscosity
 Beverage production:
 Pearlmillet could be substituted successfully for sorghum to produce
improved “oti-oka” like beverage.It is also useful for preparing bajra lassi
by reducing the level of phytate and through bioavailability of minerals
 Ethanol production: pearlmillets have greater protein and lipid contents,
distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and starch content
 Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) from pearlmillets also had
greater protein content and energy levels. Therefore, pearlmillets could be
a potential feedstock for fuel ethanol production.

43
  Keeping Quality and Rancidity: Rancidity in flour - total phenols, C-
glycosylflavones and peroxidase activity were responsible for rancidity
 Pearl millet for diabetics: Genetic variations present in pearl millet
germplasm for traits such as slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant
starch (RS) known to contribute to low glycemic index (GI) in pearl millet.
 added millet protein can increase insulin sensitivities, and reduce blood
glucose level as well as triglyceride level (Nishizawa et al., 2009).
 Gluten free pearl millet for celiac disease: since millets are gluten-free,
they have considerable potential in foods and beverages that can be
suitable for individuals suffering from celiac disease(Taylor and
Emmambux 2008; Chandrasekara and Shahidi, 2011c)
 develop cream/ white coloured pearl millet genotypes: The typical grey
colour of the pearl millet and its products due to polyphenolic pigment
present in peripheral area of grains restricts its efficient use in food
industry.

CHAPTER 6
HYBRID SEED PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

TOMATO
 Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops grown extensively in the
tropical and subtropical belts of the world. It is grown mainly fresh market and to
a little extent for processing. Increased attention is now being bestowed to
breeding and production of tomato. Production of tomato can further be
increased if improved cultural practices are combined with good quality seeds.

 The quality seed production techniques in tomato comprises:-

1. Botany-

Tomato is a typical day neutral plant. It requires temperature of 15-20° C for fruit
setting. Tomato is self pollinated crop. Self fertilization is favoured by the
position of receptive stigma within the cone anthers and the normal pendant
position of the flower.

2. Method of seed production : Seed to Seed.

44
3. Stages of seed production:

Breeder seed - Foundation Seed I - Foundation Seed II – Certified

4. Varieties :

o Indeterminate varieties-Pusa Ruby, Solan Gola, Yaswant (A-2),

Sioux, Marglobe, Naveen, Ptom-9301, Shalimar- 1, Shalimar-2.
Angurlata, Solan Bajr, Solan Sagun, Arka Vikas. Arita Saurbh.

o Determinate varieties-Roma (EC-13513), Rupali, MTH-15, Ptom-18, VL-1,

VL-2, HS 101, HS 102, HS110, Pusa Early Dwarf, Pusa Sheetal, Floradade,
Arka Meghli, Co.1, Co.2, Co.3 (Marutham), PKM.1, Py1,

o Hybrids-COTH-1,PantHybrid-2,PantHybrid-10,Kt-4.PusaHybrid-l-
4,ArkaShreshta,Arka Vardan, Arka Abhijit, Navell 1 &2 (Sandoz), Rupali,
Sonali, MTH 6

5. Season:

May - June and November - December

45
6. Land requirement :
Selection of suitable land for tomato seed production is important where the
previous crop should not be the same variety to avoid the contamination due to
the volunteer plants.
7. Isolation requirement:
For Seed production of tomato, varieties require minimum of 50 M for
foundation seed and 25 M for certified seed. For hybrid seed production, it
requires minimum of 200 M for foundation (parental line increase) and 100 M for
certified hybrid seeds.
8. Seed rate:
For (i) Varieties - 300- 400 g/ha
(ii) For F1 hybrid - Male parent 25 g/ha; Female parent 100 g/ha.
9. Sowing:
Sow the seeds in raised nursery bed of 20 cm height, in rows of 5 cm gap and
covered with sand. Eight and ten nursery beds will be sufficient to transplant one
acre. Apply 2 kg of DAP 10days before pulling out of seedling.

10.Transplanting:

Transplanting should be done with the seedlings are 20-25 days old, preferably at
evening time. Spacing is 60 x 45 cm (90 x 60 cm for female parent and 60 x 45
cm for male parent of hybrids).

11.Manuring :

After thorough preparation of a field to fine tilth, apply 25 tons of FYM per ha.
Apply 100:100:100 Kg of NPK/ha of which, 50% of the N is applied as basal.

12.Roguing:

The roguing should be done based on the plant characters (determinate /

indeterminate), leaf, branching and spreading characters and also based on fruit
size, shape and color. The plants affected by early blight, leaf spot and mosaic
(TMV) diseases should be removed from the seed production field/ plot.
13.Planting ratio :

For hybrid seed production, the female and male parents are normally planted in
the ratio of 12:1 or 12:2.

46
14.Pest and disease management:
The major pests attacking tomato crop are leaf eating caterpillars and fruit
borers, which can be controlled by spraying. The major diseases in tomato are
early blight and mosaic virus. The early blight rot can be controlled by spraying
Benlate or DithaneM-45.
15.Harvesting seed extraction and processing:
The fruits are harvested after full maturity of the fruit when turn in to red color
fruits from first and last one or two harvests should not be used for seed
extraction.

Stages of maturation:
Mature green, Breaker, Turning, Pink, Red, Dark red / over ripe
The fruits from in between 6-7 harvest should be used for seed extraction. The
seed viability is depends on the method on which the seeds were extracted and
hence, it is more important to choose proper methods of seed extraction. Before
seed extraction, the fruits are to be graded for true to type and selection of
medium to large size fruits for getting higher recovery of quality seeds.

Seed extraction:
The acid method of seed extraction is the best method for tomato seed
extraction. In this method, the fruits are to be crushed into pulp and taken in a
plastic containers (or) cement tank. And then add 30 ml of commercial
Hydrochloric acid(HCl) per kg of pulp, stir well and allow it for ½ hour. In between
this duration the pulp may be stirred well for one or two times. This facilitates the
separation of seed and pulp. After ½ hour, the seeds will settle down at the
bottom and then the floating fraction is to be removed. The collected seeds
should be washed with water for three or four times.
While following acid method we must use only plastic or stainless steel
containers or cement tank.
Care must be taken to avoid the usage of iron or zinc containers, which will affect
the viability potential of the seeds and as well damage to the containers due to
chemical reaction with acid.
The seeds extracted by this machine may again be treated with commercial
Hydrochloric acid @ 2-3 ml/kg seed with equal volume of water for 3-5 minutes
with constant stirring. And then seed should be washed with water for to four
times.
It is easy to dry the seeds extracted by acid method and also remove the fungus
growth over the seed coat, thus seeds possess golden yellow colour and high
vigour.

47
The seed extracted by fermentation method posses poor vigour and off colour
due to fungal activity

48
 Seed extraction methods (Fermentation Acid Alkali Method)

Mix fruit pulp with water - 24 - 48 h

HCl @10ml / Kg of pulp - 20-30 minutes

Washing soda @ 900mg/4 l of water- equal volume – overnight soak Salient

features

Low cost. • Unskilled labour. • More Time taken • Low Seed recovery (0.5 to 0.6 %
•Dull seed colour. • Seed..borne..pathogens

Cost is more. • Skilled labour • Lesser Time • High seed recovery (0.8 to 1 %) •
Bright colour market value higher. • Seed borne pathogen – removed • Improper
washing leads to injury to seeds

Recovery 0.7 to 0.8 per cent • Luster of the seeds will be lost. • Improper washing
leadsto injury to seeds

Drying and grading :

Seeds are to be dried in the shade. It should never be dried in hot sun. the safe
moisture content of the seed for grading is 8 to 9 per cent. Seeds can be graded
using 6/64’’ round perforated sieve. Storage The seeds dried to safe moisture
content after treating either with captan or thiram @ 2 g/kg can be stored for 15
months in moisture vapour pervious containers, while it can be stored in
moisture vapour proof containers for 30 months.

15.Hybrid seed production:

In tomato the hybrid seed production is normally done by 'Emasculation and
Hand Pollination'. However use of chemical hybridizing agents (MH-1000 ppm) or
CMS lines are also practiced

Emasculation and dusting

1. Emasculation is done before the anthers are mature and the stigma has
become receptive to minimize accidental self pollination.

2. Thus emasculation is generally done in the evening, between 4 PM and 6 PM

one day before the anthers are expected to dehisce or mature and the stigma is
likely to become fully receptive.

49
3. Emasculate the bud by hand with the help of needle and forceps. Remove the
calyx, corolla and staminal column or anthers, leaving gynoecium i.e., stigma and
style intact in the flower.

4. Emasculated flowers should be covered immediately with red coloured paper

cover to protect against contamination from foreign pollen and also for easy
identification of emasculated bud during dusting.

5. Remove the red paper cover of the emasculated bud and dust the pollen gently
over the stigmatic surface using cotton or camel brush, etc.,

6. After dusting, the emasculated flowers are again covered with white or other
coloured paper cover for two to three days.

7. Pollen collected from one male flower can be used for dusting 5 to 7
emasculated flowers.
Seed Yield : 100 -120 Kg/ha

Seed Certification

Number of Inspections: A minimum of three inspections shall be made as

follows:

1.The first inspection shall be made before flowering on order to verify isolation,
volunteer plants, and other relevant factors,

2.The second inspection shall be made during flowering to check isolation, off
types and other relevant factors

3.The third inspection shall be made at maturity and prior to harvesting to verify
true nature of plant and other relevant factors

Specific requirements –
Factors foundation Certified
Off types – variety 0.1% 0.2%
Hybrid 0.01% 0.05%
Plants affected by seed 0.1% 0.5%
borne diseases

Seed standard (variety and hybrid) -

Factors Foundation certified
Pure seed (mini ) 98% 98%

50
Inert matter (max) 2% 2%
Other crop seed (maxi) 5/kg 5-10/kg
Weed seed( max) None none
Germination (min) 70% 70%
Moisture (max) 8% 8%

51
 BRINJAL (Solanum melongena)
Brinjal is one of the most important vegetable crops grown extensively in the
tropical and subtropical belts of the world. It is grown mainly fresh market and to
a little extent for processing. Increased attention is now being bestowed to
breeding and production of Brinjal. Production of brinjal can further be increased
if improved cultural practices are combined with good quality seeds. The quality
seed production techniques of brinjal comprises of the following steps.

1. Botany :

Brinjal is often cross pollinated crop. Brinjal flower opens mainly in morning. A
few flower open at 16 hr. Anther dehiscence occurs 15-20 minutes after flowers
have opened. The period of receptivity ranges from a day prior to flower opening
to 4 days after opening.
Brinjal produces 4 types of flowers with different style length. (Long style, short
style, medium style and pseudo short style). For seed production and better yield,
the long and medium style is desirable. To increase the production of long and
medium style application of more nitrogen or spraying of growth regulators
during pre-flowering and flowering stages may be followed.
2. Method of seed production : Seed to Seed.

3. Stages of seed production

Breeder seed Foundation Seed Certified Seed.

4. Varieties
Co.1, Co.2. MDU.1, PKM.1, KKM.1, PLR. 1. AU1, Pusa purple long, Arka nidhi,
Pant smart, Arka neelkanth, Arka shrish.
5. Hybrids:

CoBH1, Arka Navneet (IIHR 22-1 x supreme), Pusa H-5, Pusa H-6, MHB 10, MHB
39 (Mahyco), Azad Hybrid.
6. Season

The brinjal seed production can be taken up in the following 2 seasons. May-
June and December- January.
7. Land requirement : The land should be free of volunteer plants.

8. Isolation

For varieties, 200 m or 100m of isolation distance is required for foundation and
certified seed, respectively.
For hybrid seed production minimum of 200 m isolation distance should be

52
 maintained.

9. Seed rate
Varieties - 400 - 500 g/ha Hybrids - 200 g/ha (Female) whereas, 50 g/ha (Male)
10.Nursery
Sow the seeds in raised nursery bed of 20 cm height, in rows of 5 cm gap and
covered with sand. Eight and ten nursery beds will be sufficient to transplant one
acre. Apply 2 kg of DAP 10 days before pulling out of seedling.
11. Transplanting
Seedlings are transplanted when they are 30-35 days old (12-15 cm height)
preferably in the evening time. Spacing of 75 x 60 cm (non spreading) and 90 x
60 cm (spreading) varieties, 90 x 60 cm for female parent and 60 x 45 cm for
male parent of hybrids
11.Manuring

The field should be thoroughly ploughed for fine filth and apply 25 tons of
FYM/ha. The other fertilizer requirement for brinjal variety and hybrid are same
as followed for tomato seed production.
12.Roguing

The roguing should be done based on the plant characters, leaf, branching and
spreading characters and also based on fruit size, shape and color. The plants
affected by Phomopsis blight, leaf spot and little leaf virus disease should be
removed from the seed production field.
13.Pest and disease management

The pests like fruit borer, shoot borer, beetles, aphids, mealy bug and jassids can
be controlled by spraying Nuvacron or Methyl parathion. The red spider mite can
be controlled by spraying in Kelthane. The important diseases are damping off
and little leaf which can be controlled by spraying fungicide and systemic
insecticides, respectively. Powdery mildew, leaf spot and anthracnose diseases
can be controlled by spraying Benlate.

14.Hybrid seed production

The planting ratio of female and male parents adopted for hybrid seed
production is normally 5:1 or 6:1.For production of hybrid seeds, crossing
programme is done using emasculation and dusting methods as followed in
tomato.

15. Harvesting and processing

53
Harvesting is done when fruits are fully ripe (when the fruits turn into yellow
colour) i.e., 405 days after flowering. The harvested fruits are to be graded for
true to type and off type and fruit borer infested fruits are discarded. The graded
fruits are cut in 2-3 pieces or whole fruits will be put in a cement tank with water
and crushed manually and then allow it for fermentation for 1-2 days. Then the
floating pulp portions are to be removed, the seeds settled at the bottom should
be collected and washed with water and then the seeds with equal volume of
water is treated with commercial Hydrochloric acid @ 3-5 ml/kg of seed. The
mixture is kept for 10-15 minutes with frequent stirring. Then the treated seeds
are to be washed with water for 3-4 times. Afterwards seeds are dried under
shade for 2-3 days over a tarpaulin and followed by sun drying for 1-2 days to
reduce the seed moisture content to 8 per cent. Then the seeds are cleaned and
graded with BSS 12 sieve. The processed seeds are treated with fungicides or
Halogen mixture @ 5g/kg of seed.

Storage
Storage The seeds dried to safe moisture content after treating either with
captan or thiram @ 2 g/kg can be stored for 15 months in moisture vapour
pervious containers, while it can be stored in moisture vapour proof containers
for 30 months.

Seed Yield : 100-200 Kg/ha Seed Certification

Number of Inspections

1. The first inspection shall be made before flowering on order to verify

isolation, volunteer plants, and other relevant factors,

2. The second inspection shall be made during flowering to check isolation,

off types an dother relevant factors

3. The third inspection shall be made at maturity and prior to harvesting to

verify true nature of plant and other relevant factors

Specific standards

Factors
Foundation Certified
Off types – Variety
0.1% 0.25
Hybrid
0.1% 0.05%

54
 0.1%
Designated diseased 0.5%
plant

The designated diseases in brinjal are Phomopsis blight caused by Phomopsis

vexans and little leaf caused byDatura virus-2.

55
Seed standards (Variety & Hybrid)

Factors Foundation & Certified

Pure seed
98%
Inert matter
2%
Other crop seed
None
Weed seed
None
Germination
70%
Moisture content 8%

Genetic purity - tomato & brinjal hybrids is 90%

56
 CHILLI(Capsicum frutescense)
Chillies widely used as vegetable and spice is an often cross pollinated crop,
where the extend of cross pollination is upto 7 to 36 per cent. It belongs to the
family solanaceae. It is also known as hot pepper and botanically it is known as
capsicum annuum. The quality seed production techniques of chillies comprises
of the following steps.
1. Botany: Often Cross pollinated vegetable. The flower is protogynous. Anther
dehisces only half to 5 ½ hr after stigma becomes receptive. Anthesis in chilli
occurs between 6.00 and 9.00 hr. Flower remains open for 2 to 3 days, receptivity
of stigma was the highest at the day of flower anthesis.
2. Method of seed production : Seed to seed
3. Stages of seed production : Breeder seed, Foundation seed Certified seed.
4. (A)Varieties:K.1, K.2, K.3, Co.1, Co.2, PKM.1, MDU.1, Bagyalakshmi.
(B)Hybrids: KT.1, (Pusa Deepti), Solar Hybrid 1, Solar Hybrid 2. Early Bounty,
Indira, Lario, Hira, Bharat.
5. Season:
June-July, February-March, September- October.
6. Land requirement: There are no land requirement as of previous crops, but the
land should be free from volunteer plants. Generally areas affected by wilt or root
rot may be avoided. Crop rotation must be followed to avoid endemic
Solanaceous pests.

7. Isolation requirement: Minimum isolation distance of 400 M for foundation and

hybrid seed and 200 M for certified seed production are necessary.

8. Seed rate: Seed required for one hectare is 500 g to 1 kg for variety; for hybrids -
Female = 200 g and male = 50 g

9. Nursery:
Sow the seeds in raised nursery bed of 20 cm height, in rows of 5 cm gap and
covered with sand. Eight and ten nursery beds will be sufficient to transplant one
acre. Apply 2 kg of DAP 10 days before pulling out of seedling.

Transplanting: The seedlings of 30-35 days old are ready for transplanting.
Transplanting may be done on the ridges in the evening.

Foliar spray: To arrest the flower drop, NAA (Planofix) can be sprayed @ 4ml/L.
Very light irrigation is also done arrest the flower drop.

10. Manuring : Apply 50 tones of FYM/ha for irrigated crop. Basal 0:70:70 kg of NPK
and 50 kg of N at 15 days after transplanting and 50 kg N at 45th days after
transplanting.

57
11. Roguing: Field inspection and roughing should be done both for varieties and
hybrid at different stages based on the plant height and its stature, flower colour
and pod characters. The plants affected with leaf blight, anthracnose and viral
diseases should be removed from the seed field.

12. Pest and disease management: The important pest attacking chilli and
capsicum are thrips, aphids, pod or fruit borer and mites. The thrips and aphids
can be controlled by spraying Dimecron (systemic pesticide), pod borer can be
controlled by spraying Nuvacron and the mites can be controlled by spraying
Kelthane. The major diseases affecting the plants are die back or fruit rot,
powdery mildew and bacterial leaf spot. Spray Dithane M-45 for control of die
back, Karathane for powdery mildew and Agromycin for leaf spot disease control.

13. Hybrid seed production:

The crossing operation can be performed as per the methods outlined for tomato
and brinjal hybrid seed production. However, hand emasculation and pollination
is somewhat difficult since the flowers are minute. Hence use of male sterile
lines can also be employed for hybrid seed production.

Harvesting and processing: Harvesting should be done in different pickings. First

and last one or two pickings can be harvested for vegetable purpose. The well
ripened fruits with deep, red colour alone should be collected in each picking.
After harvest, fruit rot infected fruits are to be discarded. The harvested pods are
to be dried under shade for one (or) two days and then under sun for another 2 or
3 days. Before drying pods are to be selected for true to type and graded for seed
extraction. The seed are extracted from graded dried pods. The pods are taken in
gunny bag and beaten with pliable bamboo sticks. The seeds are cleaned by
winnowing and dried to 10% moisture content over tarpaulin. Then seeds are
processed with BSS 8 wire mesh screens. For large scale seed extraction, the
TNAU model chilli seed extractor may be used.

Seed Yield : 50-80 Kg/ha Seed Certification Number of Inspections

A minimum of three inspections shall be made as follows:

1.The first inspection shall be made before flowering on order to verify isolation,
volunteer plants, and other relevant factors,

2.The second inspection shall be made during flowering to check isolation,

offtypes and other relevant factors

3.The third inspection shall be made at maturity and prior to harvesting to verify

58
true nature of plant and other relevant factors

59
 Specific standards
Factors
Foundation Certified
Off types
0.1% 0.2%
Designated diseased 0.1%
plant 0.5%

The designated diseases are caused byCollertotictum capsici and leaf blight
caused byAlternaria solari.

Seed standards (Variety & Hybrid)

Factors Certified
Foundation
Pure seed 98%
98%
Inert matter 2%
2%
Other crop seeds 5/kg 10/kg

Weed seeds 10/kg

5/kg
Germination 60%
60%
Moisture content 8% 8%

60
BHENDI(Abelmoschus esculentus)

1. Botany: Anthesis is between 9 and 10 A.M and is preceded by maximum

anther dehiscence between 8 and 9 A.M. The stigma remains receptive on the
day of anthesis. Bhendi is an often cross pollinated crop. Cross pollination to an
extent of 12 per cent is due to protogynous.

2. Method of seed production : Seed to seed

3.Stages of seed production : Breeder seed Foundation seed Certified seed.

4.(A)Varieties : Co.1, MDU.1, Parbhani Kranti, Arka Anamika, Pusa A-4, Pusa

Sawani (B) Hybrids :CO-2,CO- 3, Mahyco hybrid, Shoba

5.Season : June-July, September- October and February-March

6.Land requirement : Select field on which bhendi crop was not grown in the
previous season, unless the crop was of the same variety and certified. Field
should be freefrom wild bhendi (Abelmoschussp.)
7.Isolation requirement: Seed field must be isolated from other varieties at least
by 400m for foundation and hybrid seed production and 200 M for certified
seedproduction.

8.Seed rate : Varieties : 8-10kg/ha Hybrids : 4 kg/ha (Female); 1 kg/ha (Male)

9.Manuring: Apply 12.5 tons of FYM/ha before ploughing. Apply 150:75:75 kg

NPK/ha
of which 50% of the N should be applied as top dressing in two split doses at
flowering and 10 days later.

10. Planting ratio: For hybrid seed production, female and male parents are
normally planted in the ratio of 4:1.

11.Roguing: Minimum of three inspections for varieties and 4 inspections for

hybrids, one at vegetative, two at flowering and one at fruit maturity stages. The
rouging should be based on the plant characters, hairiness, fruit character like
fruit colour, number of ridges, fruit length etc., and the off type and mosaic
attacked plants should be removed from the seed field. Wild bhendi if present
should be removed before flowering.
12.Pest and disease management: The major pest attacking bhendi are jassids,
aphids and white fly, which can be controlled by spraying Rogar or Dimecron or

61
Endosulphon. The pod borer and red spider mites can be controlled by spraying
Endosulphon & Kelthane, respectively. The diseases such as yellow vein mosaic
and powdery mildew can be controlled by spraying systemic insecticides and
Karathane, respectively.
13.Hybrid seed production: In bhendi, since the flowers are large in size, hand
emasculation and pollination is the best suitable method for seed production.
The emasculation and dusting can be done as per the methods outlined in
tomato. The male and female parents are raised in blocks at the ratio of 9:1
(Female: Male).

Harvesting: Fruits should be harvested when they have dried (30-35 days after
crossing). The pods which expose hairline crack and turn to brown colour on
drying alone are cut using sickle manually.

Threshing:The pods are dried and threshed using pliable sticks. Separated seeds
are winnowed to remove plant debris and dried over a tarpaulin to 10% moisture
content. Dried seeds are subject to water floatation in which, good seeds sink
while poor seeds float. The floaters are removed, while sinkers are dried under
shade followed by sun drying. Then the seed are cleaned, dried and treated with
Captan/ Thiram.

Seed Yield: 1000-1200 Kg/ha

Specific standards:

Factors Certified
Foundation
Off types 0.2%
0.1%
Objectionable weed None None
Disease affected 0.1% 0.5%
plants

Designated diseases: Yellow Vein Clearing Mosaic (Hybiscus virus-1) Seed

standards

Factors Foundation Certified

Pure seed 99% 99%
Inert matter 1% 1%
Other crop seed None 5/kg
Total weed seed None None
Objectionable weed None None

62
Other Distinguishable 20/kg 10/kg
Varieties
Germination 65%65%
Moisture 10%
10%

63
 ONION(Allium cepa)

Onion is one of the most important commercial vegetable crops in India.

Maharastra, Gujarat, Uttra Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are the major
onion growing states. The total annual area is estimated to be about 3 lakhs
hectare and production is about 35.37 lakh tonnes. It is grown mainly in rabi
season. Three crops viz., Kharif, late Kharif and rabi are taken in Nasik division of
Maharashtra whereas Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Harayana,
Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu take up two crops that is Kharif and
rabi. Kharif onion is a recent introduction in Northern, Eastern and Central India.

1. Botany :

Onion is the biennial crop and takes two full seasons to produce seeds. In the
first year bulbs are formed and in the second year stalks develop and seed are
produced. It is a long-day plant. The day length influences bulb onion, but has
little effect on induction of seeding. It appears to be day-neutral for seed
production. It requires cool conditions during early development of the bulb crop
and again prior to and during early growth of seed stalk. Varieties bolt readily at
10 to 15 degree C. In the early stages of growth, a good supply of moisture is
required and temperatures should be fairly cool. During bulbing, harvesting and
curing of seed, fairly high temperatures and low humidity is desirable. Seed
production is widely adapted to temperate and sub-tropical regions
2. Stages of seed production : Breeders seed Foundation seed Certified seed

1. Varieties: RED: Punjab Selection PAU,Ludhiana

2. Pusa Ratna NBPGR, NewDelhi

3. Pusa Red IARI, NewDelhi

4. Pusa Madhavi IARI, NewDelhi

5. N-2-4-1 MPAU,Rahuri

6. ArkaNiketanIIHR, Bangalore

7. Arka Kalyan IIHR,Bangalore

8. Agrifound Dark Red NHRDF,Nasik

64
 9. Agrifound Light Red NHRDF,Nasik

B. WHITE:
1. N-257-9-1 MPAU,Rahuri

2. Pusa White Round IARI, NewDelhi

3. Pusa White Flat IARI, NewDelhi

4. Punjab-48 PAU,Ludhiana

C. Aggregatum Onion

1. CO 5 TNAU,CBE

• Bellary Red, Rampur local, andKalyanpur,

4. Season
The optimum sowing season is middle of June to Middle of July in the plains.

5. Isolation Requirements:

Onion is largely cross-pollinated crop with up to 93 per cent natural crossing but
some self- pollination does occur.

It is chiefly pollinated by honey-bees.

For pure seed production, the seed fields must be isolated from fields of other
varieties of onion and fields of the same variety not conforming to varietal purity
requirements for certification atleast by 1000 metres for foundation seed
production and 500 metres for certified seed production.
Method of Seed Production
There are two methods of seed production

1. Seed to seed method: In this method, the first season bulb crop is left to over
winter in the field so as to produce seed in the following season. 2. Bulb to seed
method: The bulbs produced in the previous season are lifted, selected, stored
and replanted to produce seed in the second year. Mostly the bulb to seed
method is used for seed production because of the following advantages over
the seed to seed method. a) It permits selections of "true-to-type" and healthy
bulbs for seed production. b) Seed yields are comparatively very high. The seed

65
 to seed method, however, can be practiced for varieties having a poor keeping
quality.

2. Bulb to seed method

A. Bulb Production stage

a) Climatic requirement Though it is possible to produce bulbs in different

climatic conditions, mild climate is reported to be very good.For better bulb
production a temperature of 15.5 to 210C and about 70% relative humidity
required.

6) Land requirement : Fields in which onion is to be grown should be selected

unless it was of the same variety and was certified

The onion can be grown on various types but it grows best in soils which are able
to retain moisture for longer time. Heavy soils do not permit proper bulb
development and many times bulbs are not formed.

6-8 pH range are considered better for onion.

6. Isolation requirement : Onion is highly cross pollinated crop with upto

93%natural crossing.
It is mostly pollinated by honeybees.

For pure seed production the seed fields must be isolated from field of other
varieties of onion of the dame colour at least by

1000 meters for foundation seed 500 m for certified seed.

The isolation distance between colour particularly white and red colour must be
much more which needs to be decided.
d) Sowing and transplanting time Season
Kharif June-JulyJuly-August
Rabi Oct-NovDec-Jan
In kharif 6-7 weeks old seedling and in rabi 8-9 weeks seedlings should be
transplanted. Over aged nursery should not be planted otherwise premature
bolting may be there.

7. Manures and fertilizers : FYM 50tonnes

CAN 400Kg

Or Urea 200kg

66
Super phosphate 300 Kg Muriate of Potash 100 Kg

Nitrogen should be applied as basal and top dressing in two splits. Top dressing
may not be delayed otherwise thick necks may be a problem.

67
g) Spacing

15 x 10 cm.
More spacing between plants results in thick necked plants.

h) Irrigation
Irrigation should be given at fortnightly interval or weekly interval as the case may
be. Field should not be left dry for long otherwise splitting problem is more.
i)Weeding
i) 2-3 weedings and hoeings aredone.
i) Stomp @ 3.51 / ha may be applied 3 days after transplanting to manage the
weeds economically. One weeding by hand is, however, necessary.
j) Plant protection
Imidachlorprid @ 0.1% along with tritone against thrips. 4-5 spraying may be
necessary. Indofil M45 @ 0.25% along with tritone against purple blotch and
stemphylium blight, 5-6 sprayings may be done.
Roguing: Remove off type plants on difference in colour of leaves or plant type.
Remove resprouted plants or premature bolters.

k)Harvesting

Harvesting the crops one week after 50% of tops falling and keep in windrow
upto 3-5 days for field curing. After that bulbs are cured in shade to remove fields
heat before keeping in store. In kharif bulbs are ready for harvesting within 90-
100 days after transplanting while tops are still erect. Bulbs are allowed for field
curing upto 3-5 days then again cured were in shade or in field depending upon
the temperature for 12-15 days. Tops are cut leaving 2.5 cm neck.

B. Seed Production Stage

a) Selection of bulb True to type bulbs are selected based on colour, size and
shape kept in ventilated storage in rabi crop and in kharif crop bulbs are planted
after curing for 15 days.4-6 cm size bulbs are selected for getting goodcrop.

b) Climate Conditioning of plants / bulbs is necessary for seed stalks formation.

Temperature of 4.50c to 140C are favourable for this conditioning. Longer this
prevails, more stalks each plant will produce and more flowers will be in each
umbel. Low humidity gives good seed development. While plants are in flowering
clear bright sunny days are necessary for goodinsect activity.

68
c) Bulb rate: 25 quintal /ha

d) Spacing 45 x 30cm

e) Fertilizer and manures 200 kg urea / ha.50% as basal and rest as top dressing
300 Kg super phosphate (single) / ha 100 Kg muriate of potash /ha
f) Irrigation Irrigation at an interval of 15 days in winter and 7-10 days in summer
is necessary for proper seed development. Fields should not be kept saturated
for long as this facilities development of diseases.
g) Rouging Remove plants based on foliage, colour inflorescence and flower
characters.

h) Plant protection 1) Spray Indofil M45 @ 0.25% against purple blotch and
stemphylium blight. 2) Endosulfan @ 0.20% against thrips and head borer.
i) Harvesting and curing
When capsules become brown and seeds inside become black the umbels are
then cured and dried.

j) Threshing & cleaning

Threshing is done manually. Pre-cleaning is done by brushing machine and

scalper.Cleaning and grading are done by Air screen cleaner by using 1/14x1/2
as grading screen and then upgrading is done by gravity separators.

k) Drying & Packing

Seeds are dried upto 6-8% moisture depending upon packaging requirements. If
seeds are required to be packed in Aluminium foil and other moisture proof
containers, seed are dried upto 6% otherwise upto 8%.

l)Seed yield: 5-7 q / ha

Certification Standards

I. Field Standards

A. General requirements

1. Isolation Onion seed fields shall be isolated from the contaminants shown in
column 1 of the Table below by the distance specified in columns 2,3,4 and 5 of
the said Table:

69
 containments Minimum distance (meters)

Mother bulb production Seed production stage

stage

foundation certified foundation certified

5 5 1000 500
Fields of the same variety
not

conforming to varietal
purity
Fields of the same variety 5 1000 1000
not 5

conforming to varietal
purity

B. Specific requirements

Maximum
Factors
Foundation Certified
* Bulbs not 0.20% (by
conforming to the 0.10% (by number) number)
varietal
characteristics
* Off types 0.20%
0.10%

,
* Maximum permitted at second inspection at mother bulb production stage.

** Maximum permitted at and after flowering at seed production stage.

II. Seed Standards

Factors Standards for Foundation

each class Certified
Pure seed (minimum) 98.0%
98.0%
Inert Matter 2.0% 2.0
(maximum)

70
71
 Other crop seed 5 / Kg10 / Kg
(maximum)
Weed seeds 5 / Kg10 / Kg
(maximum)
Germination 70%
(minimum) 70%
Moisture (maximum) 8.0%
8.0%
For vapour-proof 6.0%
containers 6.0%
(maximum)

WHEAT – Triticum sp. ( x =7 )

Wheat is the most important cereal in the world, giving about one-third of the
total production, followed closely by rice. In temperate regions it is the major
source of food. The chief use of wheat is, the flour for making bread.
Chromosome number:

Diploid : 2n = 14 Tetraploid : 2n = 28

Hexaploid : 2n = 42

Place of origin: Diploid : Asia minor

Tetraploid : Abyssinia, North Africas Hexaploid : Central Asia

72
73
Breeding objectives

1. High yield :High yield depends on a) The number of heads / unit area b) The
numberof grains / head. c) The average weight of grain

While breeding for high yielding varieties all the above three components must
be looked into. Omitting any one of them may not yield results. Further while
breeding for high yield it is necessary to combine into a variety a favourable
combination of genes influencing all yield process.

2. Breeding non- lodging varieties: This is achieved after the identification of

dwarfing gene in Japanese variety Norin 10. Most of our dwarf wheats are two
gene dwarfs. E.g. Sonara 63, sonara 64, kalyan sona. Emphasis is now on triple
genedwarfs.

3.Breeding for disease resistance Rust is the major disease. Both stem rust and
leaf rust are important ones. There are different races of rust. So while breeding

74
for rust resistance horizontal resistance is to be looked into. Back cross method
of breeding and development of multi lines are the methods.

75
 4. Breeding for insect resistance: Hesian fly is the major pest. Resistance in most
varieties is through Antibiosis

5. Breeding for quality. Different wheat varieties vary greatly in their chemical
composition which is considerably influenced by environment. The varieties of
hard wheat or bread wheat which have higher gluten content. The soft wheat
contain lesser gluten content which is suitable for cake making, pastries. The
durum wheats are unsuited for either cakes or bread but they are suitable for
making macaroni. So depending upon the use the quality breeding objective is to
be fixed.

Methods of breeding :

1. Introduction : Semi dwarf wheat from Mexico, Sonara 63, Sonara 64, Mayo
64, Lerma Roja64

2. Pure line selection : Earlier varieties like P4, P6, P12 evolved at pusa institute
are result of pure line selection from local population.

3. Hybridisation and selection a) Inter varietal: A number of successful

derivatives were developed at IARI New Delhi and Punjab.

NP 809 - New pusa multiple cross derivative.

However all these varieties were lodging and poor yielder when compared to
other countries. Hence the wheat hybridization programme was changed by Dr.
M.S. Swaminathan during 1963. Borloug was invited to our country and he
suggested for introduction of semi dwarf varieties from Mexico. As a result four
commercial spring wheat varieties viz., Sonara 63, Sonara 64 Mayo 64 and Lerma
Roja 64 were introduced. However they had red kernel hard wheats. These were
utilised in our breeding programme and amber colour wheat varieties like Kalyan
Sona, Safed Lerma, Sharbati Sonara were released, these are double gene dwarfs.

b) Inter specific crosses to get Hessian fly resistance. So also for rust resistance.

c) Back cross method of breeding Rust resistance in Chinese spring from Thatcher.

4. Hybrid wheat : At Kansas Agri. Expt. Station USA male sterile lines were
identified by crossing T.timophevi x T. aestivum Bison variety By repeated back
crossing a male sterile line resembling Bison was evolved. At present USA and
Canada are doing work onthis.

76
5. Mutation breeding Dr. M. S. Swaminathan did extensive work on this with
gamma rays. Sharbati, Sonara with increased protein content was evolved.

77
6. Development of multilines Borlaug developed multilines against rust. MLKS 15
was developed at IARI. Multi line is a mixture of pure lines which are
phenotypically similar but genotypically dissimilar. Each line is produced by
separate back cross method of breeding. Each line having resistance against a
particular race of a disease.

COWPEAVigna unguiculata (2n = 22)

Place of origin : India Putative parent : Wild sub species V.unguiculate SSP.
dekindtiana or SSP. menensis

Classification : According to Faris 1965 three subspecies are recognised. 1.

Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata (Syn V.u. subsp. catjang) - grain cowpea :
Primitive of all cowpea types. Pods 8 to 13cm long. Neither flabby nor inflated.
Pods remain erect at maturity. 2.
V.unguiculata subsp. sinensis - Grain type cowpea. Pod length 20 to 30 cm. Pods
are not inflated. Pods fibrous when green. The stature of pods are pendent when
matured. Seed size medium 6-9 mm. Seeds are closely packed in the pod. 3.
V.unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis - Yard long bean - vegetable cowpea: Pod
size may be 30 to 100 cm, pendent. No fibre contentis geeen pods. Seeds are
sparsely arranged, kidney shaped and usually double coloured. Pods inflated
when green, shriveled ondrying.

Distinguishing feature: * Kidney shaped seed * White hilum surrounded by brown

orblack ring. * Pubescant througout plantbody.

Breeding objectives.

1. Breeding for medium duration high yielding varieties for dry land conditions
Co1 old variety resistance to YMV. Indeterminate Plant habit. Co4 - 85 days
duration. Seedcolour mottled C 152 - 85 days, buff colorseed.

2. Breeding for short duration varieties suited for irrigated and mixed cropping
conditions.Pusa do fasli - Short duration variety Co6 - 70 daysdurations.

3. Breeding for vegetable cowpea Co 2 - (C 521 x C 419), VBN 2 Selection from

IT 81-D- 1228-1 mottled seed. 4. Breeding for disease resistance Aphid borne
mosaic virus Co6 - (Ms 9804 x C 152) Cercospora leaf spot Fusarium wilt YMV -
Co1resistant.

5. Breeding for pest resistance Leaf hopper - Antibiosis and tolerance Aphids -
Antibiosis and tolerance Pod borer -Antibiosis

78
 6. Breeding for Forage cowpea. Var. Co5 from Co 1 by gamma irradiation

Breeding

7. Methods :
1. Introduction Iron cowpea Russiangiant.
2. Selection : PLS cowpea Co1 is PLS from C 57 a local collection from Shirgali

3. Hybridisatioin and selection a) Intervarietal Co6 (Ms 9804 x C152Co2

( C 521 x C419)

b) InterspecificV.u nguiculata xV.vexillata - (having tuberous roots which is

edible)V. u nguiculata xV.umbellata .

4. Mutation breeding Co5 Forage cowpea

5. Embryo rescue technique For inter-specific crosses.

Ideal plant type Short duration : Determinate plant with high harvest index The
branching must be erect. Flower drop to be minimum. Bushy plants are ideal
Long duration types.
Indeterminate plant habit with steady growth rate.

79
 MUSTARD and RAPE SEED
Brassica sp

(2n = 16, 18, 20, 22, 36, 38 and 48)

Three allopoly ploids

1. B. napus - Rape seed ofEurope

2. B. juncea - Indianmustard

3. B. carinata - sthipplam mustard (veg / oilseed)

The genetical relationship between the oilseed brassicas are diagramaticaly

represented as follows

80
B. napus will cross readily with B. campestris but with extreme difficulty in case
ofB.oleracea .

Rapeseed
Botanical name 2n Economic characters
1.Brassica campestris, 20 ndian Rape Seed. Self
sterile in nature.
Important oil seed crop
of North India.

3 Cultivated types.
B.campestris var.
Brown sarson

B.campestris var.Yellow
sarson

B.campestris var. toria

2.B.napus , 38 European Rape Seed.
. Self fertile
.

Mustard

1.B.nigra , 16 Black mustard : Native

of Eurasia.used as a
medicine pungent due
to glucoside
2.B.alba . 24 White mustard : Young
seedling used as Salad,
yellowish seed 30 % oil.
,
3.B.juncea , 36 Indian mustard. RAI
35% oil. Leaves used as
herb
contains sinigrin. ,

81
 MUSTARD

Breeding objectives :

1. Seed yield : Yield is the end product of many biological processes which are
under control of complex polygenic systems. An ideal plant type is having
increased branch number, pods per plant, seeds per pod and seed size. Further
yield increase could result from increase in biomass and harvest index. Increased
biomass can result from reduced photo respiration and increased light saturated
rate of photosynthesis.

2 Early maturity : For use in various multiple cropping sequence.

3. Resistance to abiotic factors Frost resistance is needed to prevent yield

losses.Winter hardiness is veryimportant.

4. Resistance to biotic stress Powdery mildew Black leg Sclerotinia rot, alternaria
blightmustard aphid - so far no resistance sourceidentified.

5. Herbicide resistance : (Atrazine simabine) A few sources of resistance is

available.

6. Shattering resistance B. napus - highly shattering B. juncea - tolerant.

Introgressive breeding done.

7. Increased oil content and quality High oil content 45% yellow seed varieties >
oil. For industrial purpose > Erucic acid. Development of low erucic acid cultivars
for edible purpose. Reduced linolenic acid content is also desirable.

8. Meal quality Meal having less Glucosinolate content.

Breeding methods :

1. Introduction - Regina from Sweeden

2. Simple selection: E.G. Seeta, Krishna, Kranti.

82
 3. Hybridization and selection Intervarietal a) Bulk method b) Pedigree method
c) singleseed descent Interspecific -Back cross method

4. Population improvement: Reciprocal Selection, mass selection

5. Heterosis breeding: CMS lines

6. Mutation breeding Eg Regina, RLM198

7. Tissue culture technique for production of homozygous diploids Saline

resistancescreening. Induction of mutation inhaploids.
8. Embryo rescue technique for inter specific crosses.

HORSE GRAM

Macrotylema uniflorum (2n = 24) Place of origin : Hindusthan centre

Putative parent : Not known

Breeding objectives: 1. Increased yield : Co1 Mudukalathur local 2. Non - Photo

sensitive, short duration varieties 3. Varieties with low trypsin inhibitors

Methods of breeding :

1. Introduction HPK varieties from Himachal Pradesh.

2. Pure line selection Co1 from Mudukalathur local. Paiyur 1 from Metturlocal.

3. Hybridization and selection a) Intervarietal b) Interspecific Dolichos lab lab x M.

biflorum Crossable.

4. Mutation breeding

83
 SOY BEAN

Glycine max (2n = 40)

Place of origin :China.

Probable ancestors : Glycine usuriensis Slender, viny plant with small seeds
grows wild is Japan, Manchuria and korea. It is considered to be the progenitor
for G. max Another view is that G.max arose form natural hybridization between
G.usuriensis andG.tomentella whichgrows wild in china. A fourth species Glycine
gracilis is intermediate between G.max and G. usuriensis . Cultivated types of
G.gracilis are found in Manchuria. All the above species are crossable with each
other. Many other species in Glycine have been identified but the exact
classification of most of them is still in doubt.

Breeding objectives :

1. Breeding for short duration high yielding varieties The yield of soy bean
plant isdetermined by size, number of seeds per pod and number or pods / plant.
The number of pods/ plant is determined by no of nodes / plant, number of pods
/ node. Each of the above components of yield are polygeneic in inheritance and
so it is complex. The duration is also determined by multiple genes. Maturity is
correlated with height or the plant. Early varieties will be short is stature.

2. Breeding varieties suitable for rice fallows Short plants 65 -70 days
duration. Suitable for inter cropping also in banana and sugarcane.

3. Breeding for quality a) Seed color and quality b) Oil content and quality c) Protein
content

a) Seed coat color : May be yellow, green black, brown or combination of all
the abovecolours. For oil extraction yellow color is preferred because of high oil
content where as black seeded varieties are low in oil content but high is protein
content. Seed coat color other than yellow will give unattractive oil cake which is
not preferred.

b) Oil content and quality : Oil content greatly determined by environment :

Yellow seed coat varieties are rich in oil. Complex character determined by
polygenes.

84
 c) Protein content and quality : Ranges from 35 to 50% protein content is
negatively correlated with oil content so white breeding for high protein content a
compromise is to bemade.

4. Breeding for vegetable type AVRDC, Taiwan has evolved vegetable types

5. Breeding for forage type of soy bean

6. Breeding for non-shattering type E.g. Lee, Co2

7. Breeding for YMV resistant lines: Co2

Breeding Methods:

1. Introduction : Ec 39821 from Taiwan - released as Co1

2. Pure line selection Co1

3. Hybridization and selection Clark, Co 2 (AS 335 x UGM 21)YMV tolerance

4. Mutation breeding.

85
 SUN FLOWER

Helianthus annuus

Place of origin : North America.

Classification : The genus comprises nearly 67 species - all native to America. Of

these two are cultivated.

a) H.annuus - diploid 2n = 34 Oil seed crop

H.tuberosus –Hexaploid 2n = 102. Jerusalem artichoke –cultivated for tuber.

Wild species :H .hirsutus, H. rigidus moderately resistant toAlternaria .

Putative parent : Weed sunflower gave rise to cultivated one. The weed sunflower
was modified by introgression withH. petiolaris .

Cultivars of sunflower : Giant types : 6 - 14 feet tall. Late maturing, Large heads
12 - 30” in diameter, seeds large, white or grey or with black stripes. Oil content is
very low. E.g. Mamoth Russian.
Semi dwarf varieties : Medium tall - 4 ½ to 6 feet, Early maturing. Heads 7 - 9”
indiameter. Seeds smaller, black, grey or striped. High oil content 35%. E.g.
Jupiter, Polestar.

Dwarf types 2 to 4½ feet tall. Early maturing. Head size 5½ - 6½ “ diameter. Small
seeds, high oil content 37%. E.g. Sunrise, Morden, Co1,Co2

Breeding objectives : To develop short duration varieties suitable for dry land
and irrigated conditions.Dryland successful in black soils only. In red soil under
rainfed it is notsuccessful.
1. Breeding varieties with high oil content : Ranges 38 to 48%. Complex
character yield and oil content are negatively correlated. To increase oil content
the shell must bethin.

2. Breeding for self fertile lines. Protoandry and self incompatability mechanism
operates in sunflower. Hence hand pollination is necessary. To avoid this self
fertile lines can beevolved.

86
 3. Breeding for disease resistance. Maharastra hybrid susceptible to powdery
mildew. Hence ban is there. Powdery mildew, rust, charcoal rot, Alternaria. Wild
species like H.hirsuta are moderately. resistance toAlternaria.

4. Resistant to pests Heliothis , Grass hopper Jassids.

5. BreedingMethods:

1. Introduction : Morden fromCanada.

2. Mass selection: Ec 68414 from Russia. Co1 mass selection from Morden.
Useful for characters which are highly heritable. E.g. Plant height,
diseaseresistance.

3. Hybridization and selection a) Intervarietal : E.g. Co2 Derivative of multiple

cross

Co4 - (Dwarf x Surya)

b) Interspecific : Wild species of North American origin and best Soviet varieties
were crossed and number of varieties were evolved. E.g. Progress. Novelty
Jubilee 60- They are resistant to Verticillium wilt also

4. Mutation Co3 (Mutant from Co2 thro’ gammarays)

5. Head to row and remnant seed method Developed by Pustovoit in Russia. By

this method oil content is increased. In this method the following are the steps:

a) From open pollinated type a large no (10,000 to 12,000) plants are selected
based on Head size. b) The selected lines are analysed for oil content and high
oil content lines are isolated (1000 plants). c) Part of the seed reserved and the
part is sown in progeny rows along withcheck to estimate yield. d) Second
season testing is also done. The best lines are identified. e) The remnant seed of
elite plants which give high yield were raised in isolation and multiplied for
crossing interse next season. f) The multiplied lines also tested for oil content
and high yielding high oil content lines were raised in isolation and
crossedinterse.

6. Population improvement By mass selection, recurrent selection and use of

male sterile lines population can be improved and utilised for breeding.

7. Heterosis breeding : Development of inbred lines and crossing them to

harness heterosis was first done as early as 1920 in Russia. During 1970

87
cytoplasmic geneic male sterility was identified in wild types and obsolete
cultivars. Now this system is being extensively used for production of hybrids.
First hybrid BSH 1 CMS 234 A x RHA 274 BSH 2 BSH 8. A number of CGMS lines
were bred by Government as well as private seed growers and are utilised now.
Male sterility can also be inducted by GA 100ppm.

88
 Steps 1. Development of inbreds.
2. Evaluation of inbreds for combining ability.

3. Conversion of inbreds into CGMS lines and Rlines.

4. Production of hybrids.

Varietial renovation In sun flower the varieties released are renovated annually to
produce super elite (Breeder seed) and Elite Seed (Foundation seed).

SAFFLOWER

Carthamus tinctorius (2n = 24) Place of origin :Africa

Related species : The wild species Carthamus oxycanthus is found in many parts
of Punjab. Itis a dwarf bushy plant, very spiny, forming small achenes. The oil
content is 15 to 16percent

Classification of safflower : Safflower can be grouped in to two broad categories.

1. The outer involucral bracts spinose, lanceolate mainly cultivated for oil.
Flowers yellowin colour.
2. Involucral bracts moderately spined or spineless which are cultivated
mostly for the dye than the spiny types. Flowers orange in colour.
Breeding objectives :

1. Breeding for high oil content : Normal oil content is 32% of which 72% is
linoleic acid,the factor which reduces blood cholesterol. Oil content is negatively
correlated with yield. Wild species ofC.oxycanthus having 28% oil were utilised in
hybridization programme to increase yield and oil content but success was
notachieved.
2. Breeding for non-spiny varieties with high oil content. A very limited success
was achieved Co1 safflower is an example forthis.
3. Breeding varieties having thin shell Thin shelled varieties have high oilcontent.
4. Breeding varieties for dry land conditions. Under dry land conditions the spiny
nature willbe more pronounced. How ever dry land varieties with less pronounced
spines were evolved. E.g. K.l.

5. Breeding varieties resistant to pest and diseases : Pests like Prodenia and
Heliothis are important pests. The wild species C.oxycanthus is moderately
resistant to pests. This isbeing utilised in breedingprogramme.

89
 SUGAR CANE

Saccharum sp

Six species of perennial grasses all of which originated in old world. Of these six
two are occurring in a wild state. They are S.spontaneum with a wide distribution
from North East Africa thro’ Asia to pacific. S.robustum confined to New Guinea
and neighbouring islands. The other four species are cultigens 1. S.officinarum -
Noble cane of New guinea. 2. S.barberi - North Indian canes 3. S.sinensis -
Chinese cane. 4. S.edule - Melenesian cane.

Systematics, origin and distribution

1. Saccharum spontaneum (2n = 40 -128)

A perennial grass, free tillering, often with Rhizomes. S.spontaneum represents

a polyploid series. Forms with the smallest chromosome numbers are found in
North India which is probably the centre of origin. Natural hybridization with
S.officinarum wouldhave produced S.barberi and S.sinense S.spontaneum is
widely used in breeding of modern commercial hybrids by a process of
nobilisation with S.officinarum . Spontaneum provides vigour, hardiness and
resistance against diseases.
2. Saccharum robustum : (2n = 60 -19)

Origin New guinea vigorous perennial. robustum would have given rise to
S.officinarum with which it is interfertile. S.robustum is highly susceptible to
mosaic virus and leaf scale and because of this its use in breeding programme is
very much limited.
3. Saccharum officinarum (2n =80)

Origin : South pacific. Chewing cane. Noble cane This cane is suited to tropical
conditions and requires favourable soil and climate for its performance. The
stems are stout thick high in sucrose, low in fibre and with soft rind. The noble
canes are susceptible to most of the diseases. Some of the earlier cultivars are
Bourbon, Cheribon, noble canes.

4. S. barberi 2n = 82 –124

S.barberi is short medium to slender in thickness, with high fibre content,

medium sucrose content and poor yielder.
5. S.sinense : (2n =18)
Chinese cane. Tall vigorous, slender, high fibre content. Poor juice quality.

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6.S.edule : Polynesian cane (2n =118) Slender, weed like form. Seeds are edible.
Not much used

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 .

Nobilisation in Sugar cane. Nobilisation is crossing the noble caneS. officinarum

with S.barberi, S.spontaneum and infusing disease and pest resistance in the
noble cane. The first successful use of nobilisation was made and variety
cheribon was crossed with S.barberi variety and progenies having resistance to
sereh disease were evolved. But they were susceptible to mosaic and inferior in
sucrose content. By subsequent crossing with S.officinarum i.e. second and third
nobilisation good varieties like POJ 2878wereevolved. In India, nobilisation of
local spontaneum was begun by Barber and Venkata raman in 1912 at SBI
Coimbatore. At coimbatore crosses were initially made between local strains of
S.barberi (Which is unproductive but adapted to climates of North India) and
tropical noble cane (thick soft stem, high sucrose content but unsuited to
climates of North India). Later on by crossing these resultant hybrid with wild
cane S.spontaneum canes with high sucrose content suitable for North India
were evolved. In this way a large number of tri hybrid canes were developed.

Breeding objectives

1. Breeding varieties suitable for Jaggery making. Co 853, Co 62175, CoC67

2. Breeding varieties for factory purposes - high Brix value and recovery %. Co 658,
Co772, Coc8001

3. Breeding varieties suitable for all the three seasons Early - Dec - Jan Mid - Feb -
MarchLate
- April - May.

4. Breeding varieties resistant to shootborer.

5. Breeding varieties resistance to disease shoot disease, Rust, Brownspot.

6. Breeding varieties with high ratooning ability.

7. Breeding varieties with drought resistance

. 8. Breeding varieties with more number of productive tillers

. 9. Varieties with shorter duration without yield less. COC 671

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 POTATO Solanum tuberosum
(2n = 48) Tetraploid Place of origin : South America.

Ancestry : (a) Natural doubling of diploid cultivarS. stenotomum (2n = 24)

(b) By a natural crossing of diploid wild speciesS.sparsipilum & S.vernerii

Classification : According Hawkes (1992) in addition to solanum tuberosum

some six other cultivated species and over 230 wild species of potato are
generally recognised.Diploid (2n=24)
1. S.ajanhuiri – Frost resistant

2. S.phureja - Sort duration. 4 month no dormancy

S.stenotomum - Longer in duration 6 monthsdormancy. Triploid (2n =36)

3. S.chauca

4. S.juseczuki

Tetraploid (2n = 48)Solanum tuberosum

Sub species S.t.ssptuberosum S.t.sspandigena - High altitude potato

Pentaploids

S.curtilobium – Frost resistant.

Breeding objectives :

1. Breeding for high yield Yield of tubers decided by number of tubers, tuber
sizeand distribution oftuber.

2. Breeding for varieties having better morphology of tuber Better morphology

of tuber is determined by a) Eye depth b) flesh colour c) Growth cracks d) Hollow
heart e) Shapef) Skin colour 3. Breeding for better quality: Depends on many
factors a) After cooking blackening

b) Dry matter. c) Enzyme browning. d) Glycoalkaloid level e) reducing sugar

content f) storage properties

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4. Breeding for disease resistance Early blight, late blight, powdery scab.,
verticillium wilt,virus diseases. Resistant source : S.demissum, S.acaule
ssp.andigena

5. Breeding for pest resistance Nematode is the major pest ssp.andigena -

tolerant.S.verineii resistant to Aphids, Coloradobeetle.

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 Breeding methods

1. Clonal propagation ; Useful in case of inter-specific crosses where low

fertility is often seen in the progenies. Further fixing of heterosis is easy. The
disadvantage is keeping the stocks free from disease. But by following invitro
propagation this can be overcome.

2. Controlled pollination : In potato it is some what easy because the anthers do

not dehisce before or soon after flower opening. The pollen is not easily
distributed by wind. If we raise crossing block in insect proof screen house use
of selfing and crossing covers not needed.Only difficulty is crossing in
percentage of seed set. Crossing is to be done at 220C. Pollen and ovule
sterilityoccur.

3. Population breeding This is followed to improve the base population.

4. True potato seed (TPS) Propagation thro' use of seed - practiced in China.
By thismethod virus diseases can beavoided.

5. Production of diploids and monohaploids Originally diploid was produced by

crossing tuberosum with diploid s.phureja and allowing for parthenogenesis. But
now by anther cultureit is easily produced.

6. Mutation breeding To change the skin colour it is extensively used.

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 CHAPTER 7

IDEOTYPE CONCEPT

Introduction

The concept of ideotype in plant breeding was introduced by Donald in 1968 to

describe the idealized appearance of a plant variety. The term ideotype was first
proposed by Donald 1968 working on wheat.

In broad sense an ideotype is a “ biological model which is expected to perform

or behave in a predictable manner within a defined environment.”
More specifically, crop ideotype ia a plant model which is expected to yield
greater quantity of grains, fiber, oil or other useful product when developed a a
cultivar.

According to Donald(1968), ideotype is a biological model which is expected to

perform or behave in a particular manner within a defined environment.
Features:- Ideotype breeding is a method of crop improvement which is used to
enhance yield potential through genetic manipulation of individual plant
characters are chosen in such a way that each character contributes toward
increased economic yield.
Main features are given below:-

1. Emphasis on individual trait:

In Ideotype breeding, emphasis is given on individual morphological and
physiological trait which enhances the yield. The value of each character is
specified before initiating the breeding work.
2. Includes yield enhancing traits:
Various plant characters to be included in the Ideotype are identified through
correlation analysis. Only those characters which exhibit positive association
with yield are included in the model.

3. Exploits physiological variation:

Genetic difference exists for various physiological characters such as
photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient uptake etc. Ideotype breeding makes use of
genetically controlled physiological variation in increased yield, besides various
agronomic traits.

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4. Slow progress:
Because incorporation of various desirable characters from different sources
into a single genotype takes long time. Moreover, sometimes undesirable linkage
affects the progress adversely.

5. Selection:
In Ideotype breeding selection is focused on individual plant character which
enhances the yield.

6. Designing of model:
In Ideotype breeding, the phenotypes of new variety is specified in terms of
morphological and physiological traits in advance.

7. Inter disciplinary approach:

Ideotype breeding is in true sense an interdisciplinary approach. It involves
scientist from the discipline of genetics, breeding, physiology, pathology,
entomology etc.

8. Steps in Ideotype breeding:-

1. Development of conceptual theoretical model
2. Selection of base material
3. Incorporation of desirable characters into single genotype
4. Selection of ideal or model plant type

1. Development of conceptual theoretical model:

Ideotype consists of various morphological and physiological traits. The values
of various morphological and physiological traits are specified to develop a
conceptual theoretical model.
For example,
Plant height is important in fodder crops.
Maturity duration is important in rainfed.
Similarly leaf number, leaf angle, leaf size, photosynthetic ratio etc are specified
for each crops and situation.
2. Selection of base material:-
Selection of base material is an important step after development of conceptual
model of Ideotype.
Genotype to be used in devising a model plant type should have broad genetic

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 base and wider adaptability so that the new plat type can be successfully grown
over a wide range of environmental condition with stable yield.
Genotype for plant stature, maturity duration, leaf size, and angles are selected
from the global pool of the concerned crop species.
3. Incorporation of desirable traits:-
The next step is combining of various morphological and physiological traits
from different selected genotypes into single genotype.
Linkage between procedure, viz single cross, three way cross, multiple cross,
backcross, composite crossing. Eg. Mutation breeding, heterosis breeding, etc
are used for the development of ideal plant type in majority of field crops. Back
cross technique is commonly used for transfer of oligenic traits from selected
germplasm lines into the background of an adapted genotype.
4. Selection of ideal plant type:-
Plant combining desirable morphological and physiological traits are selected in
segregating population and inter mated to achieve the desirable plant type.
Screening for resistance to drought, soil salinity, alkalinity, disease and insects is
done under controlled conditions.
Morphological features are judged through visual observation and physiological
parameters are recorded with the help of sophisticated instruments.
Finally, genotypes combining traits specified in the conceptual model are
selected multiplied, tested over several locations and released for commercial
cultivation.

Ideotype breeding for wheat:-

1. A short strong stem to prevent lodging.

2. Erect leaves, such leaves provide better arrangement for proper light distribution
resulting in high photosynthetic rate.
3. Few small leaves to reduce water losses due to transpiration.
4. Larger ear to produce more grains per ear.
5. Single culm

Ideotype breeding for chickpea:-

Rainfed condition Irrigated condition

Early vigour High input responsiveness

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More number of pods per plant Synchronous flowering, delayed
senescence and determinancy
Podding from 10 th node Pod bearing from 20 cm above the
Ground

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 Long fruiting. Branches and short
internodes
Lodging resistance

50-60cm plant height with 9-10 secondary Tall(75-90) and erect habit with
Branches broom shaped branching

Differences between traditional and Ideotype breeding

S.no. Traditional breeding Ideotype breeding

1. The main objective is defined before The conceptual theoretical

initiating model is prepared
the breeding work before initiation of breeding
work
2. Selection is focused on yield and some other Selection is focused on
characters. individual plant
characters.
3. It usually includes various morphological and It includes various
economic physiological, morphological
characters. and biological plant
characters
4. Value of each character is not fixed in Value of each trait is defined in
advance. advance.

5. This is a simple and rapid method This is a difficult and slow

of cultivar development. method
of cultivar development.
6. The phenotypic of a new variety is Phenotype of new variety to be
not specified in advance. developed is specified in
advance.

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CLIMATE RESILIENT CROP VARIETIES

The development and identification of climate resilient crop varieties, with

enhanced tolerance to heat, drought, flooding, chilling and salinity stresses are
essential in order to sustain and improve crop yields to cope with the challenges
of climate change. It is essential to bridge the yield gaps, enhance the
productivity and profitability, minimize risk and improve the livelihoods of
millions of people
dependent on agriculture. Among various abiotic stresses, drought, heat, salinity,
cold and flooding are the major factors that adversely affect plant growth and
productivity.

All these adverse environmental conditions have potential to drastically reduce

yields in warmer regions. To develop stress tolerant cultivars, it is essential to

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identify the traits that maintain and promote the growth and development of
plants during the stress period.
The tolerance to a particular stress is related to the plant’s ability to withstand
adverse conditions, survive, and reproduce successfully. The tolerance to abiotic
stress is manifested in terms of the ability to cope with resource limitation under
stress as well as the ability to recover along with high production potential when
the stress is relieved.

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Several crop improvement programs are focused on improving productivity with
tolerance to various abiotic stresses viz.,drought, heat, cold, salinity, flooding etc.
The sufficient quantities of quality seeds of climate resilient crop varieties need
to be available to the farmers for sustaining the production system and meeting
the increasing demand of food grains. The farmer requires cultivars that produce
a satisfactory yield when subjected to stress conditions but that have a high
productivity potential under favourable conditions.
Crop varieties suitable for cultivation under different abiotic stresses
Drought and delayed monsoon
Number of adaptive traits have been studied and used for improvement of
drought tolerance like early vigour, osmotic adjustment, leaf senescence, stay
green etc.
Stay-green trait in plants, usually refer to tolerance against drought-induced post-
flowering senescence. Roots also play an important role in the adaptation of
several crop to drought stress

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Crop variety suitable for cultivation under heat stress :-

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Crop variety suitable for cultivation under cold stress:-

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Crop variety suitable for cultivation under salinity

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Crop variety suitable for cultivation under flooding and

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