Ebook: Plant Breeding: Principles and prospects

Our requirement for plant breeders to be successful has never been greater. However one views the forecasted numbers for future population growth we will need, in the immediate future, to be feeding, clothing and housing many more people than we do, inadequately, at present. Plant breeding represents the most valuable strategy in increasing our productivity in a way that is sustainable and environmentally sensitive. Plant breeding can rightly be considered as one of the oldest multidisciplinary subjects that is known to humans. It was practised by people who first started to carry out a settled form of agriculture. The art, as it must have been at that stage, was applied without any formal underlying framework, but achieved dramatic results, as witnessed by the forms of cultivated plants we have today. We are now learning how to apply successfully the results of yet imperfect scientific knowledge. This knowledge is, however, rapidly developing, particularly in areas of tissue culture, biotechnology and molecular biology. Plant breeding's inherent multifaceted nature means that alongside obvious subject areas like genetics we also need to consider areas such as: statistics, physiology, plant pathology, entomology, biochemistry, weed science, quality, seed characteristics, repro­ ductive biology, trial design, selection and computing. It therefore seems apparent that modern plant breeders need to have a grasp of wide range of scientific knowledge and expertise if they are successfully to a exploit the techniques, protocols and strategies which are open to them.

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The subject of plant breeding is fully covered in this book which has arisen from courses on this subject taught at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute. The book contains information contributed by many major European experts and it is an invaluable reference work for all those concerned with plant breeding.

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The subject of plant breeding is fully covered in this book which has arisen from courses on this subject taught at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute. The book contains information contributed by many major European experts and it is an invaluable reference work for all those concerned with plant breeding.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction....Pages 3-5
Front Matter....Pages 7-7
Genetic systems, recombination and variability....Pages 9-15
Population structure and variability....Pages 16-29
Front Matter....Pages 31-31
Plant genetic resources....Pages 33-51
Induced mutations....Pages 52-62
Interspecific hybridization by sexual means....Pages 63-78
Chromosome manipulation and polyploidy....Pages 79-92
Somatic hybridization....Pages 93-106
Gene cloning and identification....Pages 107-125
Gene transfer to plants: approaches and available techniques....Pages 126-137
The role of gene technology in plant breeding....Pages 138-159
Front Matter....Pages 161-161
Biometrical genetics in breeding....Pages 163-183
Biochemical characterization of populations....Pages 184-200
Front Matter....Pages 201-201
Self- and cross-incompatibility systems....Pages 203-212
Male sterility....Pages 213-228
Apomixis....Pages 229-245
Micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis....Pages 246-260
Andro- and parthenogenesis....Pages 261-277
Front Matter....Pages 279-279
Selection strategies and choice of breeding methods....Pages 281-313
Marker-assisted selection....Pages 314-331
Front Matter....Pages 279-279
Gametophytic and sporophytic selection....Pages 332-352
Front Matter....Pages 353-370
Genotype ? environment interaction and adaptation....Pages 371-371
Augmenting yield-based selection....Pages 373-390
Resistance to abiotic stresses....Pages 391-405
Resistance to parasites....Pages 406-421
Front Matter....Pages 422-447
Breeding for improved symbiotic nitrogen fixation....Pages 449-449
Photosynthetic and respiratory efficiency....Pages 451-472
Breeding for efficient root systems....Pages 473-484
On the utilization of renewable plant resources....Pages 485-499
Front Matter....Pages 500-522
The need for a comprehensive plant breeding strategy....Pages 523-523
Back Matter....Pages 525-533
....Pages 535-550