Some plant breeding problems needing biotechnology
1985
Khush, G.S. | Virmani, S.A.
Plant breeders have always used the best available technology to develop new varieties with stable yield, high quality, and genetic resistance to various stresses. During the past decade, a number of in vitro techniques (viz., tissue culture, cell culture, protoplast fusion) and recombinant DNA technology have shown promise as plant breeding tools for creating genetic variability, or increasing selection efficiency, or both. These tools should be used where conventional breeding techniques are less effective or efficient. Biotechnology is needed in 1) breeding for increased biomass and, hence, yield; 2) breeding for protein quantity and quality; 3) breeding for disease resistance; 4) identifying bacterial, fungal, and viral strains; 5) selecting for tolerance for soil salinity and aluminum toxicity; 6) increasing genetic variability by producing cybrids; 7) incorporating nitrogen fixation (nif) genes into cereals; 8) clonal propagation of horticultural and forest tree species and some vegetativey propagated crop plants; 9) in vitro induction of flowering and hybrid production for breeding tree crops with a long life cycle; and 10) preserving germplasm of asexually reproducing species
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