Nature and Importance of Plant

Breeding

Edwin L. Solilap
USeP
Plant Breeding

– Synonymous to crop improvement

– Art and science of improving the genotypes

(hereditary make-up) of crops aimed at the
production of desirable recombination or
types that will suit the environments under
which they are commercially grown and
therefore, increase production efficiency
Plant Breeding

– Art

• It involves skills and techniques :

–Hybridization: 5-10%
–Eye for Selection : 90-95 %
–Early plant breeding work relied on
natural skills and human intuition
Plant Breeding

– Science
• Methodologies are based on certain
fundamental laws of biology
• Genes and chromosomes are the basic units on
which improvements depend
• Environmental effects on variability are equally
strong and to maximize hereditary effects in
selection, statistical tools have been devised.
Plant Breeding

– Science

• Plant breeding - more precise and

successful due to alliance with other
disciplines : plant pathology, entomology,
physiology, biochemistry, molecular
biology (recombinant DNA and cell
culture technology)
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
World population
• 1800 - .90 billion
• 1950 – 2.52 billion
• 1992 – 5.50 billion
• 2016 – 7,432,663,275 billion

– projected

• 2025 – 8.50 billion

• 2150 – 11.60 billion
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
Philippine population
• 1965 – 33.32 million
• 1980 – 50.86 million
• 1992 – 66.00 million
• 2014 – 100,733,205 million
• 2016 (3rd quarter, Aug) – 102,250,133 million
• 2017 (Jan. 17,2017, 2:50 p.m.) – 103, 175, 388
– 50.1 % - male, 49.9 % female
projected
• 2025 – 126.00
 Plant Breeding, Human Population
and Crop Production
• Worldwide scale
– Food requirements and demands are created by
the greater mass of people (70 -75%)
– Food for affluent group is 23-30 %
– In N. America – about 100 million metric tons of
feed grains are fed to livestock enough to feed 500
million people in developing countries
– People in Asian countries are changing their food
habits and are becoming meat consumers.
– Livestock happened to be poor converters of
energy
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Population control programs in Third World
countries including Phils. have not been very
effective.

• Production
– Growth rates in crop production have so
far kept abreast with growth of population
except in Africa.
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
Growth rates in population and grain production
• World :1960 – 1970 - 1.96% (population) , 3.3%
(grain)
• 1970 – 1980 – 1.85% (population)- 2.4% (grain)

• Developed countries: 1960-1970 – 1.06%

(population), 3.3% (grain)
• 1970-1980 – 0.80% (pop.), 1.80% (grain)
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Developing countries: 1960-1970 – 2.55%
(pop.), 3.3% (grain)
• 1970-1980 – 2.59% (pop), 3.2% (grain)
• East Asia :1960 -1970-2.46% (pop), 2.6%
(grain)
• 1970-1980 – 2.14% (pop), 3.8%(grain)
• Africa: 1960-1970- 2.55% (pop), 2.1% (grain)
• 1970-1980- 2.86% (pop), 2.1%(grain)
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Growth rates in crop production have been due to:
1. Expansion in land area due to devoted to crop
production –high in 1950’s and early 1960’s
then levelled off

2. Increments in hectare yields – significantly

increased starting in the mid- 1960’s with the
impact of new technology
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
2. Increments in hectare yields – significantly
increased starting in the mid- 1960’s with the
impact of new technology
- Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y
Trigo (CIMMYT), Mexico and International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines - developed
semi-dwarf, early maturing and daylength neutral
varieties of wheat and rice which rapidly to many
areas in developing countries and revolutionized
yields
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• In Mexico, dwarf wheats – early 1960’s –
yield of 4 t/ha compared to 0.7 t/ha for
traditional varieties
• In the Phils. (1987) – 85% of the total rice
area was grown to HYV’s
– attained self-sufficiency in rice
production in the mid-1970’s
• In India – fourfold increase of dwarf
wheat production
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Future Prospects in Food Output and Supply will be
constrained by:
1. Levelling off of yield in developed grain exporting
countries and the slow progressive rate of increase in
hectare yields in Third World countries.
2. Erratic climates – causes severe droughts and floods;
typhoons – destroy crops ; El Nino phenomenon in the
Pacific – devastates fishery resources – reduce the catch
of Peruvian anchovies(1972), massive death of fishes in
the Pacific Coast of South America (1982) and the
recurrent “red tide” poisoning of mussels and fish in the
Philippines
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Future Prospects in Food Output and Supply will be
constrained by:
3. Conversion of agricultural lands to human
settlements, industries and other non-farm use -
(Calabarzon) in Luzon
4. Soil erosion and degradation of fertility and
increased acidity of soils of farm lands.
5. Deterioration of irrigated lands and increases in
salinity
6. High cost in energy
7. Lack of investment capital in farming and interest
rates
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• HYV of wheat, rice, maize, pulses and root
crops have responded well under favorable
environments and farm management accruing
from irrigation, fertilizer application and
chemical pest control – become standard
practices.
• Yields increased dramatically – new era began
known as Green Revolution
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• 21st century – problems manifested with the requirements
for living of a burgeoning world population – dwindling
resources without sacrificing or doing harm to earth’s
ecology and environment
• Sustainability in agricultural production became
imperative
– Biological technologies that will produce more food but
with less dependence on costly and ecologically
disruptive chemical inputs over a range of favorable and
marginal environments
• Varietal development using genetic
manipulations
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Plant breeding techniques will have to be
more precise and rely on both conventional
and non-conventional approaches.
• Insurance of built-in factors that enhance
natural protection of plants against pests
• Recombinant DNA technology – plant
breeding work has been reinforced and may
provide man’s insurance to food security and
better quality of life
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Over the long term, production may not be able to
keep up with population growth unless:
– Over-population and under-production is dealt
– Increased population growth will continually
create pressure on earth’s finite resources and
aggravate the problem of environmental
pollution and destruction of life-support system
• Agenda of Earth’s Summit in Rio de
Janeiro,Brazil, 1992
Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• 2000- projections – food surplus and
deficit regions of the world
• Surplus – N. America, Latin America (Arg.
& Brazil), Southeast Asia, Australia
• Deficit – Western Europe, Eastern
Europe, USSR, People’s Republic of
China, North Africa, South and East Asia
 Plant Breeding, Human Population and
Crop Production
• Phils. 1992 – WB predicts rice shortages in the 90’s
– Unless correct measures are instituted
– The problem is not technological
– Instead
• Erratic price of milled rice
• Intervention policies
• Inadequate financing for new investments in irrigation
• Other environmental structures
• Sociological constraints
Plant Breeding, now and in the future
– Helps alleviate the world food problem
• Enhance productivity especially in developing
countries
• Significant dev’t: Rockefeller Foundation and
Ford Foundation
– Address hunger and underdevelopment
– Creation of two earliest international centers :
CIMMYT (1943) and IRRI (1962)
– CIAT – Centro Internacional de Agricultura
Tropical (1967) - Cali, Columbia
– IITA – International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Ibatan, Nigeria
Present :
– Global network of International
Agricultural Research Centers
(IARC’s) funded by Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR)
• Alliance with the national programs of
Third World countries – improvement
of major food crops, farming systems
and livestock
 Goals of Plant Breeding
• Increased yield
• Improved quality
• Improved adaption to different growing
environments
• Developed varieties resistant to
pests/environmental stress
Goals of Plant Breeding

1. Increased yield
(ultimate goal)
Goals of Plant Breeding

2. Improved quality
(eating, nutrients, shelflife,etc)
Goals of Plant Breeding

3. Improved adaption to
different growing
environments
Goals of Plant Breeding

4. Develop
varieties
resistant to
pests/diseases
 Elements of Plant Breeding
1.Breeding Objectives
considerations:
a. growing conditions (agroclimatic) ex. Upland,
irrigated, cool, saline, rainfed ,drought-
prone, flooded, etc

b. farmers’ need and preferences ex. Aroma,

eating quality, size ,etc

c. cropping pattern in the growing area ex. Dry and

wet season-maturity period , super rice (100
days)
 Elements of Plant Breeding

2. Sources of Genetic Variation

a. genetic variation – primary basis for improvement

b. mutation – origin of natural genetic
variability/evolution

c. genetics – heredity and variation

d. germplasm collection/bank – varieties/species that
have been identified , collected, characterized and
maintained ex.banana –BPI, rice –IRRI and PhilRice,sweet
potato/abaca-VSU
 Elements of Plant Breeding

3. Utilization of Genetic Variation

Mechanisms of Inheritance
a. Genotype (G)- genetic constitution
b. Phenotype (P)– outward expression of the
character/physical appearance of an individual
c. Environment (E)– external conditions that affect
growth and development (climate, soil condition,
and biotic factors)
 Basic Concepts in Plant Breeding

Mechanisms of Inheritance

P= G + E + (G + E)

- genetic factor determines the traits/character of the crop

- gene can not express to the fullest in the absence of the favorable
condition/environment

- favorable condition can cause a character to develop in the

absence of the necessary gene
 Basic Concepts in Plant Breeding

Mechanisms of Inheritance
d. Chromosome – thread-like structure of two spiral strands
of nitrogenous molecules, the DNA, associated with RNA
(DNA and RNA differentiated)
e. Genes – ultimate unit of inheritance, coded information in
specific arrangements of units in DNA
f. Homologous chromosomes – exist in pairs
g. Loci – specific locations of genes in the chromosome,
designated by letters , a gene can exist in alternative forms
called alleles
h. Homozygous – when alleles of a gene are the same
ex. AA or aa
 Basic Concepts in Plant Breeding

Mechanisms of Inheritance
• i. Heterozygous - population composed of
individuals of different genotypes Ex. Aa
• j. Homogenous – population composed of
individuals of the same genotype or phenotype
• k. Heterogenous – population composed of
individuals of different genotypes
• l. Dominant gene – AA, Aa
• m. Recessive gene – expressed if alleles are
double recessive (aa)
Mendel’s Breeding Experiment

x
pure-breeding parents

purple white

first filial (F1) generation

all purple

second filial (F2) generation

705 purple 224 white

monohybrid ratio 3:1

 Gene Interaction
• a. Epistatic – one gene affects the expression
of another gene
• b. Complementary – two dominant genes are
required for the expression of a trait
• c. Pleiotropic – gene that controls more than
one character
• d. Polygenic – traits that are controlled by
many genes with small additive and
interactive effect
 Chromosome Numbers
Kinds of Cells
a. Sex Cells – carry only one set of chromosomes called the
basic chromosome numbers
b. Somatic Cells – vegetative cells
n – haploid (A) 2n – diploid (AA)

Polyploids
3n – triploid (AAA) 6n –hexaploid(AAAAAA)

Aneuploids – not whole number multiples of the basic

chromosome number
Nullisomic (2n-2) AABBCC_ _
Trisomic (2n+1) AAABBCCDD
Monosomic (2n-1) AABBCCD_
Tetrasomic (2n+2)AAAABBCCDD
End of Presentation

Thank you.