Unit 1 Assessment

SELF-CHECK TEST & EVALUATION ACTIVITIES
(Detach this part and submit to your Instructor when face to face classes will be allowed.
Write your answers on the space provided for. Use these as answer sheets. Do not encode.)
1. What is the significance of Plant Breeding and Plant Propagation to your major
field of specialization (5 pts)?
- Plant Breeding and Plant Propagation has a high value to my field of
specialization, where in this field of practice helps us to understand on how to
improve having more yield, quality, disease-resistance, drought and frost-tolerance
crops, and importantly to improve the characteristics of the plant or crops and to
help solve problems regarding issues that our farmers facing world-wide. So as a
future agriculturist learning and understanding Plant Breeding and Plant
Propagation is a great additional knowledge and skill to help our farmers solve
complex challenges or problems.
2. Discuss the significance of the following sciences to Plant Breeding. Give examples (10
pts).
a. Plant Pathology/Entomology
- Before breeding or crossing two varieties of plants or crops, learning
Pathology/Entomology is important, because this will give us an idea on what are
the different plant diseases (pathogen) and insect resistance that are occurring on
plants or crops. This relationship of pathology/entomology to plant breeding are
highly beneficial in selecting the disease resistance and insect resistance for the
plants that are to be crossed. For Examples barley MLO against powdery mildew,
wheat Lr34 against leaf rust and wheat Yr36 against wheat stripe rust. An array of
mechanisms for this type of resistance may exist depending on the particular gene
and plant-pathogen combination. The advantage of breeding diseases resistance
plants is that, it enhances the production of food by reducing dosses due
to diseases, and reduces the dependence on fungicides or other chemicals that will
kill plant diseases.
b. Genetics
- Presence of genetic variability in crops is essential for its further improvement by providing
options for the breeders to develop new varieties and hybrids. This can be achieved through
phenotypic and molecular characterization of PGR. Sometimes, large size of germplasm may
limit their use in breeding (https://www.hindawi.com/journal/agri). For the bt corn or the bacillus
turengensis corn.
c. Plant Physiology
- By revealing the dependence of the life processes on environmental
conditions, plant physiology serves as the theoretical basis for increasing the
total productivity of plants, improving their nutritional value, and raising the
quality of their tissues and organs for use in industry
(encyclopedia2.freedictionary.com)
3. Summarize the contributions of Plant Breeding to Food Production (read the article
by Borlaug, 1983).
- Within a short geological time frame, Neolithic man or more probably woman,
domesticated all the major cereal grains, legumes, and root crops that the world's
people depend on for most of their calories and protein. Until very recently, crop
improvement was in the hands of farmers. The cornerstones of modern plant
breeding were laid by Darwin and Mendel in the late 19th century. As the
knowledge of genetics, plant pathology, and entomology have grown during the 20th
century, plant breeders have made enormous contributions to increased food
production throughout the world. There have been major plant breeding
breakthroughs for maize and wheat, and promising research activities to raise yields
in marginal production environments are ongoing. Since it is doubtful that
significant production benefits will soon be forthcoming from the use of genetic
engineering techniques with higher plants, especially polyploidy species, most
research funds for crop improvement should continue to be allocated for
conventional plant breeding.
4. From the article “The Future of Plant Breeding” by Gepts and Hancock (2006) discuss
how increasing globalization affected Plant breeding.
- Increasing globalization affects plant breeding in two major ways, increase in
commercialization of agricultural products with additional export opportunities and
increase in competition with other regions with lower production cost (Morris et al,.
2006). In this matter the value of plant breeding has decreased in public but increased
in private sectors. Where in some plant breeders wanted their works to be patent or be
drastically owned by them. Another thing is that increasing globalization also
affected the investment in research and development publicly, it decreased the
investments. And lastly increasing globalization, replaced plant breeders by
biotechnologists.

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SELF-CHECK TEST & EVALUATION ACTIVITIES

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