PRE-MEDICAL

ZOOLOGY
ENTHUSIAST | LEADER | ACHIEVER

STUDY MATERIAL
Strategies for enhancement in food
production (Plant Breeding)
ENGLISH MEDIUM
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ALLEN® Biology : Strategies for Enhancement in food production
Pre-Medical

NORMAN ERNEST BORLAUG (1914)

Norman Ernst Borlaug, born in March 1914 in an lowa farm,

became a towering figure in the green revolution of 1960’s. Borlaug,

during the last three and half decades collaborated and shared his

experience on problems of wheat improvement with his fellow

scientists from Mexico and other countries. He also encouraged and

collaborated with scientists from India, Pakistan and other countries in adapting new varieties of

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wheat. He was a big motivation force for convincing the scientists and the Governments for

introduction of new wheat varieties. He is a goal-oriented scientist with pragmatic approach with

constant search for more effective methods.

After completing his college education, Borlaug studied forestry and pursued his further studies

in plant pathology for masters and doctorate degree. He was also actively involved in research on

industrial and agricultural bactericides, fungicides and preservatives. Later, he worked as geneticist

and plant pathologist. He was also made responsible for directing the research on wheat in the

collaborative programme of Mexican Government and Rockfeller Foundation. His responsibilities

included the research in diverse fields of his interest. In span of two decades he achieved a

spectacular success in developing a high yielding, short-strawed and disease-resistant wheat.

Noble peace prize was conferred on him in 1978 for his contribution to food security,

environment and reduction of social ills and conflicts. He also received acclaimation from several

universities and research institutions in the form of fellowships and awards of excellence.

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STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCEMENT IN FOOD PRODUCTION

(PLANT BREEDING)
01. INTRODUCTION
 India is mainly an agricultural country.
 Introduction
Agriculture accounts for approximately 33 per
 What is plant breeding cent of India’s GDP and employs nearly 62 per
cent of the population.
 Application of plant breeding
 After India’s independence, one of the main
 Plant tissue culture challenges facing the country was that of
producing enough food for the increasing

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population.
 As only limited land is fit for cultivation, India has to strive to increase yields per unit area from
existing farm land.
 Traditional farming can only yield a limited biomass, as food for humans and animals. Better
management practices and increase in acreage can increase yield, but only to a limited extent.
Plant breeding as a technology has helped increase yields to a very large extent.
 The development of several high yielding varieties of wheat and rice in the mid-1960s, as a
result of various plant breeding techniques led to dramatic increase in food production in our
country. This phase is often referred to as the Green Revolution.

02. WHAT IS PLANT BREEDING

 "Plant breeding is the purposeful manipulation of plant species in order to create desired plant
types that are better suited for cultivation, give better yields and are disease resistant".
Conventional plant breeding has been practiced for thousands of years, since the beginning of
human civilisation; recorded evidence of plant breeding dates back to 9,000-11,000 years ago.
 Classical plant breeding involves crossing or hybridisation of pure lines, followed by artificial
selection to produce plants with desirable traits. The traits or characters that the breeders have
tried to incorporate into crop plants are :-
(a) increased crop yield and improved quality.
(b) Increased tolerance to environmental stresses (salinity, extreme temperatures, drought).
(c) resistance to pathogens (viruses, fungi and bacteria).
(d) increased tolerance to insect pests.
 Plant breeding programmes are carried out in a systematic way worldwide–in government
institutions and commercial companies.
 

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 The main steps in breeding a new genetic variety of a crop by selection and hybridization are–
(i) Collection of variability :-
  Genetic variability is the root of any breeding programme. In plant breeding collection of
variability is done by collection of plant varieties.
It consists of –
(a) Cultivated improved varieties
(b) Improved varieties that are no more cultivated
(c) Old local or desi varieties.
(d) Varieties produced by plant breeders (undistributed)
(e) Wild species related to the crop species
 The entire collection (of plants/seeds) having all the diverse alleles for all genes in a given crop
is called germplasm collection.

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Significance of germplasm of wild species :-
 It is very important to conserve wild species of plant as these are highly resistant to
insects, pests, disease and unfavourable growth conditions, which are necessary for
survival of plants.
 The loss of wild plants, will reduce the genetic variability and will be a great loss to gene
pool.
(ii) Evaluation and selection of parents :-
 The germplasm is evaluated so as to identify plants with desirable combination of
characters. The selected plants are multiplied and used in the process of
hybridisation.
 Purelines are created wherever desirable and possible.
(iii) Cross hybridisation among the selected parents :-
 The desired characters have very often to be combined from two different plants
(parents), for example high protein quality of one parent may need to be combined
with disease resistance from another parent. This is possible by cross hybridising the
two parents to produce hybrids that genetically combine the desired characters in
one plant.
 This is a very time-consuming and tedious process since the pollen grains from the
desirable plant chosen as male parent have to be collected and placed on the stigma
of the flowers selected as female parent.
 Also, it is not necessary that the hybrids do combine the desirable characters;
usually only one in few hundred to a thousand crosses shows the desirable
combination.
(iv) Selection and testing of superior recombinants :-
 This step consists of selecting, among the progeny of the hybrids, those plants that
have the desired character combination.
 The selection process is crucial to the success of the breeding objective and
requires careful scientific evaluation of the progeny.
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 This step yields plants that are superior to both of the parents (very often more than
one superior progeny plant may become available).
 These are self-pollinated for several generations till they reach a state of uniformity
(homozygosity), so that the characters will not segregate in the progeny.
(v) Testing, release and commercialisation of new cultivars :-
 The newly selected lines are evaluated for their yield and other agronomic traits of
quality, disease resistance, etc. This evaluation is done by growing these in the
research fields and recording their performance under ideal fertiliser application
irrigation, and other crop management practices.
 The evaluation in research fields is followed by testing the materials in farmers’
fields, for at least three growing seasons at several locations in the country,

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representing all the agroclimatic zones where the crop is usually grown. The
material is evaluated in comparison to the best available local crop cultivar – a check
or reference cultivar.
 In India, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi (ICAR – New Delhi) carries out
the evaluations.
 Ultimately a new pure line, population or hybrid that is superior to the existing varities as
well as to other new material may be released as new variety.

(a) (b)

(c)

Some Indian hybrid crops: (a) Maize; (b) Wheat; (c) Garden peas
NCERT XII Page No. 172, Figure No. 9.3

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MUTATION BREEDING
Use of induced mutations in plant breeding to develop improved varieties. Induced mutations
are useful in specific situations, when the desired alleles are absent in the germplasm.
 Many important varieties in different crop plants have been produced by mutation breeding
 In wheat : Sharbati sonora and pusa lerma are two important varieties of wheat produced by
gamma rays treatment of sonora-64 and lerma rojo (Mexican dwarf wheat varieties)
 Sharbati-sonora is variety of wheat produced by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan and is responsible for
green revolution in India.
 In mung bean, resistance to yellow mosaic virus and powdery mildew were induced by
mutations.

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03. APPLICATIONS OF PLANT BREEDING
(1) PLANT BREEDING FOR IMPROVEMENT OF YIELD
(A) Improvement in Wheat :
 Prior to green revolution a dwarfing gene of wheat named Norin-10, was noted in Japan.
 Dr. N. Borlaug (Mexican wheat breeder) develop many semi dwarf wheat varieties like
Sonora-64 and Lerma rojo-64
 N. Borlaug got Nobel prize for peace in 1970. He is also known as father of green
revolution.
 In 1963 two Mexican wheat varieties viz. Sonora-64 & Lerma rojo-64 and a Japanese
variety Norin-10 were introduced in India, but these varieties could not adapt to Indian
conditions, they were subjected to mutations and selections at Indian Agricultural
Research Institute at New Delhi under the direction of Dr. M.S Swaminathan.
 Dr. M.S. Swaminathan :- He is pioneer in mutation breeding. He has produced Sharbati
sonora variety of wheat by mutation, which is responsible for green revolution in India.
He is known as "Father of green revolution in India"
 In 1963, several varieties such as Sonalika and Kalyan Sona, which were high yielding and
disease resistant, were introduced all over the wheat-growing belt of India.
 During the period 1960 to 2000, wheat production increased from 11 million tonnes to 75
million tonnes

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(B) Improvement in Rice :
 Dwarfing gene "dee-geo-woo-gen" was noticed in Taiwan.
 By using this gene, TN-1 (Taichung native-1) variety of rice was developed in Taiwan.
 IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) Manila (Philipines) and incorporated to
produce high yielding early maturing IR-8 and IR-24 varieties.
 Later better-yielding semidwarf varieties Jaya and Ratna were developed in India.
 During the period 1960 to 2000, rice production increased from 35 million tonnes to 89.5
million tonnes.
(C) Improvement in Sugar Cane :
 Saccharum barberi was originally grown in north India, but had poor sugar content and
yield.
 Tropical canes grown in south India Saccharum officinarum had thicker stems and higher
sugar content but did not grow well in north India.

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 These two species were successfully crossed to get sugar cane varieties combining the
desirable qualities of high yield, thick stems, high sugar and ability to grow in the sugar
cane areas of north India.
(D) Millets :
 Hybrid maize, jowar and bajra have been successfully developed in India.
 Hybrid breeding have led to the development of several high yielding varieties resistant to
water stress.
(2) PLANT BREEDING FOR DISEASE RESISTANCE
 A wide range of fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens, affect the yield of cultivated crop species,
especially in tropical climates. Crop losses can often be significant, up to 20-30 per cent, or
sometimes even total. In this situation, breeding and development of cultivars resistant to
disease enhances food production.
 Some of the diseases caused -
(a) By fungi are rusts, e.g., brown rust of wheat, red rot of sugarcane and late blight of
potato;
(b) By bacteria – black rot of crucifers
(c) By viruses – tobacco mosaic, turnip mosaic, etc.
 Some crop varieties breed by hybridisation and selection, for disease resistance to fungi,
bacteria and viral diseases are released.
Table
Crop Variety Resistance to diseases
Wheat Himgiri Leaf and stripe rust, hill bunt
Brassica Pusa swarnim (Karan rai) White rust
Cauliflower Pusa Shubhra, Black rot and Curl
Pusa Snowball K-1 blight black rot
Cowpea Pusa Komal Bacterial blight
Chilli Pusa Sadabahar Chilly mosaic virus, Tobacco
mosaic virus and Leaf curl
NCERT XII Page No. 174, Table No. 9.1
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 Several wild relatives of different cultivated species of plants have been shown to have certain
resistant characters but have very low yield. Hence, there is a need to introduce the resistant
genes into the high-yielding cultivated varieties.
 Resistance to yellow mosaic virus in bhindi (Abelmoschus esculentus) was transferred from a
wild species and resulted in a new variety of A. esculentus called Parbhani kranti.

(3) PLANT BREEDING FOR DEVELOPING RESISTANCE TO INSECT PESTS

 Another major cause for large scale destruction of crop plant and crop produce is insect and
pest infestation. Insect resistance in host crop plants may be due to morphological, biochemical
or physiological characteristics.
 Hairy leaves in several plants are associated with resistance to insect pests, e.g, resistance to
jassids in cotton and cereal leaf beetle in wheat.

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 In wheat, solid stems lead to non-preference by the stem sawfly.
 Smooth leaved and nectar-less cotton varieties do not attract bollworms.
 High aspartic acid, low nitrogen and sugar content in maize leads to resistance to maize stem
borers.
 Some released crop varieties bred by hybridisation and selection, for insect pest resistance are
given in Table.
Table
Crop Variety Insect Pests
Brassica Pusa Gaurav Aphids
(rapeseed mustard)
Flat bean Pusa Sem 2, Pusa Sem 3 Jassids, aphids and fruit borer
Okra (Bhindi) Pusa Sawani, Pusa A-4 Shoot and Fruit borer
NCERT XII Page No. 175, Table No. 9.2

(4) PLANT BREEDING FOR IMPROVED FOOD QUALITY

 More than 840 million people in the world do not have adequate food to meet their daily food
and nutritional requirements.
 A far greater number – three billion people – suffer from micronutrient, protein and vitamin
deficiencies or ‘hidden hunger’ because they cannot afford to buy enough fruits, vegetables,
legumes, fish and meat.
 Diets lacking essential micronutrients – particularly iron, vitamin A, iodine and zinc – increase
the risk for disease, reduce lifespan and reduce mental abilities.
 Biofortification – Breeding crops with higher levels of vitamins and minerals, or higher protein
and healthier fats – is the most practical means to improve public health. Breeding for improved
nutritional quality is undertaken with the objectives of improving –

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(a) Protein content and quality;
(b) Oil content and quality;
(c) Vitamin content; and
(d) Micronutrient and mineral content.
 In 2000, maize hybrids that had twice the amount of the amino acids, lysine and tryptophan,
compared to existing maize hybrids were developed.
 Wheat variety, Atlas 66, having a high protein content, has been used as a donor for improving
cultivated wheat.
 It has been possible to develop an iron-fortified rice variety containing over five times as much
iron as in commonly consumed varieties.
 The Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi has also released several vegetable crops
that are rich in vitamins and minerals,

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e.g.  Vitamin A enriched carrots, spinach, pumpkin.
 Vitamin C enriched bitter gourd, bathua, mustard, tomato.
 Iron and calcium enriched spinach and bathua.
 Protein enriched beans – broad, lablab, French and garden peas.

04. PLANT TISSUE CULTURE

 This is one of the latest and most promising methods of crop improvement in such plant, where
all other conventional methods of breeding fail.
 Tissue culture technique is based on totipotent nature of plant cell.
 Totipotency :- The ability of a plant cell to generate a whole plant.
 Plant tissue culture is the technique of maintaining and growing plant cells, tissues and organs
in sterilized culture medium, under controlled aseptic conditions (in-vitro).
 Explant –
 Plant part that is excised from its original location and used for initiating a culture. it may
be root tip, shoot bud, anther, embryo, ovule etc.
 Normally undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) of plant are used as explant.
 Surface Sterilization –
  The process of treatment of explant with specific antimicrobial chemicals like sodium
hypochlorite, H2O2, Bromine water, C2H5OH etc.
 The vessels, media and instruments are also sterilized by treating them with steam, dry
heat or alcohol.
 Culture medium or nutrient medium –
 Medium, which provides nutrition to explants & which is required for normal growth and
development of explants.
 Standard culture medium contains : (i) Inorganic Salts, (ii) Vitamins, (iii) Sucrose (as a
source of energy and carbon), (iv) Growth regulators (2,4–D, Cytokinins, BAP–
benzylaminopurine), (v) Agar-agar
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  Growth regulators are required for cell division and organogenesis in explant.
  Murashige and Skoog's (MS) culture medium (Most commonly used culture medium.)
 Callus –
  By culturing explant in culture medium, an undifferentiated mass of cells is obtained
which is known as ‘callus’.
Types of Cultures –
(1) Callus culture
(2) Meristem culture
(3) Embryo culture
(4) Anther culture
(5) Protoplast culture

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(1) CALLUS & SUSPENSION CULTURE
Callus Culture :
 In callus culture, when an explant is placed on a medium gel with agar many of the cells
become meristematic and begin to divide and giving rise to callus in 2–3 weeks.
 The agar medium contains both type of growth regulators auxin like 2,4–D and cytokinin
like BAP in equal amount (A = C).
Micropropagation :
 The method of producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called
micropropagation.
 By application of these methods it is possible to achieve propagation of a large number of
plants in very short durations.
 Many important food plants like tomato, banana, apple, etc., have been produced on
commercial scale using this method
Two methods of micropropagation are :-
1. Organogenesis :-
It is a method of formation of plant organs (root and shoot)
Shoot formation :- Growth regulator cytokinins (BAP) promotes shoot regeneration
Cells of Callus are first kept on medium containing more cytokinins than Auxin (C > A).
It initiates shoot formation
Root formation:-
* When shoot becomes 2-3 cm long it transfer in another culture medium containing mor
auxin than cytokinins (A > C).
* Growth regulator Auxin (2,4-D) promotes root regeneration
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2. Somatic embryogenesis:-
*Somatic embryo or embryoids are non-zygotic embryo like structures that develop in
vitro cultures from somatic cells.
*The medium having ammonium nitrate and auxin (2,4-D) favour induces their
differentiation.
*Mature somatic embryos germinate to yield complete plantlets.
Somaclones :
Each of the plants produced by Micropropagation will be genetically identical to the original
plant from which they were grown, i.e., they are somaclones.
Somaclonal variation :
Genetic variation presents among (somaclone) plants regenerated from tissue culture have

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been termed as somaclonal variation.
* These variations originated by minor chromosomal aberration or by gene mutation.

(2) MERISTEM CULTURE

 Use of an explant that contains pre-existing shoot meristems and produce shoot from them
 Both apical and axillary meristem can be used as explant.
Meristem culture can be used for :–
 Production of virus free plants (Disease fee plant).
 Conservation of germplasm.
 Scientists have succeeded in culturing meristems of banana, sugarcane, potato, etc.
(3) EMBRYO CULTURE
 Application of embryo culture method to prevent the abortion of the interspecific hybrid
embryo is called Embryo rescue.
 Excision of young embryos from developing seeds and their cultivation on a nutrient medium is
called embryo culture.
(4) ANTHER CULTURE & HAPLOID PRODUCTION
 Anther culture is also known as pollen grain culture or androgenic haploid culture.
 When anthers of a plant species are cultured on a suitable medium, then haploid plants are
produced, this method is called anther culture.
 This technique was first used in India to produce haploid plants of Datura innoxia by Guha and
Maheshwari (1964).
 Sometime diploid plants are also formed among haploid plants. Source of these diploid plants is
anther wall (which is diploid)
Haploid plants are very useful in plant breeding because,
(a) Study of mutation
(b) Producing pure lines in short period
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(5) PROTOPLAST CULTURE
 Somatic hybrid : A hybrid produced by fusion of somatic cells of two species or varieties.

 The process of production of somatic hybrid is somatic hybridisation.

 Protoplast : Cell wall less plant cell is called protoplast.

Steps of somatic hybridisation :–

(A) Removal of Cell Wall :–

 In this step, cell wall is digested by using pectinase & cellulase enzyme.

(B) Fusion Between Protoplast :–

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 Protoplast of two different species are fused together.

 Substance which induces the fusion of protoplast are called fusogen or fusogenic agent.

 Fusogenic substance and condition :–

 By treatment of NaNO3

 By treatment of Ca+2 ions at high pH

 By treatment of polyethylene glycol [PEG]

 By high voltage electric shock

(C) Culture of the Fused Protoplast :–

 Product of fused protoplast of two different species is called heterokaryon.

 Heterokaryons are mainly used in tissue culture.

 When the fused protoplasts are cultured on a suitable medium they regenerate cell wall

and begin to divide to ultimately produce plantlets.

Importance of somatic hybridisation :–

 It allows the production of hybrids between different lines and species that can not be

produced normally by sexual reproduction.

   Pomato is a somatic hybrid between potato and tomato.

   Bromato – Brinjal & tomato


 Somatic hybridisation is also called parasexual hybridisation.

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TYPES OF PLANT TISSUE CULTURE (PROTOPLAST CULTURE)

Somatic cell Cell wall Somatic cell

NT Cell Membrane NP
CT CP

Step1 :- Removal of cell wall :-

By Cellulase and Potato
Tomato Pectinase enzyme

NT NP
Cell Membrane
CT CP
Protoplast Protoplast

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by
Step2 :- Fusion of Protoplast FUSOGENS :-
Somatic
Hybridization i) NaNO3
ii) Ca+2 ions at high pH
NT iii) Polyethylene Glycol [PEG]
+
NP iv) High voltage electric shock
CT + CP

Somatic Hybrid
(Fused Protoplast)

Step 3 :- Culture of Fused Protoplast/Somatic Hybrid

(Grow)

(POMATO)
Culture medium

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Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

Steps :
Plant Breeding 1. Collection of variability
2. Evaluation and selection of parents
3. Cross hybridisation among selected parents
4. Selection and testing of superior recombinants
5. Testing, release and commercialisation of new cultivars
High yielding variety :
1. Wheat – Sonalika and Kalyan sona

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2. Rice – Jaya and Ratna
3. Sugarcane – Saccharum officinarum
Disease resistance :
1. Wheat – Himgiri
2. Brassica – Pusa swarnim
3. Cauli flower – Pusa subhra, Pusa snowball k-1
4. Cow pea – Pusa komal
5. Chilli – Pusa sadabahar
Resistance to insects pests :
1. Brassica – Pusa Gaurav
2. Flat bean – Pusa Sem 2, Pusa Sem 3
3. Okra – Pusa sawani, Pusa A-4
Biofortification :
1. Protein content and quality
2. Oil content and quality
3. Vitamin content
4. Micronutrient and mineral content
BGA – Spirullina
Single Cell Protein (SCP)
Bacteria – Methylophilus methylotrophus

Totipotency : Whole plant – Any cell/explant

Tissue Culture
Requirement :
 Explant
 Nutrient medium – carbon and energy source - sucrose
 Inorganic salts
 Vitamins
 Amino acids
 PGRs – Auxin, Cytokinin

Micropropagation :
Thousand of of genetically identical plants, each plant – Somaclone
e.g. Tomato, Banana, Apple
Meristem culture (apical & axillary meristem) :
Virus free plant
e.g. Banana, Sugarcane, Potato
Somatic Hybridisation :
 Fusion of isolated protoplast
 Tomato and potato – Pomato

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