Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding

Until recently, plant breeders have depended primarily on classical tools to develop new and improved products for producers and consumers. However, with the advent of biotechnology, breeders are increasingly incorporating molecular tools in their breeding work. In recognition of the current state of methods and their application, this text introduces both classical and molecular tools for plant breeding. Topics such as biotechnology in plant breeding, intellectual property, risks, emerging concepts (decentralized breeding, organic breeding), and more are addressed in this state of the art text. The final 8 chapters provide a useful reference on breeding the largest and most common crops. In addition, over 25 plant breeders share their professional experiences while illustrating concepts in the text. Features include: comprehensive presentation of both classical and molecular plant breeding tools; industry highlight essays from over 25 professional plant breeders; chapter introductions, summaries and discussion questions; easy reference glossary; and reference chapters on breeding 8 of the largest and most common crops. Artwork from the book is available to instructors online. An Instructor manual CD-ROM for this title is available. 

Industry highlights boxes. Industry highlights box authors. Preface. Acknowledgments. . Part I: Underlying Science and Methods of Plant Breeding. Section 1: Historical Perspectives and Importance of Plant Breeding. 1. History and role of plant breeding in society. Section 2: General Biological Concepts. 2. The art and science of plant breeding. 3. Plant Cellular organization and genetic structure: an overview. 4. Plant reproductive systems. Section 3: Germplasm Issues. 5. Variation: types, origin, and scale. 6. Plant genetic resources for plant breeding. Section 4: Genetic Analysis in Plant Breeding. 7. Introduction to concepts of population genetics. 8. Introduction to quantitative genetics. 9. Common statistical methods in plant breeding. Section 5: Tools in Plant Breeding. 10. Sexual hybridization and wide crosses in plant breeding. 11. Tissue culture and the breeding of clonally propagated plants. 12. Mutagenesis in plant breeding. 13. Polyploidy in plant breeding. 14. Biotechnology in plant breeding. 15. Issues in the application of biotechnology in plant breeding. Section 6: Classic Methods of Plant Breeding. 16. Breeding self-pollinated species. 17. Breeding cross-pollinated species. 18. Breeding hybrid cultivars. Section 7: Selected Breeding Objectives. 19. Breeding for physiological and morphological traits. 20. Breeding for resistance to disease and insect pests. 21. Breeding for resistance to abiotic stress. 22. Breeding compositional traits and added value. Section 8: Cultivar Release and Commercial Seed Production. 23. Performance evaluation for crop cultivar release. 24. Seed certification and commercial seed multiplication. 25. International plant breeding efforts. 26. Emerging concepts in plant breeding. Part II: Breeding Selected Crops. 27. Breeding wheat. 28. Breeding corn. 29. Breeding rice. 30. Breeding sorghum. 31. Breeding soybean. 32. Breeding peanut. 33. Breeding potato. 34. Breeding cotton. Glossary. Appendix 1: Internet resources. Appendix 2: Conversion rates. Index