Question

Aim of plant breeding is to produce

• A. Disease-free varieties
• B. High yielding varieties
• C. Early maturing varieties
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is D All of the above

The prime aim of plant breeding is to improve the characteristics of plants that they become more useful automatically and economically. Some of the objectives may be summarized as follows-
1. Higher yield: Higher yield of grain, fodder, fibre, sugar, oil etc.
2. Improved quality: The quality characters may vary from one crop to another, such as grain size, shape, colour, milling and backing quality of wheat, cooks quality in rice, malting in barley. Size shape and flavour in fruits and keeping quality of vegetables, protein contents in legumes, methionine and tryptophan contents in pulses etc.
3. Disease and pest resistance: Resistant varieties offer the cheapest and most convenient method of disease and pest control. They not only helps to increase the production but also stabilize the productivity.
4. Maturity duration: It permits new crop rotation and extends crop area. Thus breeding for early maturing varieties suitable for different dates of planting. This enables the farmer to take two-three crops in a year.
5. Agronomic characters: Three includes the characters, such as dwarf, profuse tillering, branching erect resistance and fertilizer responsiveness. Thus, option D is correct.