Question

What is selection in relation to crop variety improvement? Describe briefly two types of selection processes.

Answer 1

Crop variety improvement:

1. Crop variety improvement is the primary step to improving food crop production.
2. It helps in the development of crops with desired traits such as high yields, disease resistance, quality product, and response to fertilizers.

Selection in relation to crop variety improvement:

1. Selection is the process of choosing plants with desirable characteristics.
2. This is the oldest breeding method and is the basis of all crop improvement programs.
3. In this process of selecting plants with useful and desirable characteristics were chosen and maintained.
4. Plants with undesirable characters were often neglected.

There are two main types of selection:

1. Mass selection
2. Pure line selection

Mass selection:

1. Mass selection is one of the most important methods used in plant breeding and this is the type of breeding method used for self-pollinated plants.
2. The environmental conditions, water, and fertilizers are the features that are controlled in these experiments.

Pure line selection:

Pure-line selection involves selecting and breeding progeny from superior organisms for a number of generations until a pure line of organisms with only the desired characteristics has been established.