Question

Give achievements of mutation breeding.

Answer 1

Mutation Breeding

Definition: “The utilization of induced mutations in crop improvement is called mutation breeding”

The term mutation breeding was first coined by Freisleben and Lein in 1944 to refer to the deliberate induction and development of mutant lines for crop improvement.


Advantages of Mutation Breeding;:


Mutation breeding can be used for both oligogenic and polygenic traits in plants.

Ø It improves morphological and physiological characters of cultivated crops.


Ø Mutation breeding can improve the disease resistance of crop plants.

Ø Induced mutations can induce desirable mutant alleles in crop plants.

Ø Mutation breeding can be used to improve the specific characters of a well-adapted high yielding variety.

Ø Quantitative characters characteristics of crop plants including yield can be improved by induced mutations.

Ø The F1 hybrids obtained from inter varietal cross are treated with mutagen to increase variability.