Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. [1] It is used to improve the quality of plant products for use by humans and animals. [2] The goals of plant breeding are to produce crop varieties that boast unique and superior traits for a variety of applications.
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together.
Plant breeders use different methods depending on the mode of reproduction of crops, which include: Self-fertilization, where pollen from a plant will fertilise reproductive cells or ovules of the same plant; Cross-pollination, where pollen from one plant can only fertilize a different plant
Selective breeding enlarged desired traits of the wild mustard plant (Brassica oleracea) over hundreds of years, resulting in dozens of today's agricultural crops. Cabbage, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower were all products of this selective breeding, making them all the same plant.
The plants listed may be ornamental, medicinal, and/or edible. Several of them bear edible fruit. Plants are selectively bred for phenotypic traits (such as flower colour) and other hereditary traits. When developing a new variety, a plant breeder might value such characteristics as appearance, disease resistance, and hardiness.
[4] [5] Examples of fecundity selection in nature include self-incompatibility flowering plants, where pollen of some potential mates are not effective in forming seed, [6] as well as bird, lizard, fly, and butterfly and moth species that are spread across an ecological gradient. [7] [8] [9] [10]
Selective breeding of plants and animals has led to varieties that differ dramatically from their original wild-type ancestors. Examples are the cabbage varieties, maize, or the large number of different dog breeds. The power of human breeding to create varieties with extreme differences from a single species was already recognized by Charles ...
Farmers have manipulated plants and animals through selective breeding for decades of thousands of years in order to create desired traits. In the 20th century, a surge in technology resulted in an increase in agricultural biotechnology through the selection of traits like the increased yield, pest resistance, drought resistance, and herbicide resistance.