Plant Improvement: Molecular Breeding and Genetic Perspectives

The study of genes, genetic variation and heredity in plants is referred to as plant genetics. It is a specialized field of biology and botany. Molecular breeding refers to the application of molecular biology tools in breeding crop plants. It is used for plant improvement in terms of starch composition, grain quality, flower color, leaf color, flower development and plant architecture. The aim of molecular plant breeding is to create, select and fix superior plant phenotypes that are suitable for the needs of farmers and consumers. Marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC), marker-assisted selection (MAS), marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS), and genome-wide selection (GWS) are a few important molecular breeding techniques. These techniques are applied to analyze the different agronomic traits in order to increase the production, reduce the cost of producing plants with biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and increase the quality of plants. The book aims to shed light on some of the unexplored aspects of plant genetics and molecular breeding. A number of latest researches have been included to keep the readers updated with the global concepts in this area of study. The book will serve as a valuable source of reference for graduate and postgraduate students.