Definition of plant breeding.
Plant breeding is genetic improvement of plants for human benefit.
First plant breeding activities: When and where?
Who was the first plant breeder? When did scientific plant breeding activities begin?
10.000 years ago
The Neolithic Revolution in the Fertile Crescent
Around 120-150 years ago (1890s)
When Mendel was rediscovered
When and where were some of our important crop plants domesticated?
Wheat, Maize, Rice, soybean, barley, potato, sunflower,cassava, banana, coffee
The Neolithic Revolution
In the Fertile Crescent - the cradle of agriculture
South/Central America: maize, potato, cassava
Southeast Asia: rice, banana
Middle East: wheat, barley
North America: sunflower
China: soybean
Africa: coffee
Important findings of Gregor Mendel.
Each individual possess two complete sets of characters
One character (trait) is inherited from each parent
Not relevant from which parent each trait descends, their contribution is always the same
Under the assumption of independent combination of traits, the ratio is always 3:1
What is epistatic gene action?
Unexpected or altered phenotypic ratios in offspring
Explain dominant epistasis.
Dominant allele of on gene is hiding the expression of all alleles of another gene
12:3:1
Explain recessive epistasis.
The presence of two recessive alleles at the epistatic gene locus is required to mask the expression of the hypostatic gene.
Last changed2 months ago