Commercial Plant Breeding, R&D structure in commercial organizations like private seed companies, field crops seed business, international agricultural research centres working on field crops improvement and a few most pertinent seed related regulations and global status of commercialized GM crops. Part-II of the book deals with commercial plant breeding of 14 major crops of commercial interest with emphasis on genomics, phenomics, field level hybrid seed production and varieties and hybrids having significant acreage from both public and private sectors.The field crops included are rice, wheat, maize, pearl millet, sorghum, pigeonpea, chickpea, green gram, black gram, lentil, soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard and Bt cotton. Besides, there is a comprehensive glossary and updated list of references. The book is intended for wide section of students for courses on commercial field crop breeding and as a useful reference book for the professionals across institutes and seed industries.

The present book entitled “Commercial Plant Breeding- 2- Field Crops” is in continuation with earlier book Commercial Plant Breeding-1-Vegetable Crops. Part-I of this book contains 11 chapters dealing with basic understanding of Commercial Plant Breeding, R&D structure in commercial organizations like private seed companies, field crops seed business, international agricultural research centres working on field crops improvement and a few most pertinent seed related regulations and global status of commercialized GM crops. Part-II of the book deals with commercial plant breeding of 14 major crops of commercial interest with emphasis on genomics, phenomics, field level hybrid seed production and varieties and hybrids having significant acreage from both public and private sectors. The field crops included are rice, wheat, maize, pearl millet, sorghum, pigeonpea, chickpea, green gram, black gram, lentil, soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard and Bt cotton. Besides, there is a comprehensive glossary and updated list of references. The book is intended for wide section of students for courses on commercial field crop breeding and as a useful reference book for the professionals across institutes and seed industries.

While preparing the first edition of this textbook I attended an extension short course on writing agricultural publications. The message I remember was "select your audience and write to it. " There has never been any doubt about the audience for which this textbook was written, the introductory course in crop breeding. In addition, it has become a widely used reference for the graduate plant-breeding student and the practicing plant breeder. In its prepa ration, particular attention has been given to advances in plant-breeding theo ry and their utility in plant-breeding practice. The blend of the theoretical with the practical has set this book apart from other plant-breeding textbooks. The basic structure and the objectives of the earlier editions remain un changed. These objectives are (1) to review essential features of plant re production, Mendelian genetic principles, and related genetic developments applicable in plant-breeding practice; (2) to describe and evaluate established and new plant-breeding procedures and techniques, and (3) to discuss plant breeding objectives with emphasis on the importance of proper choice of objec tive for achieving success in variety development. Because plant-breeding activities are normally organized around specific crops, there are chapters describing breeding procedures and objectives for the major crop plants; the crops were chosen for their economic importance or diversity in breeding sys tems. These chapters provide a broad overview of the kinds of problems with which the breeder must cope.

Plant improvement has shifted its focus from yield, quality and disease resistance to factors that will enhance commercial export, such as early maturity, shelf life and better processing quality. Conventional plant breeding methods aiming at the improvement of a self-pollinating crop, such as wheat, usually take 10-12 years to develop and release of the new variety. During the past 10 years, significant advances have been made and accelerated methods have been developed for precision breeding and early release of crop varieties. This edited volume summarizes concepts dealing with germplasm enhancement and development of improved varieties based on innovative methodologies that include doubled haploidy, marker assisted selection, marker assisted background selection, genetic mapping, genomic selection, high-throughput genotyping, high-throughput phenotyping, mutation breeding, reverse breeding, transgenic breeding, shuttle breeding, speed breeding, low cost high-throughput field phenotyping, etc. It is an important reference with special focus on accelerated development of improved crop varieties.

The present book entitled “Principles of Plant Breeding” is an introductory text book covering all the basic principles of plant breeding distributed over 32 chapters including both conventional and innovative plant breeding approaches. The book has an exhaustive glossary capturing all aspects related to plant breeding. The book has been designed purely as text book, in class room note style in accordance with the syllabus as recommended by VI-ICAR-Dean's Committee and shall be a handy text book for the undergraduate students of state agricultural universities, ICAR-JRF/SRF/NET/ARS aspirants and the seed industry professionals.

The plant breeder and his work; Reproduction in crop plants; Genetics and plant breeding: gene recombination; Genetics and plant breeding: variations in chromosome number; Genetics and plant breeding: mutation; Fertility regulating mechanisms and their manipulation; Plant introduction, acclimatization and germ plasm conservation; Methods of breeding: self-pollinated crops; Methods of breeding: cross-polinated crops, asexually propagated crops; Techniques in breeding field crops; Breeding wheat and triticale breeding wheat; Breeding rice; Breeding barley and oats breeding barley; Breeding soybeans; Breeding corn; Breeding sorghum and millet breeding sorghum; Breeding cotton; Breeding sugar beets; Breeding forage crops; Seed production practices.

Plant Breeding Reviews is an ongoing series presenting state-of-the art review articles on research in plant genetics, especially the breeding of commercially important crops. Articles perform the valuable function of collecting, comparing, and contrasting the primary journal literature in order to form an overview of the topic. This detailed analysis bridges the gap between the specialized researcher and the broader community of plant scientists.