The Book Presents A Comprehensive Account Of The Concept And Genesis Of Diverse Biometrical/Statistical Models As Applied To Plant Breeding Experiments Under Different Situations. Generation And Statistical Treatment Of Data; Presentation, Interpretation And Inferences Of Results; Merits, Demerits And Situations Of Applicability Of Models Are All Explicated For Their Adequate And Appropriate Usage In Plant Breeding. The Whole Volume Comprising 25 Chapters Has Been Zipped Into Five Sections Elucidating; General Statistical/Biometrical Parameters And Field Designs (Chapters 1-4), Multivariate Analysis Of Genetic Divergence (Chapters 6-7), Genotype X Environment Interaction And Stability Parameters (Chapters 8-10), Analysis Of Nature Of Gene Action And Variance Components (Chapters 11 -23), And Lastly The Unique Analysis Of Statistical And Genetical Parameters Related To Selection And Mutation Experiments (Chapters 24-25) In Plant Breeding. Simplification Of The Bewildering Complexities Of Biometrical Notations And Procedures In A Language Which Could Easily Be Grasped By Biologists/Geneticists Having Little Or No Statistical Background Is The Hallmark Of The Treatise. Like A Ready-Reckoner, This Work Offers An Efficient Key To Plant Breeding Data-Management For Both Students And Professional Plant Breeders Alike In Pursuit Of Their Research Goals.

A book entitled 'Biometrical techniques in plant and animal breeding' is edited by the authors and the topics of the book are dominated by recent statistical techniques and statistical software packages useful in plant and animal breeding. The book has been compiled and edited with up-to-date and interesting articles contributed during the course of training by the eminent professionals of national institutes. The book is aimed to familiarize the readers with the recent advances in the field of Biometrics and other useful statistical and computational tools applied in the areas like plant/ animal breeding and also to upgrade the research and teaching skills of the research worker. Emphasis has been given on how to analyze animal/ plant breeding data and other experimental data by sophisticated statistical software packages. We hope the book will be a very good source of reference material for all those working in plant and animal breeding.

When trying to solicit authors for this book it became apparent that the causal factors for heterosis at the physiological and biochemical level are today almost as obscure as they were 30 years ago. Though biometrical-genetical analyses point to dispersion of complementary genes - not overdominance - as the major cause of the phenomenon, plant breeders' experience still suggests a cautious, pragmatic approach to the dominance-overdominance controversy in breeding hybrid cultivars. Thus we are faced with a striking discordance between our limited comprehension of the causal factors and mechanism of heter osis on the one hand, and the extensive agricultural practice of utiliza tion of hybrid vigor on the other. Such utilization is the result of the economic value of hybrid combinations displaying superior yields and qualities as well as stability of performance, of benefits derived in breeding programs, and of the enhanced varietal protection of proprietary rights. No comprehensive and critical analysis of the phenomenon of heterosis in economic plants has been published for the last three decades since the now classical book Heterosis, edited by J . W. Gowen (Iowa State College Press, Ames, Iowa, 1952). The present book attempts to fill the gap and to assess the status of our present knowl edge of the concept, the basis, the extent, and the application of heterosis in economic plants.