The book intends to supplement the course Crop Improvement I (Kharif crops) as per ICAR syllabus for the B.Sc. (Honours) in Agriculture. Till now no comprehensive books to support the course is available as a complete guide book Emphasis has been laid on describing the Kharif Crops from Crop Improvement point of view. Each of the chapters deals with a particular crop dealing with taxonomic identification, centre of origin, related species, brief genetics with botanical description, floral biology, crossing techniques, breeding objectives, breeding methods and achievements.

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 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 book focuses on the accelerated breeding technologies that have been adopted for major oil crops. It 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. This edited volume is therefore an excellent reference on accelerated development of improved crop varieties.

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 volume contents aspects as crops i.e. Clusterbean, Mothbean, Cowpea, Horsegram, Mungbean, Rice bean, Indian bean, Winged bean and other minor pulses grown in arid and semi-arid regions.

Plant Breeding Reviews presents state-of-the-art reviews on plant genetics and the breeding of all types of crops by both traditional means and molecular methods. Many of the crops widely grown today stem from a very narrow genetic base; understanding and preserving crop genetic resources is vital to the security of food systems worldwide. The emphasis of the series is on methodology, a fundamental understanding of crop genetics, and applications to major crops.

As per the reports of FAO, the human population will rise to 9 billion by the end of 2050 and 70% of more food must be produced over the next three decades to feed the additional population. The breeding approaches for crop improvement programs are dependent on the availability and accessibility of genetic variation, either spontaneous or induced by the mutagens. Plant breeders, agronomists, and geneticists are under constant pressure to expand food production by employing innovative breeding strategies to enhance yield, adaptability, nutrition, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In conventional breeding approaches, introgression of genes in crop varieties is laborious and time-consuming. Nowadays, new innovative plant breeding techniques such as molecular breeding and plant biotechnology, supplement the traditional breeding approaches to achieve the desired goals of enhanced food production. With the advent of recent molecular tools like genomics, transgenics, molecular marker-assisted back-crossing, TILLING, Eco-TILLING, gene editing, CRISPR CAS, non-targeted protein abundant comparative proteomics, genome wide association studies have made possible mapping of important QTLs, insertion of transgenes, reduction of linkage drags, and manipulation of genome. In general, conventional and modern plant breeding approaches would be strategically ideal for developing new elite crop varieties to meet the feeding requirement of the increasing world population. This book highlights the latest progress in the field of plant breeding, and their applicability in crop improvement. The basic concept of this 2-volume work is to assess the use of modern breeding strategies in supplementing the conventional breeding toward the development of elite crop varieties, for obtaining desired goals of food production.