Briefly describe the various steps involved in plant breeding.

Explanation

(i) Collection of variability: The entire çollection of plants or seeds having all the diverse alleles for all genes in a given crop is called germplasm collection.
(ii) Evaluation and selection of parents: The germplasm is evaluated so as to identify plants with desirable combination of characters to be used as parents.
(iii) Cross hybridization among the selected parents: This is possible by cross hybridising the two parents to produce hybrids that genetically combine the desired characters in one plant.
(iv) Selection and testing of superior recombinants: This step consists of selecting, among the progeny of the. hybrids, those plants that have the desired character combination.
(v) Testing, release and commercialisation of new cultivars: The newly selected lines are evaluated in research fields is followed by testing the materials in farmers. fields for at least three growing seasons at several locations in the country. Compare with the performance of check or reference cultivar and release for commercialization.