Principles of Plant Breeding

History, nature and goals of plant breeding. Reproduction systems in cultivated plants in relation to plant breeding methods. Relationships between genetics and cytology sciences with plant breeding. Genetic basis of simple and quantitative inheritance. Effect of self and cross pollination. Mutation and mutation breeding. Structure of base populations. Breeding methods for self pollinated species. Breeding methods for cross pollinated species. Breeding for environmental and biotic stresses. Application of biotechnology methods in plant breeding.