Term Paper on Organic Plant Breeding | Crops | Plant Breeding | Botany

Here is a term paper on ‘Organic Plant Breeding’. Find paragraphs, long and short term papers on ‘Organic Plant Breeding’ especially written for school and college students.

1. Term Paper on the Definition of Organic Plant Breeding
2. Term Paper on the Features of Organic Plant Breeding
3. Term Paper on the Objectives of Organic Plant Breeding
4. Term Paper on the Methods Suitable for Organic Plant Breeding
5. Term Paper on the Techniques Used for Organic Plant Breeding
6. Term Paper on the Advantages of Organic Plant Breeding
7. Term Paper on the Disadvantages of Organic Plant Breeding

Term Paper # 1. Definition of Organic Plant Breeding:

Looking to the adverse effects of chemicals (insecticides, pesticides, fungicides, weedicides, chemical fertilizers) on human health, animal health, soil health and environment, organic plant breeding is gaining increasing significance, the world over. Organic plant breeding refers to development of new crop cultivars without the use of any chemical.

Organic seed that has been multiplied under organic conditions at least for one generation is referred to as organic seed. It may be developed by organic or nonorganic breeding programme. The organic seed is relatively common and those cultivars that originate from organic plant breeding techniques are known as organic varieties, Organic varieties are limited in number.

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Term Paper # 2. Features of Organic Plant Breeding:

The main features of organic plant breeding are as follows:

i. In the organic breeding, chemicals are not used neither in the development of varieties nor in their testing.

ii. Those breeding methods which do not use any chemical are used in developing organic varieties. In other words, breeding techniques that are free from use of chemicals are permitted for organic plant breeding.

iii. The entire evaluation of breeding material is carried out under organic conditions.

iv. In the organic plant breeding higher priority is given to quality of the product than yield. Emphasis is laid on developing varieties for better human health. Such varieties should contain some secondary metabolites in addition to high protein content.

v. In the organic plant reign programmes much emphasis is given in maintaining enough diversity in the varieties to provide them high buffering capacity to environmental changes.

vi. Patenting of breeding material is not permitted because it will put restriction on free exchange of breeding material among breeders and farmers.

vii. Organic varieties differ are produced under certified organic plant breeding programmes.

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Term Paper # 3. Objectives of Organic Plant Breeding:

The breeding objectives of organic plant breeding are somewhat different from those of non-organic plant breeding. However, some objectives are common in both the cases.

Important objectives are briefly discussed below:

i. Competitiveness with weeds. It is considered important for organic varieties where weedicides are not used. In non-organic breeding it is not so important because weeds can be suppressed through use of weedicides.

ii. Plant Stature. Generally, varieties for organic use tend to be taller than those developed for non-organic production.

iii. In organic plant breeding higher priority is given to quality than productivity or yield.

iv. In organic plant breeding higher emphasis is given to maintain biodiversity in the variety.

v. Higher degree of resistance to biotic stresses because insecticides/pesticides are not for controlling insects and diseases.

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Term Paper # 4. Methods Suitable for Organic Plant Breeding:

The breeding methods that are suitable for organic breeding are briefly discussed below:

i. Plant Introduction:

Any exotic variety developed without the use of any chemical. It can seed as a variety after thorough testing under organic conditions.

ii. Selection:

It includes pure line selection, mass selection, progeny selection, clonal selection etc.

iii. Hybridization:

It refers to combination breeding. It includes backcross, pedigree method, bulk breeding method and single seed descent.

iv. Biotechnology:

The marker assisted selection can be permitted if GMOs and radiations are not involved in marker production. The meristem culture can be permitted particularly because of its key role in virus elimination.

v. Population improvement approaches such as recurrent selection, biparental mating, diallel selective mating and disruptive mating can be used for developing superior inbred lines that can be utilized in hybridization programmes.

vi. The F1 hybrids are permitted provided the F₁ offspring are fertile.

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Term Paper # 5. Techniques Used for Organic Plant Breeding:

There are some techniques used for organic plant breeding but need further proof.

These techniques are given below:

i. For Variation Induction:

It includes embryo culture, ovary culture and in vitro pollination.

ii. For selection:

It includes in vitro selection and DNA diagnostic methods.

iii. For Maintenance:

It includes another culture, micro-propagation and somatic embryogenesis.

iv. Substances:

Some chemical substances such as silver thiosulphate, silver nitrate, growth stimulants and colchicine need further proof for permission of use in organic plant breeding.

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Term Paper # 6. Advantages of Organic Plant Breeding:

Some important advantages are given below:

i. It is used for developing cultivars and hybrids suitable for organic farming. The use of organic varieties helps in reducing the cost of cultivation by prohibiting use of various agrochemicals.

ii. Use of organic varieties is eco-friendly. It permits multiplication of natural enemies (parasites and predators) of harmful insects resulting in effective biological control.

iii. In organic plant breeding more emphasis is given on improvement of quality rather than yield. The organic varieties of food grains, vegetables and fruits would be more suitable for human health because of their better quality.

iv. In organic plant breeding use of chemicals is prohibited. As a result there is no environmental pollution. This has favourable effect on soil health, human health and animal health. The insecticides will not reach the food chain. The beneficial soil micro-flora will increase and ground water and rain water will be free from contamination of chemicals.

v. Use of organic varieties will lead to sustainable agriculture. It will not deplete the resources. In other words it will promote judicious use of resources.

vi. It promotes use of biological inputs such as organic manures (FYM, Compost, green manure, cakes etc.), botanical pesticides (Neem, Datura, Ipomoea, tobacco, calatropies, chilies etc.) which do not have any adverse effects on the ecosystem. Rather use of organic manures improves the physico-chemical properties of the soil.

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Term Paper # 7. Disadvantages of Organic Plant Breeding:

In organic breeding, use of several breeding techniques and some important chemicals is banned or prohibited which will have adverse effects in the progress of plant breeding.

Some such examples are given:

i. Induced mutations play important role in developing new varieties and creating extra variability for selection. Banning use of this technique will have adverse effect on progress of plant breeding.

ii. Protoplast fusion permits gene transfer between any two species related or unrelated. It has overcome the barriers of gene transfer between species and genera. Banning of this technique will act as a barrier in somatic hybridization.

iii. Genetically modified organisms are used to solve those problems that cannot be resolved by conventional breeding methods. The ban on the use of GMO will have adverse effects in solving such problems.

iv. Tissue culture techniques such as embryo culture, ovary culture, anther culture etc. lead to extra variation which is used for selection of suitable material. Bann on these techniques will prolong development of organic varieties.

v. The CMS based hybrids without restorer genes are used in sugar-beets, cabbage and some forage crops. Bann on the use of this technique will adversely effect breeding of these crops.

vi. The well-known chemical colchicine is used for making interspecific hybrids fertile through chromosome doubling. Banning the use of colchicine will have adverse effects on interspecific hybridization.

vii. Banning above useful techniques/chemical will prolong the period of developing organic varieties.

viii. The breeding efficiency will go down and breeding will be more expensive.

ix. Restriction on the exchange of material between traditional and organic breeding will have adverse effects in the progress of breeding.