Breeding crops with high vitamin, mineral, protein and fat.

The superiority of the F1 hybrid in performance over its parents is called heterosis or hybrid vigour.

Bio-pesticides are biologically based agents used for the control of plant pests. They are in high use due to their non-toxic, cheaper and eco-friendly characteristics as compared to chemical or synthetic pesticides.

(i) Vegetative propagation is the best suited measure for maintaining hybrid vigour, since the desired characters are not lost and can persist over a Period of time.
(ii) Many breeders believe that its magnitude of heterosis is directly related to the degree of genetic diversity between the two parents.

Steps involved in hybridization are as follows:
1. Selection of Parents: Male and female plants of the desired characters are selected. It should be tested for their homozygosity.
2. Emasculation: It is a process of removal of anthers to prevent self pollination before anthesis (period of opening of a flower).
3. Bagging: The stigma of the flower is protected against any undesirable pollen grains, by covering it with a bag.
4. Crossing: Transfer of pollen grains from selected male flower to the stigma of the female emasculated flower.
5. Harvesting seeds and raising plants: The pollination leads to fertilization and finally seed formation takes place. The seeds are grown into new generation which are called a hybrid.

(i) Hybridization, Mutation breeding, Polyploid breeding, Breeding for developing resistance to diseases, Biofortification, Breeding for resistance to insect pests, New Breeding Techniques (NBT) such as.
(ii) CRISPR/ Cas (Cutting and modifying the genome during the repair process by tool).
(iii) ODM: Oligonucleotide - directed mutagenesis
(iv) Transferring a gene from an identical or closely related species (Cisgenesis).
(v) Organising processes that alter gene activity without altering the DNA itself (Epigenetic methods).

Green manuring helps to increase the content of nitrogen soil and also improves the structure and physical property of soil

When chromosome number is doubled by itself in the same plant, is called Autopolyploidy. Example: A triploid condition in sugar beets, apples and pear has resulted in the increase in vigour and fruit size, large root size, large leaves, flower, more seeds and sugar content in them. It also resulted in seedless tomato, apple, watermelon and orange

Green manuring is defined as the growing of green manure crops and use of these crops directly in the field by ploughing. One of the main objectives of the green manuring is to increase the content of nitrogen in the soil. Also, it helps in improving the structure and physical properties of the soil. The most important green manure crops are Crotalaria juncea, Tephrosia purpurea, and Indigofera tinctoria.

Bio-fertilizers containing rhizobium bacteria are called rhizobium bio-fertilizer culture. Symbiotic bacteria that reside inside the root nodules convert the atmospheric nitrogen into a bio available form to the plants. This nitrogen-fixing bacterium when applied to the soil undergoes multiplication in billions and fixes the atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Rhizobium is best suited for the paddy fields which increase the yield by 15 - 40%.