Plant
Breeding is concerned with the evolution
of superior varieties of crops. Its
mainstay is the genetic adjustment
of crop plants to social, economic
and technological aspects of the environment.
The economy of Pakistan is based on
agriculture and the Plant Breeding
has been one of the most active fields
of agricultural sciences. Plant breeding
depends on the concepts of genetics
and other related sciences like Taxonomy,
cytogenetic, biotechnology and genetic
engineering and their implementation
for the increased production of food,
fiber and other industrial crops.
The release of disease and insect
resistant varieties, improvement in
quality with respect to the taste,
nutrition, industrial use and keeping
quality of fruits, vegetables and
food grains are the main attributes
of Plant Breeding. The release of
short duration varieties suited to
the cropping pattern, stress resistance
varieties and fertilizer responsive
varieties also play an important role
to achieve the goal in this regard.
Plant Breeders in Pakistan are utilizing
available genetic resources from within
and out side the country. In this
regard collections are made from local
and exotic strains of various crops.
This germplasm makes the raw material
to be utilized for the improvement
of various crops in order to meet
the needs of ever increasing population
of the country.
