Objectives of Plant Breeding

The objectives of plant breeding are as follows: 

1. To increase the yield of the crop.
2. To get improved quality of the crop.
3. To develop a disease-free crop.
4. To obtain plants with desired agronomic characteristics or traits.
5. To develop plants that can resist extreme environmental stress (salinity, high temperature, etc.)

Plant breeding is made up of two words- plant and breeding. This means there is breeding among two different species of plant of desired varieties.  The desired varieties mean plants should have increased tolerance to environmental stresses (salinity, extreme temperatures, drought, etc.), resistance to pathogens (viruses, fungi, and bacteria), and increased tolerance to insect pests. All these qualities will help in getting better yield and disease-free plants. These all traits altogether, increase the yield of plants and make plant disease free. Plant breeding was first used during the green revolution. Let’s understand the green revolution.