Marker Assisted Selection - A New Paradigm in Plant Breeding

Abstract

The production and productivity of major crop plants have reached their plateu during the past decade because of adop-tion of green revolution technologies. However, further increase in production of cereals with improved cereal quality is imperativeto feed the increasing population in spite of shrinking available land due to urbanization and industrialization. Advances in cellularand molecular biology have developed new scientific tools to overcome some of the limitations in crop breeding technologies.with DNA markers have increased the confidence of plant breeders for their utilization in crop improvement. However, elucidationof methodologies and directions of applying marker-assisted selection (MAS) in crop breding programs are still in its infancy. Inthis paper, we have described the use of appropriate methodologies for major Mendelian genes and polygenes controlling impor-tant traits of plants and their succesful utilization in crop improvement. These new directions in crop breeding technologies would