Breeding objectives and requirements for producing transgenics for major field crops of India

Abstract

To identify crop improvement objectives in twelve important field crops (rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearlmillet, pigeonpea, chickpea, mungbean, cotton, potato, mustard and soybean) that are grown extensively in India, we conducted a survey amongst plant breeders, pathologists, entomologists and agronomists specializing in each of these identified crops. A questionnaire was sent to around fifteen scientists actively involved with each crop with the following queries: (1) Identification of problems with the crop at the regional level in terms of priority, (2) Identification of problems with the crop at the national level in terms of priority, (3) Which are the most extensively grown cultivars of the crop at the regional and at the national levels?, (4) What steps could be taken to raise the yield of the crop (heterosis breeding, pure-line breeding)?, Do you know of combiners that would give high heterosis in the crop?, (5) Do you know of germplasm sources that could be used for meeting some of the breeding objectives?, (6) What is your assessment of need for transgenics (a) for nutritional enhancement, (b) for resistance to biotic stresses, (c) for resistance to abiotic stresses, (d) for herbicide resistance and (e) for value addition?