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0:00
Hello.
My name is Bradley Till.
I work for a joint program
between the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
and the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
Today, I'll be talking about
mutation breeding in agriculture.
0:16
During this presentation, I'll
cover the following topics.
I'll start with the
background on plant breeding.
Following this, I'll talk about the
foundations of mutation breeding
and give you some
real world examples.
Then, I'll move to
some newer techniques
using reverse genetics for
functional genomics and breeding.
After this, I'll talk about
some special considerations
for vegetatively propagated crops.
Finally, I'll end with
some new technologies
for mutation assisted breeding.
0:46
Plant breeding has been carried out
by humans for over 10,000 years.
It can be broadly
defined as the process
of altering the genetics of
plants to create desirable traits.
Early farmers were interested
in increasing yields
and this is exemplified
on the photo.
On the left, we have the
progenitor of modern-day
maize known as teosinte.
Work from John Doebley's lab
at the University of Wisconsin
showed that through
several genetic mutations,
one can achieve plants
that look like modern day
maize with large kernels
that stay on the cob,
and this is highly
advantageous for farmers.
So we can consider plant breeding
as involving the selection
or creation of genetic variation
and the phenotypic evaluation
of these plants,
and this really is selective
pressure created by humans,
rather than natural
selective pressure.
Again, traits of interest
to the early farmers
were seed shattering, grain
size, plant height, and so forth.
