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Chapter 1<br />

"Ten thousand years q o some genius reached out and altered our lives forever by planting<br />

a seed.'' - Alvin Toffler. Remarkably enough, the continual endeavours of man to exploit the<br />

natural variation present in base population of crop plank to obtain improved varieties was<br />

achieved initially by multiplication of best available material. This was followed up by<br />

selective cropping and cross hybridization to obtain hybrid crop which eventually led to the<br />

perpetuation of desirable gerrnpiasm. However, this also led to inbreeding depression.<br />

Breeding for a "plant ideotype" is a postulation in agriculture. Plant improvement is a<br />

multidisciplinary activity concerned with the optimization of genetic attributes withln the<br />

constraints of the environment, and of environmental facton within the consfmints of the<br />

genetic material (Byth et al., 1980). Conventional breeding exploik the natural variation<br />

existing in plant populations to recover elite crops. However, the avoilaMe genetic vadabillty<br />

in gene pods is one of the limits to crop improvement. Conventiond breedlng in itt rnanlold<br />

efforts to produce a plant ldeotype expldh this notural varlatlon existing In the base

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