ABSTRACT
Our crop plants have been drastically modified during approximately 10,000 years since their domestication. The magnitude of variations can
be gauged by comparing the cultivated plants with their wild relatives. Our ancestors selected plants from amongst one or a few domesticates, and over thousands years of conscious selection produced numerous cultigens. They were selecting from amongst populations with natural variability resulting from chance outcrosses and mutations or genetic drift. Artificial hybridization to generate variability was practiced occa sionally primarily by horticulturists to produce novel flower-color com binations. Scientific plant breeding started with the rediscovery of Mendel’s laws in 1900. Since then major advances have been made in developing crop varieties with several fold increases in yield potential, improvements in the quality and flavor of edible plant parts, resistance to diseases and insects, tolerance to abiotic stresses, changes in size and shape of harvestable organs, plant symmetry and growth durations.
