Thomas Fairchild (? 166710 October 1729) was an English gardener, "the leading
nurseryman of his day", working in London. He corresponded with
Carl Linnæus, and helped by experiments to establish the existence of
sex in plants. In 1716–17 (the cross made in summer 1716, the new plant appearing the next spring) he was the first person to scientifically produce an
artificial hybrid,
Dianthus Caryophyllus barbatus, known as "Fairchild's Mule", a cross between a
Sweet william and a
Carnation pink.
Gregor Mendel's experiments with plant
hybridization led to his
laws of inheritance. This work became well known in the 1900s and formed the basis of the new science of
genetics, which stimulated research by many plant scientists dedicated to improving crop production through plant breeding. However, successful commercial
plant breeding concerns began to be founded from the late 19th century.
Gartons Agricultural Plant Breeders in England was established in the 1890s by John Garton, who was one of the first to cross-pollinate agricultural plants and commercialize the newly created varieties. He began experimenting with the artificial cross pollination firstly of cereal plants, then herbage species and root crops and developed far reaching techniques in plant breeding. William Farrer revolutionized wheat farming in Australia with the widespread release in 1903 of the fungus resistant "Federation" strain of wheat, which was developed as a result of his plant breeding work over a period of twenty years using Mendel's theories. From 1904 to World War II in
Italy,
Nazareno Strampelli created a number of wheat hybrids. His work allowed Italy to increase crop production during the so-called "
Battle for Grain" (1925–1940) and some varieties were exported to foreign countries, such as Argentina, Mexico, and China. Strampelli's work laid the foundations for
Norman Borlaug and the
Green Revolution.
Green revolution In 1908,
George Harrison Shull described
heterosis, also known as hybrid vigor. Heterosis describes the tendency of the progeny of a specific cross to outperform both parents. The detection of the usefulness of heterosis for plant breeding has led to the development of inbred lines that reveal a heterotic yield advantage when they are crossed.
Maize was the first species where heterosis was widely used to produce hybrids. By the 1920s,
statistical methods were developed to analyze gene action and distinguish heritable variation from variation caused by environment. In 1933 another important breeding technique,
cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), developed in maize, was described by
Marcus Morton Rhoades. CMS is a maternally inherited trait that makes the plant produce sterile
pollen. This enables the production of hybrids without the need for labor-intensive
detasseling. These early breeding techniques resulted in large yield increase in the
United States in the early 20th century. Similar yield increases were not produced elsewhere until after
World War II, the
Green Revolution increased crop production in the developing world in the 1960s. This remarkable improvement was based on three essential crops. First came the development of hybrid
maize, then high-yielding and input-responsive "
semi-dwarf wheat" (for which the
CIMMYT breeder N.E.
Borlaug received the
Nobel prize for peace in 1970), and third came high-yielding "short statured rice" cultivars. Similarly notable improvements were achieved in other crops like
sorghum and
alfalfa.
Molecular genetics and bio-revolution Intensive research in
molecular genetics has led to the development of recombinant
DNA technology (popularly called
genetic engineering). Advancement in biotechnological techniques has opened many possibilities for
breeding crops. Thus, while mendelian genetics allowed plant breeders to perform genetic transformations in a few crops, molecular genetics has provided the key to both the manipulation of the internal genetic structure, and the "crafting" of new cultivars according to a pre-determined plan.
DNA repair and recombination in crop improvement Most approaches to crop improvement, including conventional breeding, genome modification and gene editing, rely primarily on the fundamental processes of
DNA repair and
recombination. Our current understanding of DNA repair and recombination mechanisms in plants was derived largely from prior studies in
prokaryotes,
yeast and animals, so that our present knowledge remains rooted in this history. This approach has led to gaps in our understanding of the basic processes of DNA repair and recombination in plants so that further progress in this area of plant research should contribute to significant crop improvement. ==See also==