Search for Food Hunter-gatherer society

Primary subsistence method involves the direct collection of edible plants and animals from the wildObtained most of the food (up to 80%) from gathering rather than hunting.

Main Source Wild wheat (from German Einkorn, literally "one grain" or "a grain") – Wild einkorn: Triticum monococcum subsp. boeticum : 2n = 14; A genome – Distribution : n. Syria, s. & w. Turkey, n. Iraq, Iran

• Harvest: – hand-stripping + bag: average:2.05 kg/h – reconstructed sickle: average: 2.45 kg/h – 46% by weight of actual grain (threshing with wooden mortar and pestle + wind winnowing) – quantity: > needs for one year

• Nutritional characteristics: – Acceptable/ good– Poor milling, baking quality

• Advantages of einkorn wheat: – abundant & dependable food production– conserves better than meat

• Disadvantages:– Fragile rachis– Hulled seed

• Changes during domestication: – tougher axis – threshing ratio: wild: 46% grain > cultivated: 73% – more adaptable – more productive – wider leaves

Plant Domestication– Historical concepts

Rachis

Hunter-gatherer societies tend to be relatively mobile: • to provide sufficient resources in order to sustain their population and the variable availability of

these resources owing to local climatic and seasonal conditions.

• Their population densities tend to be small in number (10-30 individuals), but these may gather together seasonally to temporarily form a larger group (100 or more) when resources are abundant.

Domestication of Plants (food security) helped mankind to establish – First farming societies – develop implements – and houses and towns

First Farming Societies (12,000-5,000 years ago)Humans began to deliberately grow crops and domesticate a range of plantsPopulation density increased, 60–100 times greater than hunter-gatherer societies,

Because cultivated land is capable of sustaining higher population densities than land left uncultivated.

The earliest place known to have lived mainly from the cultivation of crops is Jericho (Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian (Fertile Crescent).

. By around 8000 BC this community, occupying a naturally well-watered region, is growing domesticated forms of wheat, soon to be followed by barley. Though no longer gatherers, these people are still hunters.

Domestication of Plants and Growing them as Crops resulted in Abundant food and consequently

Development of Jericho as the first known town, with a population of 2000 or more. A pioneering agricultural community, surrounded by other tribes dependent on gathering food, offers easy pickings which will need vigorous protection. Jerico has protective walls and a tower

The Fertile Crescent:The light of civilization first dawned in the Middle East along what is known by historians as the fertile cresent - a cresent-shaped region stretching from just south of modern-day Jerusalem then northward along the Mediterranean coast to present-day Syria and eastward through present-day Iraq then southward along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to the Persian Gulf. Initially, the Fertile Crescent was only sparsely inhabited but around 8000 BC, it was in this fertile valley that agriculture was first believed to have been developed. Wild wheat and barley grew in abundunce and tribes of nomad hunters and herders began to settle down along the lush banks of the rivers and became the world's first farmers. Agriculture was the spark which lit the flame of civilization. Farming gave rise to social planning on a larger scale as groups of nomadic tribes settled down and joined co-operative forces. Irrigation developed as the need increased to feed and support growing populations. Soon towns were built to afford comfort and protection for these early settlers. Towns like Jericho, Jarmo, Ali Kosh, Catal Huyuk, Beidha and Hassuna were the basis of a new form of human social organization and became the foundation for the first civilization.

Domestication of Plants

S.# Crop/ Plant Location Date1 Fig Tree Near East 9000 BC

2 Rice East Asia 9000 BC

3 Barley Near East 8500 BC

4 Einkorn (Wheat) Near East 8500 BC

5 Emmer (Wheat) Near East 8500 BC

6 Chickpea Anatolia 8500 BC

7 Bottle gourd Central America 8000 BC

8 Broomcorn millet East Asia 6500 BC

9 Maize Central America 6000 BC

10 Bread Wheat Near East 6000 BC

11 Manioc (Cassava) South America 5500 BC 12 Potato South America 5000 BC

Domestication of Plants

S.# Crop/ Plant Location Date13 Avocado Central America 5000 BC

14 Chili peppers Central America 4000 BC

15 Watermelon Near East 4000 BC

16 Hemp East Asia 3500 BC

17 Sunflower Central America 2600 BC

18 Sweet Potato Peru 2500 BC

19 Sorghum Africa 2000 BC

20 Sunflower North America 2000 BC

21 Pearl millet Africa 1800 BC

22 Chenopodium North America 750 BC

23 Vanilla (cultivar) Central America 14th Century AD

History of Cotton Cultivation in the Region• Excavation of Moenjodaro, Harappa and Taxila have proved that cotton was grown,

spun, woven and used as fabric in the Indus valley of the Indo-Pak sub-continent and the material used belonged to cotton of old world group.

• The earliest attempt to introduce American cotton (G. hirsutum) was probably made by the Portuguese in the 16th century when a large number of plants were introduced in Goa (Afzal and Kamal, 1957). This cotton seed was imported from Mexico, Central America and Brazil. However, organized cultivation of American cotton was taken up in Goa in 1776 when the Societe de, Algodieros (Cotton Company) was established but these took last breath in 1798 when the company ceased to exist (Afzal, 1969).

• The East India Company started the introduction of American cotton towards the end of 18th century. The first introduction from Malta and Mauritius was made in 1790. Introductions were repeated but experiments failed till the arrival of a big consignment of seed from USA in 1818 (Afzal, 1946). The experimentation with new seed continued and was successful especially in Bombay where New Orleans cotton offered good prospects of success (Afzal, 1969). Later cotton spread to Madras, but the northern provinces of the sub-continent felt the impact of these cottons only during the early years of the 20th century.

• It appears that American cotton was first grown in the Punjab in 1853 in the district of Sargodha (Afzal, 1969). Some seeds of American cotton were obtained from Dharwar in 1866-77 and distributed in some parts of the province. These sporadic attempts do not seem to have been successful as an economic proposition, but were helpful in the dissemination of American seed as a mixture in the desi crop. These stray plants of American cotton came to be locally known as “Nerma” meaning soft cotton. Import of seed from Dharwar was discontinued in 1912 as local nerma was found to be superior to the Dharwar cotton.

Introduction to Plant Improvement

• What is plant Improvement?– Selection/ development of plants with enhanced performance than the

existing genotype/ plants

• Early Plant improvement– No scientific methodologies are involved, only on the basis of field

performance

• Land Races– Varieties of crop plants whose genetic composition is shaped by

household agronomic practices and natural selection pressure over generations of cultivation

• Systematic Plant Improvement– Improvement in heredity of crops and Production of new crop

cultivars which are far better than the existing ones

Plant Breeding

– is the art and science of improving the heredity of plants for the benefit of the mankind

– The goal of Plant breeder is to change the heredity of plant in ways that will improve plant performance

This Systematic Plant Improvement is also referred to as

PLANT BREEDING

Performance of CLCV Susceptible Variety S-12 Over The Years at

PSC, Farms

41 40 40

32

37

29

22

27

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

Yield (Mds/Ac)

3840

4341

45

28

33

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993

Yield (Mds/Ac)

(Tenant Area)

(Direct Area)

Why do we need plant breeding?

Plant Breeder Should Know

The person involved in Plant improvement should have efficient knowledge of

• Needs of the growers and consumers • Characteristics of the crop to be improved,

including its wild relatives• Principles of Genetics & Cytogenetics Principles• Special techniques adapted from related fields

for the solution of particular problems• Principles of field plot techniques• Principles involved in the design of experiments

and the statistical testing of data

Related Fields• Botany• Genetics• Plant Physiology• Plant Pathology• Entomology• Agronomy• Plant Biochemistry• Statistics• Computer Sciences

– Wheat variety with high yield, disease resistance, Aphid free, less moisture requirement, fertilizer responsive, early maturing, high quality

History of Plant Breeding

Pre-History– Improvement of wild wheat– Improvement of wild Corn– Improvement in wild potato– Improvement of wild rice

Before Mendel– Plant is correct unit for selection: Development of cultivars from

progeny of single plant– Screening against wilt in cotton– Reproductive systems in plants

Mendel– Laws of inheritance– New branch of science Genetics

After Mendel– Hybrid Corn– Dwarf Wheat– Dwarf rice– Strain building (synthetic) in forage

Selection

Selection/ Introduction

Selection/ IntroductionHybridizationTissue cultureBiotechnologyMAS

Basics of Plant Breeding Strategy

• Identify the morphological, physiological, pathological traits in a cultivated plant species that contribute to its adaptation, health productivity, and suitability for food, fibre or industrial products

• Search out new genes that encode for desired traits in different strains of the cultivated species and their close relatives

• Combine genes for the desired traits into an improved cultivar through traditional breeding or new biotechnological procedures

• Performance assessment of the improved breeding lines in the local environment in comparison with present cultivars

• Distribution of new cultivars that are superior to current cultivars

Aims and Objectives of Plant Improvement

• Higher yield• Better quality• Shape, size, colour, nutrition, taste, Malting, milling, baking, (cereals)

sugar contents in scane, large, fine, strong fibre in cotton, flavour in fruits

• Resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses• Crop duration early or late maturity as desired• Growth habit: height, type etc.• Winter hardiness• Lodging resistance• High fertilizer responsiveness• Easier thresh ability• Wider adaptability• Mechanised harvesting

Recommended Books:Poehlman JM, Sleper DA. (2006). Breeding field crops. (5th Ed.) Blackwell Publishing

Stoskove NC, Tomes DT & Christie BR. (2006) Plant Breeding: Theory and Practices (2nd Edition). Scientific Publishers

Singh RJ (2003). Plant Cytogenetics (2nd Ed.) CRC