Dr. Jiyu Zhang, Xiaojuan Wang, Jianquan ZhangRm 702, Biye Bldg.
0931-8914051
Office Hours: Drop in or by appointment
e-mail address: zhangjy@lzu.edu.cn
Text: Jinfeng Yun. 2004. Forage Breeding. 2ed. Chinese Agriculture Publisher. Hopkins A, Wang Z Y, Mian R, Sledge M and Barker R E2004 Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf(eds). Kluwer Academic Publishers
3 credit, 54 hours.
Grade Assignment:
Mid-term Examination 20%
Participation in Group Discussions 10%
Final Examination (During regular examination period.)70%
Note: Late assignments will not be accepted and will automatically receive a grade of zero.
PLNT 3520 - PRINCIPLES OF PLANT IMPROVEMENT
Course Description: This course deals with the basic principles and concepts of the genetic improvement of forage crops. Current breeding methodologies will be explored. Recent advances and trends in plant breeding will be discussed.
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students should:
1) Understand basic principles and concepts of forage crops breeding.
2) Be able to develop solutions to simple plant improvement problems through the application of genetic and plant breeding principles.
COURSE OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION (Chapter 1)
- definitions, objectives and role of forage breeding and biotechnology
2. FORAGE GERMPLASM RESOURCES(Chapter 2)
- origin center of crops
- types and characters of germplasm resources
- collection, evaluation, conservation of germplasm
3. PLANT REPRODUCTION (Chapters 3)
- types of reproduction
- fertility regulating mechanisms - morphological, physiological, genetic
- reproductive manipulation
4. INTRUDUCTION (Chapters 4)
- theory of plant intruduction
- methods of plant introduction
5. BREDDING BY SELECTION AND SYNTHETIC VARIETY (Chapters 5, 6)
- theory of selection
- methods of selection and recurrent selection
- general protocols of synthetic variety in forage crops
6. BREDDING BY CROSS-POLLINATING (Chapters 7, 8, 11)
- genetic theory related to cross-pollinated plants
- techniques of cross-pollinating
- heterosis: genetic theory, utility of heterosis
- distant hybridization: noncrossability, incompatibility
7. INDUCED MUTATION BREEDING (Chapters 9, 10)
- physiological, chemical methods, aviation
- haploid, diploid and tetreploid
8. RESISTANCE BREEDING (Chapters 12, 13, 14)
- drought, cold, salt tolerance
- pathology, insect
9. CELL AND TISSUE CULTURE IN PLANT BREEDING (Chapter 16, other reference books)
- general principles of plant cell and tissue culture
- elimination of disease and role in germplasm conservation
- clonal propagation
- embryo culture
- pollen and anther culture
- doubled haploid production
- somatic cell hybridization
- tissue culture for gene transformation
10. APPLICATION OF MOLECULAR MARKERS TO PLANT IMPROVEMENT (Chapter 16, other reference books)
- principles of marker assisted selection
- types of markers - morphological, enzyme alleles, DNA
11. GENETIC TRANSFORMATION (i.e. GENETIC ENGINEERING) (Chapter 16, other reference books)
- general process of genetic transformation
- applications to plant improvement
- advantages and disadvantages of use of genetic transformation for plant improvement
12. FIELD EXPERIMENT
- protocols of field experiment in forage breeding
13. VARIETY RELEASE, MAINTENANCE AND DISTRIBUTION
- government regulation
- maintenance of genetic purity
- issues in plant breeders rights and gene patenting
