The Future of Plant Breeding

A symposium was hosted 10 to 11 Mar. 2005 at Michigan State University to discuss the future of plant breeding education at public institutions. Plant breeding remains a vibrant, multidisciplinary science characterized by its ability to reinvent itself by absorbing and utilizing novel scientific findings and technical approaches. A contemporary breeding curriculum should include hands-on experience with the inheritance and selection of complex traits in actual plant populations, basic biology of plants (reproductive biology, Mendelian genetics), principles of quantitative genetics and selection theory, principles and practice of plant breeding and related sciences such as genomics, applied statistics, experimental design, and pest sciences. Plant breeding education should also comprise several professional skills, including knowledge of other languages, business management, and intellectual property rights. The private sector should play an increased role in the plant breeding. There is also a need for alternative types of training in plant breeding geared toward working breeders and farmers. Additional support for plant breeding education programs may come from the private sector and the federal government. With regard to specialty crops, increased support for research and education may result from a focus on the unique features of these crops. Finally, it is important to cultivate public awareness of the accomplishments of plant breeding. THERE HAS BEEN INCREASING concern around the world about who will educate plant breeders in the future. To date, much of the M.S. and Ph.D. education in plant breeding has been provided by large public universities in the USA and other developed countries, yet the number of plant breeders at these institutions is steadily declining (Knight, 2003). Support has also declined dramatically for the International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs) that have traditionally educated students from both developing and developed countries in plant breeding (Khush, 2006). The loss of plant breeding programs is of great concern to both our domestic plant breeding industry and the international community. The bottom line is that we must sustain a critical mass of applied geneticists and plant breeders at public institutions if we are to maintain our education programs in plant breeding. A symposium, hosted 10 to 11 Mar. 2005 by the Plant Breeding and Genetics Group at Michigan State University, discussed this critical issue, along with the overall education of plant breeders (Hancock, 2006). Several segments of the entire plant breeding community were represented, including private breeding programs, major commodity groups, international training centers, and university breeders. This paper reviews the major themes discussed during this symposium including (i) defining plant breeding, (ii) describing plant breeding education and employment, (iii) designing a contemporary education in plant breeding, (iv) supporting plant breeding education programs, (v) addressing the critical needs of breeding specialty and subsistence crops, and (vi) promoting awareness of plant breeding. Define Plant Breeding Plant breeding is an applied, multidisciplinary science. It is the application of genetic principles and practices associated with the development of cultivars more suited to the needs of humans than the ability to survive in the wild; it uses knowledge from agronomy, botany, genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, physiology, pathology, entomology, biochemistry, and statistics (Schlegel, 2003). Of particular importance is the ability to transfer, in addition to major genes, large suites of genes conditioning quantitative traits such as productivity and other traits of interest to humans. The ultimate outcome of plant breeding is mainly improved cultivars. Therefore, plant breeding is primarily an organismal science even though it is eminently suited to translate information at the molecular level (DNA sequences, protein products) into economically important phenotypes. The traditional definition of a plant breeder includes only those scientists who develop new cultivars and improved germplasm; however, many feel this definition should be expanded to include scientists who contribute to crop improvement through breeding research (Ransom et al., 2006). As a science, plant breeding started soon after the rediscovery of Mendel’s Laws at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, plant breeding has evolved by absorbing approaches from different areas of science, allowing breeders to increase their efficiency and exploit genetic resources more thoroughly. Over the years, it has put to productive use progress in crop evolution, population and quantitative genetics, statistical genetics and biometry, molecular biology, and genomics. Thus, plant breeding has remained a vibrant science, with continued success in developing and deploying new cultivars on a worldwide basis. On average, around 50% of productivity increases can be attributed to genetic improvement (Fehr, 1984). Plant Breeding Education and Employment During the last decade, several surveys have assessed levels of education and employment in plant breeding (Frey, 1996; Traxler et al., 2005; Guner and Wehner, 2003). Important conclusions have come from these P. Gepts, Dep. of Plant Sciences/MS1, Section of Crop & Ecosystem Sciences, Univ. of California, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-8515; J. Hancock, Dep. of Horticulture, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI 48824-1325. Received 24 Dec. 2005. *Corresponding author ([email protected]). Published in Crop Sci. 46:1630–1634 (2006).