07 May Variety maintenance and nucleus seed production in self- pollinating vegetable cultivars
स्व-परागण सब्जियों की खेती में प्रजाति संरक्षण और नाभिक बीज का उत्पादन Vegetable breeding programme results in the production of improved cultivars in vegetable crops. At the time of variety release a small quantity of seed is available with the breeder. The relatively small amount of seed of improved cultivar needs to be multiplied and made available to farmers as quickly as possible. During seed multiplication, varietal purity and identity needs to be maintained. Each multiplication cycle starts from the ‘breeder seed’. If the breeder seed is not of high purity, the contaminants present get multiplied several times in the succeeding generations of foundation and certified seed production. The presence of contaminants may even lead to complete loss of the improved features of the cultivar. Prevention of contamination is at the heart of a successful breeder seed production programme. At the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Karnal, a system of cultivar maintenance and seed production has been evolved for the successful production of breeder seed in vegetable crops. During seed multiplication process, several factors may reduce the genetic purity of seed. The maintenance of genetic purity is largely dependent on the genetic makeup of the cultivar. Based on pollination mechanism, vegetable cultivars can be classified into four categories Self pollinating crops with very little...