Breeding Field Crops in Thailand-A Review and Recommendations

Abstract

Almost all newly released cultivars and varieties of field crops in thailand have extended the range of options available in farmers cropping patterns and crop management. Gradual but consistent increases in farm-output and exports point to the progress that has been achieved, partly as a result of crop improvement.
However, a careful examination of technical and practical aspects of breeding programmes that have been and time consuming. Recommendations made to improve and expedite the processes include: (i) Objectives for each breeding programme need to be precise and genetically fesasble. (ii) Parental material should be properly identified and verified before crossings are made. (iii) Efficient screening techniques should be adopted to assist in rapidly discarding inferior progeny in the segregating generations. (iv) At successive steop of yield trials, only lines which have performed well shoul dbe save for further testing. (v) Justification of a decision should be based on the results of close observation as well as statistical analysis. (vi) In situations where no significant progress is being observed, termination of the programme might be recommended to avoia an excessive workload. (vii) Breeders must to be able to distinguish between the effects of heritability and the environment, as well as interactions between the two.