During the last thirty years, most increases in agricultural production were achieved through high input agrieulture in areas with fertile soils and sufficient water. Intensive methods of production with high levels of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides were often accompanied by environmental degradation and in some instances by pollution of the food supply. However, rapid population growth has also led to increasing use of marginal lands, where adverse soil and climatic eonditions are serious constraints to food production. These areas are even more sensitive to ecological destabilization....

The production of doubled haploids has become a necessary tool in advanced plant breeding institutes and commercial companies for breeding many crop species. However, the development of new, more efficient and cheaper large scale production protocols has meant that doubled haploids are also recently being applied in less advanced breeding programmes. This Manual was prepared to stimulate the wider use of this technology for speeding and opening up new breeding possibilities for many crops including some woody tree species. Since the construction of genetic maps using molecular markers...

This publication contains the results of an FAO/IAEA Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP) on Radiation Induced Mutations and Other Advanced Technologies for the Production of Crop Mutants Suitable for Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture. Induced mutation techniques and other biotechnological approaches are major tools for creating variability and selection of stress-resistant or tolerant genotypes. Additionally, scientists have become intensely interested in mutations as a means to widen and deepen our understanding of genome structure and gene function.

The production of doubled haploids has become a necessary tool in advanced plant breeding institutes and commercial companies for breeding many crop species. However, the development of new, more efficient and cheaper large scale production protocols has meant that doubled haploids are also recently being applied in less advanced breeding programmes. This Manual was prepared to stimulate the wider use of this technology for speeding and opening up new breeding possibilities for many crops including some woody tree species. Since the construction of genetic maps using molecular markers...