Breeding and Seed Production of Ornamental Crops (2+1)

Plant Introduction

The agencies involved in plant introduction and the procedure of plant introduction is also given in brief.
Plant Introduction

• It consists of taking a genotype or group of genotypes into a new environment where they have not been grown before.
• The introduction may involve introducing new varieties of the crop already grown in the area, wild relatives of the crop species or a totally new crop species for the area.
• It can be done within the country or from other countries of continents.
Types: Introduction can be categorized as:-

1. Primary Introduction
2. Secondary Introduction
1. Primary Introduction

• An introduction is said to be primary introduction when the introduced variety is well suited for new environment.
• It is released for commercial cultivation without any alteration in original genotype.
• In floricultural crops, the commercial varieties of rose, carnation, gerbera etc. which are presently being grown for commercial cut flower production or export have been introduced from different
parts of the world.

2. Secondary Introduction

• The introduced variety may not be suitable for direct cultivation and can be subjected to selection to isolate a superior variety suitable for a particular area.
• The introduced variety may also be hybridized with local variety to transfer one or two characters from it to local variety.

Plant Introduction Agencies

• A centralized plant introduction agency was initiated in 1946 at IARI, New Delhi.
• The agency began a plant introduction scheme in Division of Botany and was funded by ICAR.
• Subsequently in 1961 it was made on independent division and subsequently called as National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources in 1976.
• Other plant introduction agencies are:
• NBPGR (National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi)
• FRI (Forest Research Institute ,Dehradun)
• The Botanical Survey of India
• Central Research Institutes for different crops.
• NRC Orchids, Gangtok, Sikkim