Breeding Crop Plants

Contents: Preface. I. Introduction: 1. The founders of the art of plant breeding. 2. The relation of certain biologic principles to plant breeding. 3. The value of crop improvement in relation to a more efficient agriculture.II. Plant genetics: 1. Methods of studying inheritance of characters. 2. The mode of sexual reproduction in flowering plants. 3. The inheritance factors. 4. Variability of characters. 5. Monohybrid. 6. Dihybrid. 7. Several factors necessary for the production of a character. 8. Linkage of characters in inheritance. 9. Multiple allelomorphs. 10. Inheritance of quantitative characters. 11. Lethal factors. 12. Mutations. 13. Chromosomal aberrations. 14. Crosses between related species with different chromosome numbers. III. Biometrical methods: 1. Constants of the normal curve. 2. Correlation of characters. 3. Regression. 4. The correlation ratio. 5. The coefficient of contingency. 6. The X2 method of studying "goodness of fit". 7. Partial correlations. 8. Multiple correlations. 9. An interpretation of the meaning of the correlation coefficient. IV. Field plot teachnic: 1. Soil heterogeneity. 2. Climate variations. 3. Summary of field plot technic. V. The mode of reproduction in relation to breeding: 1. Naturally self-pollinated plants. 2. Often cross-pollinated plants. 3. Naturally cross-pollinated plants. 4. Dioecious plants. 5. Effects of a cross in normally self-fertilized species. 6. Effects of artificial self-fertilization and cross fertilization in often cross pollinated plants. 7. Effects of self fertilization in normally cross fertilized plants. 8. Explanation of hybrid vigor. 9. A classification of methods of breeding. VI. Controlling pollination: 1. Selfing plants artificially. 2. Technic of crossing. 3. Crossing of small grains. 4. Crossing large flowered legumes. 5. Depollination with water. 6. Use of bees in making crosses. 7. Crosses in grasses. 8. Summary of technic of crossing. VII. Some results of selection with self fertilized crops: 1. Early investigators in selection of self-fertilized cereals. 2. Selection within a pure line. 3. Selection for the purpose of isolation pure lines. 4. Selection in other self-fertilized crops. VIII. Some results of crossing as a means of improving self-fertilized crops: 1. The improvement of black oats at Svalof. 2. A wheat cross made at Svalof. 3. Wheat breeding at University Farm, Cambridge, England. 4. Farrer’s wheat breeding in Australia. 5. Marquis wheat. 6. Winter-wheat breeding at the Minnesota agricultural experiment station. 7. Breeding wheat resistant to bunt (Tilletia tritici). 8. Breeding beans resistant to Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. 9. An improved strain of tobacco. Summary. IX. Methods of breeding small grains: 1. Methods of keeping continuous records. 2. New introductions. 3. Selection. 4. Summary of methods of selection. 5. Crossing. 6. Technic of harvesting, thrashing, etc. 7. Technic of breeding for disease resistance. X. Classification and inheritance in wheat: 1. Genetic classification. 2. Wheat species groups. 3. Chromosome behaviour in wheat species hybrids. 4. Crosses between Aegilops and Triticum. 5. Crosses between T. durum and T. dicoccum wheats with T. vulgare. 6. Inheritance of milling quality. 7. T. polonicum crossed with other species. 8. Some linkage results in wheat crosses. 9. Spike density. 10. Seed characters. 11. Chaff characters. 12. Presence or absence of beards. 13. Inheritance of disease resistance. 14. Spring versus winter habit. 15. Inheritance of other characters. 16. Earliness in wheat. 17. Dwarfs in wheat. 18. Speltoid and other complex types in wheat. XI. Classification and inheritance of small grains other than wheat: 1. Classification and inheritance in oats. 2. Classification and inheritance in barley. 3. Some rye studies. 4. Buckwheat. 5. Rice. XII. Cowpeas, soybeans, and velvet beans: 1. Cowpeas (Vigna sinensis). 2. Soybeans (Soja mar). 3. Velvet bean (Stizolobium). XIII. Flax and tobacco: 1. Flax. 2. Tobacco. XIV. Cotton and Sorghum: 1. Cotton. 2. Classification. 3. Species relationship and chromosome number. 4. Inheritance studies. 5. Sorghum. XV. Inheritance in maize: 1. Origin and species. 2. Inheritance of characters. 3. Endosperm characters. 4. Chlorophyll inheritance. 5. Linkage in maize. 6. Variability of crossing over in maize. 7. Selective fertilization. 8. Inheritance of other endosperm characters. 9. Colors in plant organs. 10. Dominant plant characters. 11. Recessive plant characters. 12. Some seed and ear characters. 13. Size characters. 14. Chemical composition. XVI. Maize breeding: 1. Relation of ear characters to yield. 2. Ear-to-row breeding. 3. Home-grown seed. 4. Immediate effect of crossing on size of seed. 5. F1 varietal crosses. 6. Recent methods of corn breeding. 7. Single and double crosses of selfed lines. 8. Synthetic combination of several selfed lines. 9. What are the possibilities of the newer methods? XVII. Grasses, clover, and Alfalfa: 1. Grasses. 2. Clovers. 3. Alfalfa. XVIII. Potato improvement: 1. Origin and species. 2. Inheritance of important economic characters. 3. Inheritance. 4. Production of new forms. 5. The difficulties of obtaining crossed seed. 6. Methods of handling. 7. Early improvement through seedling production. 8. Clonal selection. Conclusion. XIX. Breeding of vegetables: 1. Introduction. 2. Inheritance of some characters of self-fertilized vegetables. 3. Beans. 4. Tomato. 4. Cross fertilized vegetables. 5. Inheritance of characters in cross-pollinated plants. 6. Cultivated vegetables of the genus Brassica. 7. Economic Cucurbitaceae. XX. Fruit breeding: 1. Origin and antiquity of some fruits. 2. Some early studies in fruit improvement. 3. Some considerations of fruit breeding. XXI. Farmers’ methods of producing pure seeds: 1. Determination of better varieties. 2. What is good seed? 3. Methods of seed production. 4. Seed growers’ methods for self-fertilized plants. Definition. Index.