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The objective was to identify different haplotypes network of pink bollworm and their distribution in south India using the partial mitochondrial COI sequence of pink bollworm populations. Genetic diversity analysis exhibited the presence of 5 haplotypes in COI gene sequences, and among them, Hap_1 was the most common and present in 17 populations. Distributions of pairwise differences obtained with partial COI data from the overall populations were unimodal, suggesting population expansion. A significant neutrality test based on Tajima’s D, Fu and Li’s D and F test presented a haplotype network with multiple haplotypes. The acceptance of the neutrality test with significant positive values validated the theory of demographic expansion in cotton pink bollworm populations with respect to COI. The pink bollworm has a population genetic diversity among the investigated populations collected from south India.

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia ) is one of the most nutritional and commercially important vegetable crops of the family cucurbitaceae. In the present study, hybrids and parents of bitter gourd were assessed to study the per se performance for yield and quality attributes. A wide range of significant variation was observed among all parents and hybrids under study. Among the parents assessed, Preethi and CO-1 was found highly significant with regard to yield attributing characters viz., fruit weight, fruit yield per plant, fruit yield ha-1 and MCM-1, MCM-2 with regard to number of fruits per plant. The hybrids CO-1 x MCM-2 followed by Preethi x MCM-1 and MCM-1 x Preethi were recorded to be the top performing hybrids for all the quantitative characters like node of first female flower appearance, days taken to first flower appearance, days to 50% flowering, fruit length(cm), fruit girth(cm), fruit weight(g), internodal length(cm), vine length(cm), sex ratio, No of seeds per fruit, No. of fruits per plant, No. of harvest and yield per plant. High ascorbic acid and iron content was recorded in parents MCM-2 and Preethi while it was found maximum in hybrids, Preethi x MCM-1, CO-1 x MCM-2 and MCM-1 X Preethi. Hence based on performance of yield and quality, the hybrids, CO-1 x MCM-2, Preethi x MCM-1 and MCM-1 x Preethi were found to be superior and can be exploited for further studies.

An experiment was conducted at the Department of Cotton, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore to evaluate the field efficacy of an egg parasitoid, Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja through inundative releases against Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) in cotton for two successive field trials during Kharif 2021 and 22. The parasitisation efficacy of T. bactrae was tested in the cotton ecosystem and the results revealed that the parasitism on the eggs was found be on par with that observed with NSKE 5% concentration (24.63%), neem formulation 1500 ppm 1% concentration (24.10%), Pongamia extract 5% concentration (23.13%), Jatropha extract 5% concentration (23.93%) and were found the safest to T. bactrae. The emamectin benzoate 5 SG at 190g/ ha (19.49%) and clorantraniliprole 18.5 SC at 150 mL/ ha (15.26%) were on par with each other. Results suggested that among the insecitcides tested emamectin benzoate 5 SG and chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC were safer to T. bactrae and inundative release of T. bactrae can achieve sizeable control of P. gossypiella, hence it can be integrated with other components for IPM.

Agave amica (Medik.) (Syn. Polianthes tuberosa L.) is commercially propagated asexually. For the diversification of the crop, seed propagation is essential hence there is a necessity to study the seed germination for hybrid development. A protocol for in vitro germination of tuberose seeds was formulated. Two types of seed were utilized for germination in which the decoated seeds showed early and higher germination percentage than the intact seeds. Seeds inoculated on the basal media composition of half MS with gibberellic acid (1 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (1 mg/l) recorded minimum time for germination (8 days), higher germination percentage (89.33%) and minimum mean germination time (8.88 days). Seedlings growth were studied under different composition of shoot and root proliferation media. The MS media with naphthaleneacetic acid (2 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (2 mg/l) increased root length (12.33 cm), shoot length (14.80 cm), number of roots (13.23) and number of leaves (6.25). Under in vivo condition, the seedling developed from the basal media composition of half MS with gibberellic acid (1 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (1 mg/l) which sub cultured on MS media with naphthaleneacetic acid (2 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (2 mg/l) showed higher survival percentage of 91.53%.

Understanding the physiological and leaf anatomical traits having positive association with higher yields is critical to utilize these traits effectively in breeding programs for yield improvements in stable food crops. In rice, this would help in improving the productivity to feed the ever growing population. Therefore, the experiment was conducted to evaluate the variability and diversity of ninety-nine rice genotypes for photosynthesis, vein-related characters, and yield. The field trial was carried out in a wetland in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during Rabi, 2020. To investigate the genetic variability, efforts were made to estimate the percent of genotypic and phenotypic variation, heritability, and genetic advance likewise genetic diversity was estimated for twelve traits using Mahalanobis (D2) statistics. Analysis variance elucidates the existence of significant variation among the genotypes for all the twelve characters studied. The difference between GCV and PCV was narrow for all the characters studied which shows these characters are less influenced by environmental factors. The highest GVC and PCV was observed in yield and biomass simultaneously the high heritability in broad sense along with high genetic advance as percent mean was estimated in biomass, photosynthetic rate, yield, interveinal distance between major vein, leaf width, total number of veins, and total number of minor veins. These characters are considered to be inherent in nature and selection for improving these traits may be effective in the genetic improvement program. Based on the D2 value ninety-nine genotypes were diversified into five clusters in which Cluster II is the largest containing 37 genotypes followed by cluster I. The highest inter-cluster distance was estimated between cluster II and cluster IV whereas the highest intracluster distance was observed in cluster V indicating that genotypes in this cluster are highly diversified. Subsequently, the higher cluster means of most of the characters including vein characters, leaf width, and photosynthetic rate along with optimum yield and biomass fell in cluster II. Whereas in cluster IV the highest cluster means for biomass and yield was recorded. The traits biomass, yield, photosynthetic rate, interveinal distance between major veins, the total number of minor vein is the major contributors of total divergence in this population. Based on the trait contribution percentage for genetic diversity and genetic distance this study suggests that the genotypes from cluster II and cluster IV can be selected as parents for genetic improvement programs. Hence, information on the nature and degree of divergence in this population would help the plant breeder in the selection and hybridization procedure for choosing the right type of parents to improve vein characters, photosynthetic rate, yield, and biomass.

During post-rainy and rice fallow cropping seasons, popular blackgram varieties are severely affected by powdery mildew leading to severe yield loss. The lack of natural genetic variability for powdery mildew resistance in blackgram germplasm warrants mutation breeding. Hence, in this study, blackgram cultivar CO6 was mutagenized with gamma ray and ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) to create variability for powdery mildew resistance. Seeds of blackgram CO6 were irradiated with three doses of gamma ray (200 Gy, 300 Gy and 400 Gy) followed by two doses of ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS; 20 and 30 mM) to achieve six combination treatments. Selected resistant mutants of M2 generation were characterized for agronomic, histological, enzyme and biochemical traits along with powdery mildew resistant LBG 17 and susceptible CO6 checks. Molecular variability was studied using 72 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. In the M2 generation, 60 powdery mildew resistant mutants were identified and a total of 25 high yielding mutants were evaluated further to confirm powdery mildew resistance and yield. Nine resistant mutants (PM 13, PM 20, PM 21, PM 42, PM 53, PM 54, PM 56, PM 57 and PM 60) and the resistant check (LBG17) showed significantly higher values for leaf density, trichome density, SOD, CAT, POX, PPO, total phenols, phytic acid and silica content. SSR markers viz., CEDG154, CEDG290, CEDG139, CEDG259, CEDG191, CEDG024, CEDG 282, CEDG 166, CEDG 232 and CEDG 088 were found polymorphic between resistant mutants and the parent CO6. The study has demonstrated that sufficient variability was induced in the blackgram for powdery mildew resistance. The elevated levels of SOD, CAT, POX, PPO, total phenols, phytic acid, and silica content observed in selected mutants may be attributed to powdery mildew resistance. The superior mutants identified in this study may be used as donors for the development of powdery mildew resistant lines or released as a new variety.

Background: Gossypium hirsutum, the most widely cultivated crop in the world has concurrent importance for both fibre quality and yield. Polygenes regulate cotton output and a variety of factors affect the characteristic. As a result, it is essential to have thorough knowledge of the relationships between different component traits and fibre quality. Thus, the aim of the study was framed to know about the correlation along with cause-and-effect relationship among the economic traits. Mathod: Eight parents and 56 hybrids made up the experimental sample for our study, which were evaluated for 18 economically significant traits. The study was conducted at Department of Cotton, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, in 2021-2022. Results: Analysis of variance was highly significant for all the traits studied. The result of correlation revealed that the traits viz., number of bolls per plant, boll weight, number of seeds per boll, upper half mean length and fibre strength had a high magnitude of positive correlation with seed cotton yield at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path analysis represented the direct effects of upper half mean length, uniformity index, number of bolls per plant, number of seeds per boll and fibre strength on seed cotton yield. Hence, these traits can be used as selection criteria for yield improvement in cotton.

The present investigation was conducted to find the correlation and path-coefficient analysis for yield and yield contributing characters in Ramnad Mundu chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) during Kharif 2018-19. The experiment was conducted on Forty-seven Mundu chilli genotypes for 15 characters, which was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with two replications. From correlation study dry fruit yield per plant showed highly positive correlation with number of fruits per plant (0.971 G, 0.894 P), ripened fruit yield per plant (0.991 G, 0.949 P), number of seeds per fruits (0.383 G, 0.32 P), 1000 seed weight (0.369 G, 0.332 P), capsaicin % (0.302 G, 0.256 P) and number of primary branches per plant (0.267 G, 0.251 P) at both genotypic and phenotypic level. Path-coefficient analysis of different characters contributing towards the highest positive direct effect via number of fruits per plant (0.973), ripened fruit yield per plant (0.991), no. of seeds per fruit (0.383), 1000 seed weight (0.364), capsaicin % (0.302) and number of primary branches per plant (0.267). Hence, direct selection based on these characters would be effective in crop improvement through plant breeding in Mundu chilli.

Crop management is one of the most important factors in modern agricultural activity. Studying the balance of growth stages and supplying optimal quantities of mineral nutrients and hormones to growing plants is essential to improve yield in short duration cotton varieties. In recent years, several approaches have been tried to break this yield plateau. The present investigation was intended to study and improve the yield of newly released variety Co 17 (compact cotton) by foliar application of nutrients, growth hormones, growth retardants and nutrient consortium. The treatments are mepiquat chloride (0.015%), potassium silicate (0.5%), Potassium schoenite (0.5%), borax (0.3%), salicylic acid (0.01%), calcium silicate (0.5%) and TNAU cotton plus (1.25%). Foliar application of different treatments at peak vegetative and flowering stage significantly influenced the leaf traits, root traits, and yield. Nutrient consortium (TNAU cotton plus – 53% over control) and growth retardant (mepiquat chloride- 42% over control) increased the seed cotton yield.

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) also known as Queen of oilseeds is being cultivated worldwide for its oil content for nutritional and medicinal value. Low productivity is one of the major constraints of sesame cultivation. Systematic efforts are made using induced mutagenesis to increase its productivity and realize earliness and alteration in genetic architecture. Sodium Azide was used as a chemical mutagen in the present study. Nine sesame varieties viz., TMV 3, TMV 4, TMV 5, TMV 6, TMV (Sv) 7, CO 1, VRI 1, VRI(Sv) 2 and Paiyur 1 released from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India were subjected to mutation at three different concentrations of Sodium Azide viz., 5 mM, 10 mM and 15 mM. An extra early mutant that matured on 70 DAS was identified in M4 generation of TMV 5 at 15 mM. This mutant (TVS 1401) was forwarded to subsequent generations with confirmed earliness. After confirming the superior performance of the mutant TVS 1401 for yield attributes in station trials, it was evaluated in MLT for two seasons. During Rabi 2017 MLT, it recorded 521 kg/ha of seed yield with the duration of 72 days. During Kharif 2018, it recorded 683 kg/ha of seed yield which was 21.96% higher yield than the popular check TMV 7 and matured 16 days earlier. This extra early mutant has white seed coat colour with 1000 seed weight of 3.22 g. Dissection of fatty acid profile of this mutant also confirmed its superiority. Distinctness of TVS1401 in molecular level was also established through RAPD markers viz., OPC03550 and OPA04550.

A recombinant inbred line mapping population of intra-species upland cotton was generated from a cross between the drought-tolerant female parent (AS2) and the susceptible male parent (MCU13). A linkage map was constructed deploying 1,116 GBS-based SNPs and public domain-based 782 SSRs spanning a total genetic distance of 28,083.03 cM with an average chromosomal span length of 1,080.12 cM with inter-marker distance of 10.19 cM.A total of 19 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified in nine chromosomes for field drought tolerance traits. Chromosomes 3 and 8 harbored important drought tolerant QTLs for chlorophyll stability index trait while for relative water content trait, three QTLs on chromosome 8 and one QTL each on chromosome 4, 12 were identified. One QTL on each chromosome 8, 5, and 7, and two QTLs on chromosome 15 linking to proline content were identified. For the nitrate reductase activity trait, two QTLs were identified on chromosome 3 and one on each chromosome 8, 13, and 26. To complement our QTL study, a meta-analysis was conducted along with the public domain database and resulted in a consensus map for chromosome 8. Under field drought stress, chromosome 8 harbored a drought tolerance QTL hotspot with two in-house QTLs for chlorophyll stability index (qCSI01, qCSI02) and three public domain QTLs (qLP.FDT_1, qLP.FDT_2, qCC.ST_3). Identified QTL hotspot on chromosome 8 could play a crucial role in exploring abiotic stress-associated genes/alleles for drought trait improvement. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-021-01041-y.

Basic research advances in plant genetics and crop breeding methods have been translated into crop improvement and contributed to enhance food security and agricultural sustainability. Such impact has also been witnessed in Moringa and this chapter provides an account of cultivars that have been developed using different conventional breeding methods and strategies. Further, it also provides an overview of available Moringa ecotypes in India and the ways and means to explore these valuable genetic resources for further genetic improvement.

Evolving novel crop cultivars with improved agronomic performance and increased yield and quality traits using traditional breeding approaches is a time-consuming, labor intensive, and elaborate process. Recent developments in molecular marker technologies and sophisticated tools in genetic mapping and quantitative trait loci localization in the plant genome, offered unique and promising avenues in molecular breeding. It speeds up the routine breeding process by precisely introgressing and evaluating the breeding materials. Since the first introduction of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), several types of molecular makers (mostly random DNA markers, which are phenotypically neutral and intricately linked to the gene of interest) have been developed and successfully employed in crop improvement program during the past few decades. An overview of different kinds of molecular markers and their applications is provided in this chapter, besides providing a snapshot on the molecular markers and its applications in Moringa. This chapter also provides particulars on basics of DNA barcoding, genes that are suitable for Moringa DNA barcoding, and its applications in Moringa trade.

Consequent to the continuously increasing deposit of DNA sequence information from different DNA sequencing technologies, several novel avenues have opened to identify the genes and/or molecular markers linked to the agronomic and economic traits. However, the greatest tricky point in this genomics era is realizing the application of those huge DNA sequence data in the routine crop breeding programs. Thanks to next generation sequencing (NGS) tools and strategies, draft (reference) and resequenced Moringa genome data are now available for further mining, and it facilitates rapid identification of desirable candidate genes besides permitting to generate thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and other marker classes. Further, NGS can also be explored for unraveling the process of methylation and its implications in the genome and how such information can be used in Moringa improvement programs. Besides studies on organellar genomes and comparative genomics offer several other useful ways to improve Moringa for valuable nutritional and medicinal traits. This chapter provides a detailed description of the above genomics titles in Moringa.

Moringa oleifera is universally referred as the miracle plant or the tree of life owing to its uses, particularly with respect to medicine and nutrition. Accordingly, there is a huge global market demand for the Moringa products. The use of M. oleifera leaf, seed and flower powder in various food supplements has been shown to enrich their nutrient contents. However, many of the studies summarized in this book need further validation to substantiate their findings. The knowledge gap in the Moringa research is provided in this chapter, and possible future studies on Moringa genomics as well as the need for a well-structured and planned experimental designs are also narrated in this chapter.

The caloric needs of the global population are solely dependent on only 30 crops including rice, wheat, and maize. It is important to diversify and ensure the global food supply by enhancing the wide adaptation of nutritionally important vegetable crops. Focusing on the underutilized and locally available vegetable crops would meet the need of eradicating malnutrition and food security for the local population and small-hold farmers. With the advent of long-read sequencing technologies, several orphan crops and crops with complex genetic nature are being explored and genome resources are made available for crop improvement. Moringa oliefera is a well-known medicinal and nutritive plant which is getting adequate attention in recent years. Functional analytical tools including genome, transcriptome, metabolome, and proteome were made available for moringa; besides diversity analysis, evolutionary and syntenic studies were also reported. With an objective of exploring the available resources of an important nutritive crop and evaluating the need to enhance the functional studies further, this chapter reviews the application of long-read sequencing and their application in moringa genomics for its wider utilization in pharma industries.

In vitro and aseptic culturing of cells, tissues, organs, and their components in artificial growth media and environments is referred as plant tissue culture, which has applications in basic and applied studies as well as in commercial production of quality planting materials. Role of plant tissue culture tools in Moringa has several folds of applications: understanding cellular activities (including cell growth and development, cytogenetics, metabolic process and nutrition, morphogenesis, embryogenesis, and pathology), manipulating plant genetic architecture and improvement, production of disease-/pathogen-free plants, in vitro germplasm storage, high-throughput clonal propagation, and product development (such as secondary metabolite production, natural color isolation, etc.). Besides, establishment of efficient Moringa in vitro culture is the critical basic requirement of genetic transformation (which provide potential of transferring gene (originated from any organism) that governs the expression of desirable traits). This chapter provides comprehensive information on Moringa tissue culture and its applications besides providing the future prospects.

In the recent past, Moringa oleifera Lam (Moringaceae) has been recognized as an economically and nutritionally important crop owing to its health benefits. Moringa is widespread and found in all tropical and subtropical climates. As this crop is grown by different groups of people, it is known by several regional names such as drumstick tree, sajiwan, kelor, murungai, marango, mlonge, mulangay, saijhan, ben oil tree and sajna. Moringa is valued for its high nutritional value and medicinally important phytochemicals. Edible parts of this plant are found to contain necessary nutritional compounds such as proteins, essential and non-essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other phenolic compounds. They have been historically consumed over centuries and have been employed in the indigenous system of medicine for the treatment of different maladies or disorders. Leaves, roots, seed, bark, fruit, flowers and immature pods of Moringa were found to have antioxidant, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antifungal, antitumour, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antispasmodic, diuretic antihypertensive, hepatoprotective, antipyretic, antiepileptic, cardiac and cholesterol-lowering activities. This chapter focuses on the nutritional and medicinal values of Moringa, their application in medicine along with their pharmacological properties besides providing an overview of promising cultivars and their cultivation.

There are many medicinal plants that have been used for thousands of years and due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, these plants can now be found in several healthcare products because of their therapeutic efficacy. Due to its rich medicinally imperative phytochemicals, Moringa oleifera has attracted several health industries. Besides, Moringa has been preferred as an affordable resource to fight malnutrition owing to its abundant nutritional properties. A large array of reports has repeatedly shown that Moringa can be used as anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant products. Though such references provided evidence for its potentials as a functional food, yet the basic questions on its mechanisms of action, especially on its medicinal properties remain to be unclear. This chapter summarizes the individual bioactive phytocompounds present in Moringa and their medicinal properties. It also highlights those further studies that need to investigate the likely mechanisms of actions of the Moringa phytochemicals that foster its informative applications in the prevention and management of chronic diseases.

The Moringa genus of the Moringaceae family is monogeneric of the Dicotyledaneae and it contains 13 species. Moringa spp., are geographically distributed in several tropical countries. For example, M. drouhardii and M. hildebrandtii are found in Madagascar, M. stenopetala is noticed in Kenya and Ethiopia, M. ovalifolia is located in Namibia and Angola, M. concanensis is largely reported in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, M. oleifera is found in India, M. peregrina is observed in Arabia and Red sea area. On the other hand, M. arborea, M. longituba, M. rivae, M. pygmea, M. borziana and M. ruspoliana are indigenous to Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Each Moringa species has unique morphological features and this chapter describes the botanical descriptions of all Moringa spp., in detail and provides useful traits that can be used to distinguish each Moringa species.

MAS can be simply defined as selection for a trait based on the genotype of an associated marker rather than the trait itself. In essence, the associated marker is used as an indirect selection criterion. The potential of MAS as a tool for crop improvement has been extensively explored in different plant species. This chapter elaborates what would be the future of molecular breeding strategies in several crops.

Genome mapping methods are generally divided into two categories: (1) genetic or linkage mapping and (2) physical mapping. Genetic mapping is based on the use of genetic techniques to construct maps showing the positions of genes and other sequence features on a genome, whereas physical maps are constructed by directly sequencing DNA molecules, and such physical map shows the positions of sequence features, including genes. There is yet another map in genome analysis, which is called as cytogenetic map. It is a genetic term used to describe the visual appearance of a chromosome (known as karyotype) when chromosomes are stained and examined under a microscope. Physical map identifies actual physical position of genes and other DNA elements on the chromosomes and facilitates positional cloning of agronomically important genes and analysing chromosomes and genome structure in detail (refer chapter x for detailed description). This chapter focuses on detailed description of genetic or linkage mapping besides briefly portraying other two types of mapping procedure.

The basic principle of plant breeding for genetic improvement of crop plants is mainly relied on selection of superior progenies from the available population based on the traits of interest (such as higher yield, improved nutritional quality, appropriate colour or fragrance preferred by the consumer). In general, such traits are not measured directly from the plants; instead, they are enumerated from some other markers or tags that are closely linked to the trait of interest. For example, rice yield is decided by higher number of productive tillers, number of grains/spikelet, etc.; other classical examples are traits such as pea seed size, colour and plant height, used by Mendel. Such tags which used to select the superior progenies from the heterogeneous mixture of population are called as markers. These markers are useful in an array of plant breeding and genetics studies including

During the past few decades, a number of technologically sophisticated platforms have become available to collect a large amount of data on the dynamics of the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome (refers to global expression of transcripts, proteins, and metabolites, respectively). This chapter describes the recent developments in the methods/techniques/tools that are being used to capture such big data and how to integrate these data into QTL mapping and marker-assisted selection in crop plants.

This chapter describes the demands of the trendy food industries from the agriculture and horticultural production sectors and the challenges faced by the breeders to meet out those demands. Though traditional methods of breeding has contributed a lot in evolving novel cultivars in several crop species, regular conventional breeding strategies takes long time to release a new desirable variety. Whereas recent developments in the genetic mapping and marker-assisted selection opened up new precise routes that shorten the time required to evolve an elite cultivar. Additional information on other advantages of using this molecular breeding approach are also outlined in this chapter in comparison with other modern breeding tools besides highlighting the scope of and need for MAS in the near future.

There is a tremendous amount of publications reporting the identification of new QTLs in crop plants since its first description in tomato during 1988. However, reports on the successful application of MAS in plant breeding programs are still limited. This fact is discussed in several papers and reviewed the current status and applications of molecular markers in public and private sector breeding programs (see further readings). Most of the critical reviewers have come to the conclusion that rate, scale and scope of uptake of genomics and MAS in crop breeding programs continually lag behind expectations. Thus, it has been repeatedly stated that the vast majority of the favourable alleles at these identified QTL reside in publications rather than in cultivars that have been improved through the introgression or selection of such QTLs. However, the aim of this book is to show the successful detection of QTLs by circumventing all the challenges that limit the transfer of knowledge from QTL mapping to routine MAS in plant breeding program. The previous chapters have addressed those approaches, and this chapter describes how those approaches have successfully applied in development of new crop cultivars. Critical analysis of published reports brought an impression that MAS has great potentials in genetic improvement of crop plants, if the limitations are properly looked for. Among the different MAS-based breeding strategies applied (refer chapter x), MABC/introgression is the main strategy that has been used in most of the publications. Regarding the breeding objective, breeding for disease/pest resistance is clearly dominating among publications since they are mainly controlled by major genes and detection of such QTLs is more or less accurate. However, few studies reported the successful application of MAS for improved yield, quality traits, abiotic stress tolerance, variety detection or growth character (see below). Another important fact among MAS studies is that the main marker technologies applied are predominantly microsatellite markers. Though almost all the publications are results from public breeding programs, it would be incorrect to conclude that MAS is mainly conducted in public breeding programs. What has to be considered is that publishing is of little or no importance for private plant breeders, while it is one of the main aims in public research institutes and at universities. The following section provides success stories made in different crops that employed MAS, and the list is not exhaustive. Due to space constraints, only few examples in each crop have been shown, merely to showcase that MAS has been widely employed in crop plants for their genetic improvement. Please refer the further readings to get more examples.