Historical Context of Plant

Breeding

Edwin L. Solilap
USeP
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

650 - A.D. – Hand pollination of date palm, rice

improvement in China, first
deliberate plant breeding effort
1672- Neremiah Grew – pollen for reproduction,
true nature of ovules and pollen,
microscopic anatomy
1675 – Marcelo Malpighi – early anatomical and
embryological investigations
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1680’s – Dutch farmers – systematic work on

production of new varieties of flowers:
Tulips and Hyacinths
1694 – R.J. Camerarius – pollen for fertilization,
crossing as method to get new types as
mulberry and corn : demonstrated sex in plants
1715 – Thomas Fairchild – production of first
artificial plant hybrid
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1716 – Kenneth Mather (USA) – natural cross

pollination in corn, Xenia effect
1719 – Villmorin Seed Co. (France) – pedigree
method of breeding on sugar beets
1735 – 1753 – Linnaeus (Sweden) – taxonomic
differentiation and classification –
binomial system of nomenclature “Species
Plantarum”
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1761 – Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter (Germany)

- Crossing of tobacco – offsprings were
intermediate
- Identical nature of reciprocal crosses
- First inheritance study
- Noted extra vigor (hybrid vigor) of F1
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding
1779 – Thomas Andrew Knight – practical aspects
of hybrids, improvements of crops
1785 – 1825 – Van Mons – systematic collection of
horticultural plants, listed 1,050 varieties in his seed
catalogue
1793 – C.K. Sprengel – role of insects in pollination,
studied flower structure in relation to pollination
- Flowers should not be pollinated by their own
pollen
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1808–1809 - Charles Francois Brisseaude Mirbel

Plants are made of tissues, cell
communicates through pores in their walls
1810 – Kohn Le Couteur – selected individual
plants in the improvement of cereals
1819 – Patrick Shireff (Scotland) – used progeny
test for selection, choice of exemptional plants
as starting plants of new varieties
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding
1820 – John Goss – identical crosses were noted and
the phenomena of dominance, recessiveness and
recombination in peas (Refer to Figures in the succeeding
slides)
1823 – G.B. Amici – growth of pollen tubes by
microphyle cytologically

1826 – Sargaret and Weigmann – noted dominant

traits and redistribution of characters in later
generations
Laws of Mendel further Illustrated
• Monohybrid Cross
Laws of Mendel further Illustrated
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1827– 1849 – K.F. Von Gartner – great hybridist-

extensive crossing experiment, 10,000 crosses
in 700 species in 80 genera, hybrid is dominated
by one or the other parent, effect on the
female parent (xenia)
1838 – Matthias Jacob Schleiden and Theodor
Schwann – proposed the cell theory: all animals
and plants are composed of cells and their
product , cell as a unit of structure and function
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding
1847 – James Reid – developed yellow dent corn
selected from intercross of two widely different types,
Red May was the first wheat variety selected in
America
1856 – Luois de Vilmorin - valued progeny test used by
Hays on the improvement of small grains of
Minnesota (1888)
1858 – Wilhelm Hofmeister – female gametophyte
and chromosome but failed to realize its
significance
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1858 – Charles Darwin – Origin of Species based

on variability, natural selection, inbreeding,
fertility, sterility differences in reciprocal crosses
1860 – Louis de Vilmorin – valued
self-fertilization in breeding constancy
1860 – C.V. Naudin – illustrate hybrid vigor from
interspecific crosses
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1865 – F1 plants was a mosaic of the two

parents and recombinations in offspring
1866 – De Vries (Holland), Correns (Germany),
Tschermac (Austria) – segregation,
recombination, dominance, laws of inheritance
1867 – Bidwell (USA) – first detasselling of corn
in breeding
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding
1875 – Edward Strasburger – chromosomes were
first illustrated
1876 – Pringles Progress – fist hybrid oat,
distributed in USA
1877 – Edwars Strasburger and Waldeyer (1888) –
use of the term gamete
1878 – 1881 – Beal – crossing corn varieties to
increase yield of commercial corn, yields of hybrids
were larger than those of the parents by 40%
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1878 – Horsford – first known hybrid selection of

barley in the U.S.
1881-1891 – August Weismann – heredity and
evolution are important in directing trend of
biology – continuity of germplasm, equal
inheritance from both parents, non-heritability
of acquired characters
1884 – E. Strasburger – reduced cell division in
plants and subsequent fertilization
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1891 – Nilson – selection in the improvement of

wheat, oats and barley in Sweden
1899 – Hopkins – Ear-to-row selection on corn,
progeny selection to improve
unadapted varieties
1900’s – rediscovery and elucidation of Mendel’s
work
 x

pure-breeding
purple white
parents

first filial ( F1 )
all purple
generation

second filial ( F2 )
generation
705 purple 224 white

monohybrid ratio 3:1

 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1900 – Hartley – inbreeding of corn, with the USDA

1901 – William Bateson – introduced homozygote,
heterozygote, Genetics (1906)
1902 – Hugo de Vries – mutation theory
1903 – W.I. Johanssen - pureline theory - even
without natural crossing, the initial selection
of individual plants will result in genetically
superior lines, genotypes or phenotypes
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1902 – Walter S. Sutton – mutual inter-

relationship between cytology and
Mendelism
1903 – Biffen (England) – resistance to stripe
rust controlled by single recessive gene –
first inheritance studies on disease resistance
1904 – Hannig proposed embryo culture
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1905 – Edward Murray and George H. Shull –

inbreeding program for corn
1908 – Nelson- Ehle (Sweden) – first to use bulk
pollination, quantitative inheritance
1909 – George Harison Shull – extensive crossing
of inbreds to form hybrids
1910 – A.B. Bruce, F. Keeble, C. Pellew – hybrid
vigor is due to the operation of favorable
dominance
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding
1911 – G.N. Collins and Kempton – demonstrated (linkage) linked
genes in corn
1912 - H.S. Jennings – selfing reduces heterozygocity by one half
each generation
1 selfing : 50% homo - 50% hetero
2 selfing : 75% homo - 25% hetero
3 selfing : 87.5% homo - 12.5% hetero
4 selfing : 93.75 % homo - 6.25 % hetero
5 selfing : ? ?
1916 – G.H. Shull – introduced heterosis
1917 – first commercial hybrid corn – a double cross
1920 – East and Jones – proved the existence of self-
incompatibility
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1926 – Pioneer Hybrid Corn Co. – first

commercial company in the U.S.
1927 – L.J. Stadler – X-ray work with plants or
artificial transmutation of genes ,
spontaneous mutation in maize
1930’s – use of colchicine, embryo culture,
commercial use of hybrid corn in the U.S.
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding

1940’s -1950’s – radiation genetics, biochemical

and physiological genetics
1950’s -1960’s – quantitative genetics,
cytoplasmic and genetic male sterility in
commercial production of hybrid seeds
1953 – Watson and Crick – structure of DNA,
Nobel Prize Award
 Historical Context of Plant Breeding
1960’s – 1970’s – molecular biology, physiologic
approaches in plant breeding, cell hybridization
and culture, international network of institutes,
green revolution in Asia and the Americas
1980’s – 1990’s – conventional plant breeding in the
world addressed problems by genetic intervention,
recombinant DNA, transgressive species of rice,
corn, tobacco, cotton, tomato, melons,
squash, potato, peanuts created with gene
constructs from viruses and Bacillus thuringiensis
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
Three Distinct Periods

1. Before 1950

2. During 1950 to 1975

3. During 1975 to 1990’s

 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1. Plant Breeding before 1950
• 1910’s to 1920’s – investigations on natural variability
in commercial crops
• Characterized major regional varieties
• Hypothesized how improvements can be done through
seed selection and plant selection from natural
population
• Plant introduction undertaken
• Pollination habits studied and hybridization started,
coconut, sugarcane, rubber , coffee, banana, abaca,
rice, corn and sweet potato
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1921 – Edwin Bingham Copeland – plant
physiologist, extensive studies on San Ramon
coconut (San Ramon Penal Colony- Zamboanga)
• Seed nut selection (pedigree selection based
on yield records of individual trees for
plantation establishment
• Coconut planters that time employed mass
selection of nuts from harvest piles or from
standing fully grown bearing trees
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1921 – plant introduction jointly done by the
Bureau of Agriculture, Bureau of Science and the
College of Agriculture
• 1913 – 46 rice varieties introduced from
Bombay, India; Java; Formosa, seedling
materials of sugarcane from Hawaii,
Barbados, Mauritius
• Twenty foreign varieties of white and yellow flint
and dent corn from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil,
Salvador, U.S. and waxy corn from China
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Solo papaya from Hawai
• Gross Michel commercial banana
• 1925 – Mendiola – documented Para rubber was
first introduced to the Orient, seeds from large
grown trees of Amazon forest of Monte Alto,
Brazil, 1876, propagated as seedlings in Kew
Garden England and later brought in small
consignments Paradeniya, Ceylon, Burma, Java,
Singapore, West Indies, Calcuta, and Madras, from
unnamed sources in Brazil, Asia, obtained
seedlings from which all rubber plantations in Asia
were established
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1915 – N.G. Teodoro and E.A. Quisumbing
(1919) – varietal classification in
banana
1921 – cross pollination in coconut, pollination
habit of rice, and sex differentiation
in papaya (Reyes, 1925)
1926 – Mercado – convenient pollination in
sugarcane
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1926 – Mendiola – polyembryony in Carabao
and Pico mango – significant in crossing
• Actual breeding and varietal improvement by
the Department of Agronomy CA (1915),
Mendiola utilized undergraduate thesis
students – head-to-row selection up to the
second generation in 17 rice varieties , 2000
plant selection from 94 varieties, best varieties
grown in farmers field in Laguna
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1915 – P.J. Wester – Bureau of Agriculture –
cross between cherimoya and sugar
apple (atis) resulting to Atemoya –
commercial variety
1915 – sugarcane seedlings established, selected
varieties CAC variety
1921 – J.P. Tirona – first hybrid of wrapper type
tobacco
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1910 – popular hybrid corn Moro best all around
white flint- product of natural crossing of native
white flint and introduced Mexican June variety
• Tiniguib white flint in Cebu was popular –
source of gene resistance to downy mildew
disease
• 1919 – Vicente Aldaba – hypothesized
improve latex yield and disease resistance
in rubber
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1930 – more introduction of foreign varieties of
rice, corn, sugarcane, cotton, cassava,
peanuts, soybeans, vegetables, and fruit crops
1936 – 143 rice varieties introduced from Java,
India, U.S., Italy, Egypt, Siam, Persia, Malay
States and Spain
• Rice hybridization by intercrossing
enlightened academic curiosity
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• 1926 – Nemesio Mendiola – improvement
program for rice, corn, sugarcane, published
book “A Manual of Plant Breeding for the
Tropics”
• Toribio Mercado – sugarcane breeding
• Jose Capinpin – heterosis in rice and corn hybrids
• Leon Gonzales – pomologist, Dep’t. of Agronomy
– introduced Maharlika rambutan and
other varieties of fruit trees
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Juan Torres – improvement in citrus
• Juan Unite – early investigations in grain
legumes
• Discovery of ornamental plants – Mt.
Maquiling, Musaenda phillippica (Dr. Elmer D.
Merril- Bureau of Science) – later named after
the first ladies: Dona Luz, Dona Eva, Queen
Sarikit
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1940 – World War II – valuable plant collection
were lost, after the war, Los Banos campus
reopened, reconstructed and rehabilitated
• Department of Agronomy, Division of Plant
Breeding: Division of Crops and Division of
Horticulture- Dioscoro Umali headed Plant
Breeding Division
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
2. Plant Breeding in 1950 -1975
• Renewal of organized efforts in plant breeding
• Mounting of a post-baccalaureate training program for
Filipino staff
• Improvement program continuing with the first Los
Banos-Cornell University contract funded by Philippine
Council on US AID (PHILCUSA) and Mutual security
Agency (MSA) which later became as National
Economic Commission-International Cooperation
(NEC-ICA) Program
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1952 – Umali and Hayes introduced more varieties
from other countries with the Bureau of Plant
Industry and Bureau of Agricultural Extension and
established the national testing program for rice
and corn and varietal release by the Philippine
Seed Board
• Release of upland and lowland rice varieties out
of evaluation from UPCA and BPI stations
• Late 50’s and 60’s – hybridization of upland and
lowland varieties
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Program of evaluation of regional strains of corn
• Inbreeding program for corn pursued and
intercrosses made
• Developed F1 hybrids for commercial release
• 1958 – first release of 4 outstanding yellow flint
double-cross hybrid and 1 white flint which gave
20% - 60% increase in yield over the ordinary
varieties
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Late 1950’s – commercial seed production of
hybrids and marketing were undertaken by
private corporation and company
• However, supply of cereal grains was getting
critically short and prices were soaring
allegedly due to manipulation by alien traders
• 1960 – nationalization of production nd
marketing of hybrid corn – foreign company
stop - hybrid seed business was dormant for
a long time
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
1960’s – production of bush sitao and first
crossed abaca resistant to disease – with
American plant breeders
• Upgrading of local breeding staff – Ford
Foundation
• National Science Development Board (NSDB)
• Mid 1960’s establishment of rice, corn, grain,
legumes, vegetables and forage crops
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Late 1960’s – Sec. Tonco – The National Food
and Agriculture Council (NFAC) organized
,1969- supported crop groups through Upland
Crops Program for corn, legumes and
sorghum, Research and Extension Program
for Vegetables and The National Cooperative
Pasture Resources Development Program
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• BPI high yielding and high quality rice varieties
were developed : BPI 76 was originally a
photosensitive but later non-photoperiod
strain was isolated

1962 – IRRI established – with first variety IR-8,

a very high- yielding variety worldwide
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• UPCA and BPI – glutinous rice, upland and
rainfed rice, fully-irrigated rice

• IR 64 released

1980 – PhilRice established – centralized rice

research, address pest problems, tungro, brown
and green leafhopper, bacterial streak, rugged
stunt viruses
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Corn inbred converted to cytoplasmic male
sterility (CMS) or male fertility restorer for
commercial seed production
• Cytoplasmic corn lines – susceptible to
Helminthosporium maydis causing leaf
blight
1970 – improved corn population open-
pollinated varieties (OPV)
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Elite materials introduced from CIMMYT
maize program in Mexico with resistance to
downy mildew
• Tiniguib white variety from Mindanao – most
reliable source of DM resistance worldwide
• Downy Mildew Resistant - DMR’s developed
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
3. Plant Breeding in 1974 to 1993
1975 - Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) – Dr,
Javier collaborated with laboratories of plant
pathology, entomology, physiology,
biochemistry, genetics, tissue culture and
National Genetic Resources Laboratories
(NPGRL), farm machinery, and seed processing
for the commercial production of registered
seed
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• BPI released more than 50 varieties of crops like
maize, tropical wheat, sorghum, peanut,
mungbean, soybean, cotton, sweet potato, tomato,
cucumber, chinese cabbage, bittergourd, pepper,
avocado, papaya, pili, anthurium, and musaenda
• Commodity institutes, colleges, universities:
capable of plant breeding:
• Benquet State University – cool temperature
vegetables and fruits
• BPI – major crops
• CLSU – annual oil crops
 Development of Plant Breeding in the
Philippines
• Commodity institutes, colleges, universities:
• CMU – field crops - corn
• Cotton Research and Development Centers,
• Don Mariano State Uni. –tobacco and cotton,
• Isabela State Uni. – corn and peanuts,
• National Tobacco Administration (PCA)
• Sugar Regulatory Administration
• Visayas State University – root crops
• USM –corn and industrial crops
 End of Presentation

Thank You.