Genetics and Plant Breeding: Wheat in the Netherlands

Abstract

Improvement and exchange of seed material is a crucial activity in agriculture, although not a very visible activity when observing the farm field. Without an experienced eye it is difficult to tell what specific variety of a crop is sown in a field. The concern in recent years for genetically modified crops and their possible harmful effects on food products have drawn much attention to genetic modification and the new biosciences. The current techniques and options are different from what was available to scientists and farmers in previous decades. Nevertheless, the basic principle — finding or establishing plants with a different genetic make-up with certain desired qualities (in short, plant improvement) — has always kept farmers and scientists busy. The record of farmers in that respect is much longer than that of scientists. The central issue in this chapter is how scientists became involved in plant improvement in the Netherlands, how farmers and scientists joined forces and how plant improvement has developed since. The establishment of genetics and plant breeding in agricultural science covers a considerable number of agricultural crops. For each crop the specific genetic structure, mode of propagation and growth variables determine to a large extent the possibilities and techniques for breeding and research. For reasons of clarity the main crop followed here is wheat, the source of our daily bread. The chapter is divided in three parts. The first covers the early developments in plant improvement. An overall picture will be sketched of the activities of farmers and their organisations in the Netherlands to get better seed varieties.