State the importance of crop variety improvement methods to combat repeated crop failure?Describe three factors for which the farmers could do crop improvement .

Dear student.

Sometimes old and traditional varieties of crops do not give desired results to the farmers. Using new genetically modified crops helps to obtain better yields and overcome restrained environmental conditions. Hence it comes to the rescue of farmers.

Some common methods for crop improvement are:

Gene selection and introduction

Hybridization and production of polyploids

Inbreeding to produce desirable characteristic

Hybridisation is a widely practiced method to improve crop varieties.


Factors for which crop improvement is done are: 

a)Higher yield -  This involves the increase in the productivity of the crop per acre in order to sufficiently feed the growing population. 

b)Improved quality - Improvements in quality are aimed to maintain the quality of crop plants (nutritional factors).
Quality depends on the type of crop, for e.g. baking quality of protein in pulses, quality (colour, taste) of oil from oil seeds.

c)Biotic and abiotic resistance- Biotic like insects and abiotic factors like water logging salinity, drought, heat, cold and frost have a negative impact on crop production. A crop resistant to these factors gives a better produce.

d)Change in maturity duration - Short duration crops reduce cost of crop production. Uniform maturity makes harvesting easy.

e)Wider adaptability - Such a trait is desirable as the same crop variety can grow in varied conditions.

Regards.