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Question 29 of 51

Q.What is pure line selection ?

Tamil Nadu DgeTamil Nadu HSC (DGE) Board 2018Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Pure line selection isolates and multiplies a single, genetically uniform (homozygous) superior line from a mixed self-pollinated population.

Pure line selection is one of the classical methods of plant breeding, mainly applicable to self-pollinated crops, and was developed and established through the work of the Danish plant physiologist Wilhelm Johannsen, who also coined the term pure line to mean a population of individuals derived from a single self-pollinated homozygous plant, genetically identical to each other.

Steps involved:

  1. Plant selection -- a large number of individual, phenotypically superior plants are selected from a genetically variable (heterogeneous) existing population/variety.
  2. Progeny row trial -- each selected plant is self-pollinated, and its seeds are grown separately in individual progeny rows, keeping each line's identity distinct.
  3. Evaluation -- the progeny rows are evaluated over several generations for yield, uniformity, disease resistance and other desirable traits; inferior lines are discarded.
  4. Purification -- since the crop is self-pollinating, continued self-fertilization makes each surviving line increasingly homozygous, eventually giving a genetically pure, true-breeding line. …

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