Breeding of Fruit Crops

Fruit breeding-history, importance in fruit production; Major problems in fruit breeding; Plant genetic resources, their conservation and utilization in fruit crops; Breeding objectives for improvement of commercial fruits (mango, citrus, guava, banana, grapes, strawberry, litchi, sapota, pomegranate, pineapple, papaya, apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, kiwifruit, walnut, apricot, plantation crops-coconut, cocoa, tea, arecanut, coffee), their distribution, domestication and adaptation; Incompatibility, sterility, parthenocarpy and apomixes; Breeding methods- introduction, colonal selection, hybridization, mutation breeding, polyploid manipulation; Rootstock breeding and improvement of quality traits; Breeding for insect-pest and disease resistance and abiotic stresses; Biotechnological interventions in fruit crop improvement.