| Biography | |
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 Prof. Sa"id EL MADIDI Ibn Zohr University, Morocco |
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| Title: Agricultural biodiversity, genetic advance and crops breeding methods | |
| Abstract:
The genetic diversity of plants is among the earth’s most important resources for food and agriculture. Now, the genetic diversity are being lost at an increasingly alarming rate. Plant breeding since the early 1900s has made a profound impact on food production and will continue to play a vital role in the world food security. However, it has also introduced crop uniformity across the farm fields, which is genetically vulnerable to biotic and abiotic stresses. In the middle of 1960s developing countries like India experienced the green revolution by meeting food demand with help of high-yielding and fertilizer responsive dwarf hybrids/varieties especially in wheat and rice. This led to the vast coverage of genetically uniform cultivars leading to genetic erosion (loss of genetic diversity) and the extinction of primitive and adaptive genes (loss of landraces).
Modern commercial crops have an extremely narrow genetic base, which makes them vulnerable to environmental threats. Presence of genetic variability in crops is essential for its further improvement by providing options for the breeders to develop new varieties. Diversity in plant genetic resources provides opportunity for plant breeders to develop new and improved cultivars with desirable characteristics. For sustainable agriculture, a compromise should be sought between selection maximizing crop yield and protection of the agricultural biodiversity. This compromise requires a better understanding of the impacts of modern plant breeding on crop genetic diversity.
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