Question

What are the various factors for which varietal improvement is done? Explain.

Answer 1

Hint: Plant breeding is the process of modifying plant species to produce desirable plant kinds that are more suitable for cultivation, produce higher yields, and are disease resistant. Crop improvement is the process of altering the genetics of plants to meet human demands such as production, quality, and resistance. It is a process of artificial selection of plants.

Complete answer:
There are various factors for which crop varietal improvements are done. Some of them are as follows:
To improve yield: To enhance the crop's productivity per acre.
To get higher quality: Crop product quality concerns differ from crop to crop.  Examples include Wheat baking quality, pulse protein quality, oilseed oil quality, and fruit and vegetable preservation quality are all significant.
To develop biotic and abiotic resistance: Crop production can be affected by biotic (diseases, insects, and pests) as well as abiotic (drought, salt, water logging, heat, cold, and frost) stressors in various conditions. Crop yield can be improved by cultivating varieties that are resistant to these stressors.
Early and consistent crop maturity: The shorter the time between planting and harvesting, the more cost-effective the variety. Farmers may cultivate many cycles of crops in a year because of the short growing season. Crop production costs are also reduced due to the short lifespan. Harvesting is made easier and losses are reduced when the ripeness is uniform.
To get more adaptation: Developing cultivars with greater adaptability will aid in crop production stabilisation under a variety of environmental circumstances. The same variety may thus be cultivated in a range of climates and locations.

Note:
In agriculture, artificial selection has long been employed to generate animals and crops with desirable characteristics. Artificial selection has enhanced or even produced a number of fruits and vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, for example, were all developed through selective breeding from the wild mustard plant. Bt cotton is another example of a pest-resistant genetically modified crop.