Plant breeding is a cornerstone of human innovation, evolving from the domestication of wild plants to today’s designed genotype by integration of genetic engineering, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence. Next Generation Plant Breeding offers a comprehensive exploration of this journey, presenting both foundational techniques and cutting-edge advancements that drive modern crop improvement.

This book covers a wide range of topics, from traditional methods like domestication, heterosis, and reverse breeding to advanced technologies such as speed breeding, genome editing, and bioinformatics tools. It also highlights efforts to improve nutritional quality, enhance climate resilience, and ensure sustainable agricultural practices.

Designed for researchers, students, and professionals, Next Generation Plant Breeding blends historical context with future-oriented approaches. It emphasizes the critical role of plant breeding in addressing global challenges, from food security to environmental sustainability, inspiring innovation for a resilience and, food-security for future.

Next Generation Plant Breeding equips readers to tackle challenges like climate resilience, food security, and malnutrition. It provides practical solutions for sustainable crop development, enhanced nutrition, and adaptability using advanced tools such as AI, bioinformatics, and genome editing. By bridging traditional and modern breeding methods, the book empowers readers to innovate and improve global agricultural outcomes.

Dr. Sree Rangasamy S. R. is a retired professor and prominent expert in cytogenetics, plant breeding, and plant biotechnology. He earned his Ph.D. from Madras University during 1963 and has held key positions as Dean, Basic Sciences (1977-1980), Director, School of genetics (1981-1990) and Founder Director, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (1990-1993) at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). A prolific researcher with over 225 publications, Dr. Rangasamy has made significant contributions to crop improvement and seed quality assurance. He is currently the President of the Indian Society for Certification of Organic Products (ISCOP). His achievements include NAAS fellow, many nationally recognized awards, including the TNAU Best Researcher Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from INSO.

Dr. Sivakumar Subbarayan is a renowned plant breeder and serving as Professor and Head, Department of Millets at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He had 30 years of experience in plant and molecular breeding and, developed and released crop varieties in sorghum, maize, legumes, and cotton including the nationally recognized multicut forage sorghum CSV33MF. After his agriculture graduation, he specialized in genetics and plant breeding and executed doctoral program in biotechnology. He has received prestigious JIRCAS Award (2006), Japan and ICRISAT Research Fellow Award (2008) and held key administrative roles in research management and served as secretary of the Indian Society of Plant Breeders. He has published 45 research papers and authored seven books, and has guided postgraduate and doctoral students.

1. Domestication as a Primary Breeding Approach for Crop Plants K.R. Ramya, Kuldeep Tripathi, Jyoti Kumari, Divya Chaudhary and Gyanendra Pratap Singh
2. Harnessing Pollination in Crop Plants and Pollen Selection Application in Plant Breeding S. Manonmani, R. Nivedha, R. Shobica Priya and S.R. Sree Rangasamy
3. Heterosis Breeding in Crop Improvement Naresh Thotla, Senthilkumar, V., Priya Garkoti, N.K. Singh
4. Diallel Breeding and Genetic Investigation K. Baghyalakshmi and S. Manickam
5. Reverse Breeding: An Innovative NextGen Breeding Tool to Sustain Hybrids by Producing Homozygous Founder Lines Manikanda Boopathi Narayanan, Shobhana V. Gnanapanditha Mohan, Ameena Premnath and Ehab A. A. Salama
6. CIS Breeding: Developing the Future of Crop Improvement Garima Pelhania, J. Bonipas Antony and J. Ramalingam
7. Leveraging MAGIC Populations for Genetic Advancement Omkar Maharudra Limbalkar, Kishor U. Tribhuvan, Kanaka K.K. and Sujay Rakshit
8. Speed Breeding: A Powerful Tool for Accelerating Crop Breeding Temesgen Begna
9. Perspectives in Breeding Varieties for Organic Agriculture Sree Rangasamy, S.R., Sivakumar Subbarayan, Himakara Datta Mandalapu Priya Rawat and Krishna Sri Burri
10. Breeding Millet Crops to Nutri-Millets Sivakumar Subbarayan, Himakara Datta Mandalapu, Priya Rawat Krishna Sri Burri and Vignesh T
11. Pseudocereals for Nutritional and Health Security N. Kumari Vinodhana, S. Sivakumar, Sree Rangasamy, M. Himakara Datta, Priya Rawat and B Krishna Sri
12. Targeted Improvement of Plant Nutritional Quality Traits in Millet Crops: An Assessment and Progress Nandini P Shetty, Sreedhar R V, Swamy Gowda M R and Sridevi Annapurna Singh
13. Synthetic Seeds and Scope for Crop Improvement Axay Bhuker, S.K. Pahuja and V.S. Mor
14. Advances in Tissue Culture Techniques in Vegetable Crops for Genetic Transformation Nagesh K. Tiwari, Priyanka Sharma, Nagendra Rai, Gaurav Mishra, Rajat Singh, Manish Singh , YS Reddy, Sudhir Kumar and Achuit K. Singh
15. Plant Tissue Regeneration Techniques for Genetic Transformation in Fruit Crops Sanjay Kumar Singh, Maruvarasi, P., Ramya Sree M. and Amala E.
16. Modernizing Maize Breeding in the Tropics using Doubled Haploid Technology Vijay Chaikam, Manje Gowda, Yoseph Beyene, and B.M. Prasanna
17. Harnessing the Wealth of Haplotypes in Crop Breeding Ye Zhang, Suxin Yang, Xianzhong Feng and Javaid Akhter Bhat
18. Relevance and Realization of Breeding Value for Genetic Improvement in Crops Indu Rialch, Anima Mahato, Bhupender Kumar and Sivakumar S.
19. Genomic Tools for Plant Breeding Chikkappa Gangadhar Karjagi, Aditi Ghosh and Shraddha Srivastava
20. Genomics for Enhancing the Traits for Climate Resilience Preeti Singh, Uma Maheshwar Singh, Vikas Kumar Singh and Pallavi Sinha
21. Chromosome Engineering and Prospectives in Plant Breeding LV Sairam Nagalla, Arjun Ojha Kshetry, Ravikiran Pagare - Madhusudhan R Janga and Gunvant B. Patil
22. Harnessing CRISPR Mediated Genome Editing Technologies in Plant Breeding: A Comprehensive Review Shanthinie, A., Yaiphabi Kumam and Sudhakar D.
23. Nanotechnology in Plant Breeding and Genetics K.S. Subramanian
24. Epigenetic Regulations for Drought Tolerance in Plants Nivethitha T and John Joel A
25. Genomes Outside the Nucleus Contribute to Photosynthesis, Productivity and Impact Crop Improvement S.R. Sree Rangasamy and E. Kokiladevi
26. Innovative Breeding Methods in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants K. Rajamani and S. Padmapriya
27. Modern Strategies in Forest Tree Improvement: Methods, Achievements and Perspectives Ani A. Elias, Mathish Nambiar Veetil, Modhumita Ghosh Dasgupta and Yasodha Ramasamy
28. Breeding Clonally Propagated Crops K. Mohanraj and G. Hemaprabha
29. Molecular Approaches for Understanding Metabolic Pathways Development in  nsect-Plant Interaction and Deciphering Candidate Genes Gothandaraman Rajadurai and Subbarayalu Mohankumar
30. Artificial Intelligence in Crop Breeding Krishna Kumar Rai
31. Fast Tracking Plant Breeding through Bioinformatics Balaji S and L. Arul
32. Advances in In Silico Methodologies for Designing Crop Breeding Hena Gain and Joydeep Banerjee