This textbook, designed for introductory plant breeding courses, is tailored to fit within a single semester's curriculum. Its scope is deliberately limited to serve as a practical reference for post-graduate students and horticultural plant breeders. With a clear and concise presentation style, the book aims to provide accurate and accessible information to its target audience.

Prof. Bhimasen Naik (b.1961) hails from an agri-horticultural family of Western Odisha (Village: Jamtalia, Tehsil: Sundargarh, District: Sundargarh). He obtained B.Sc. (Ag. & A.H.) and M.Sc. (Ag.) in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur in 1981 and 1983, respectively, and Ph.D. from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in1999. He has been awarded ICAR Junior Research Fellowship and CSIR Senior Research Fellowship during his studies. He is a Fellow of the Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding, New Delhi; and life member of the Crop Improvement Society of India, Ludhiana; the Indian Society of Plant Breeders, Coimbatore; the Society for Advancement of Rice Research, Hyderabad; the Indian Society of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and the Society for Plant Biochemistry & Biotechnology, New Delhi.

He has worked on breeding and genetics of ginger, turmeric, mungbean, linseed and rice. He has more than 36 years of research and teaching experience at Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology. He has 56 research papers published in peer-reviewed national and international journals, 23 abstracts of symposia, 05 books, 01 book chapter (Springer-Nature) and 20 popular articles to his credit. He has guided one M.Sc. (Ag.) and one Ph.D. student. He is associated in the development of five cultivars in ginger (Suruchi), turmeric (Surama, Ranga and Rashmi) and linseed (Arpita); collaborated in development of three cultivars in rice (Ashutosh, Gobinda and Hasanta) and registered one genetic stock of mungbean (BSN 1, INGR 00011).

Section I: Overview and Biological Foundations 1.  Horticultural Crop Breeding: An Overview,  2.  Plant Biotechnology: An Introduction, 3.  Classical and Quantitative Genetic Basis,4.  Molecular Genetic Basis I: Markers, QTL Mapping and Marker-Assisted Selection, 5.  Molecular Genetic Basis II: Association Mapping, 6.  Mode of Reproduction in Relation to Horticultural Crop Breeding, 7 Pollination Control Mechanism Section II: Breeding Principles,  8.  Plant Domestication: Bringing Plants under Cultivation,9.  Plant Genetic Resources: Collection, Conservation  and Utilization, 10.  Variation: Types and Estimation, 11.  Genetic Components of Polygenic Variation and  Breeding Strategies,12.  lection: Basis of Crop Breeding, 13.  Heterosis and Inbreeding Depression,14.  Hybridization: Techniques and Consequences,15.  Timelines in Conventional Crop Improvement:  Pre-Breeding and Breeding Procedures, Section III: Breeding Practices, Part A: Conventional Breeding Practices, 16.  Plant Introduction and Acclimatization: Sexually and Asexually Propagated Crops, 17.  Methods of Selection: Heterogeneous, Homozygous Self-Pollinated Populations, 18.  Methods of Selection: Segregating, Self-Pollinated Populations, 19.  Methods of Selection: Cross-Pollinated Populations, 20. Heterosis Breeding: Development of Hybrid Cultivars, 21. Selection and Hybridization in Asexually Propagated Crops, Part B: Non-Conventional Breeding Practices, 22. Mutation Breeding: Sexually and Asexually Propagated Crops, 23.  Polyploidy Breeding: Manipulating Chromosomes, 24. Wide (Distant) Hybridization and Introgressive Breeding, 25. Marker Assisted Selection: Assisting Conventional Methods, 26. In-Vitro Breeding: Crop Improvement Through Tissue Culture, 27. Transgenic Breeding: Crop Improvement Through Genetic Engineering, Part C: Mission-Oriented Breeding Practices, 28. Breeding for Resistance to Biotic Stresses, 29. Breeding for Resistance to Abiotic Stresses