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.

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