What is plant breeding? Plant breeders and their work -- Genetic basis of plant breeding. Reproduction in crop plants -- Gene recombination in plant breeding -- Quantitative inheritance in plant breeding -- Tools of the plant breeder. Variations in chromosome number -- Mutation -- Fertility-regulating mechanisms and their manipulation -- Molecular biology : application in plant breeding -- Methods in plant breeding. Breeding self-pollinated crops -- Breeding cross-pollinated and clonally propagated crops -- Breeding hybrid cultivars -- Breeding objectives and techniques -- Germplasm resources for breeding crop plants. Germplasm resources and conservation -- Applications: breeding field crops that are self-pollinated. Breeding wheat -- Breeding rice -- Breeding soybean -- Applications: field crops utilizing hybrid breeding procedures. Breeding corn (maize) -- Breeding sorghum -- Applications: field crops with miscellaneous breeding procedures. Breeding cotton -- Breeding cross-pollinated forage crops -- Applications: field crops that are vegetatively propagated. Breeding potato -- Breeding sugarcane -- Maintenance and seed production of improved cultivars. Cultivar increase, maintenance, and seed production.