(a) Mutations are beneficial for plant breeding. Taking an example, justify the statement.
(b) Discuss briefly the technology that made us self-sufficient in food production.
(a) Changes which can be induced by changing the base sequence in the gene are called a mutation. Mutation can be induced in plants by using suitable technology, like Gamma radiation. Many disease resistance varieties of plants can be obtained through mutational breeding. For example, resistance to yellow mosaic virus and powdery mildew could be obtained in mung beans through mutational breeding.
(b) Plant breeding has made us self-sufficient in food production. Many techniques are employed for plant breeding to produce high yielding and disease-resistant varieties of various crops. In India, better varieties of rice, wheat, maize, etc. could be produced because of various methods of plant breeding.
Many technologies which were existent but not being used on a large scale could be used by more farmers because of the Green revolution. Irrigation, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers were among such technologies.
Irrigation Projects: Green Revolution could not be successful without proper implementation of large irrigation projects. Many multipurpose dams were built to feed irrigation canals. Punjab is a good example of a state, which has benefited from a good network of canals.
Pesticides: Pesticides were used more vigorously during the Green Revolution. This helped in improving farm yield significantly.
Synthetic Fertilizers: While manure is very good, but it does not show as dramatic results as synthetic fertilizers. The government opened many fertilizer factories to meet the demand. Farmers were given subsidy on fertilizers so that farm production could be improved.