Question

A widely cultivated rice variety, which has solved food problems in Asia and has been developed by IRRI manila (Philippines) is
A) Niron-10
B) IR-36
C) Sonora-64
D) Remei

Answer 1

Crossbreeding is the process of combining desired characters of two organisms belonging to different breeds of the same species to create a variety with desirable characters. Plant breeding is done to combine the higher qualities of two plants and create a new plant variety with desirable qualities.

Complete answer:
As discussed, plant breeding is done to create new plant varieties having desirable qualities such as high yield, resistance to pests, better quality crops etc. We can also say that it is the manipulation of plant genotypes and phenotypes for human benefit.

To answer this question, we will look at each option individually-
A) Niron-10 - It is a semi-dwarf variety of wheat that has very large ears, cultivated at an experimental station in Iwate Prefecture, Japan.
B) IR-36 - It is a semi-dwarf variety of rice developed by cross-breeding IR-8 with 13 parent varieties from various nations by Dr Khush. It proved to be highly resistant to various pests and diseases, increased yield and drove down prices of rice to Asian families. It was developed at IRRI in Manila (Philippines).
C) Sonora-64 -It is a mutant dwarf variety of wheat that is high yielding and resistant to lodging and diseases. It was developed in Mexico and modified to produce a more beneficial mutant.
D) Remei – It is a dwarf variety of rice produced by mutation. It was produced in Japan in 1960.

Hence, the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: IR-36 is a slender variety of rice. It was developed to prevent breakage at the time of milling. The different varieties of crops are developed by the process of plant breeding. Plant breeding is done to-
- Create pest-resistant varieties
- Produce high yield
- Improve the quality of crop
- Increase tolerance to environmental stress