Question

One of the popular method employed in the production of a new variety of plants is
(a) Selection and vegetation propagation
(b) Chemical treatment and selection
(c) Exposure to radiation and selection
(d) Selection and hybridization

Answer 1

This method involves mating of genetically differentiated individuals or groups and may involve crossing individuals within a species or crossing individuals between separate species. These methods involve a particular series of steps that need to be followed to produce the desired plant type.

Complete answer:
One of the popular methods employed in the production of a new variety of plants is selection followed by hybridization. These methods have evolved in plant breeding. Selection is the most important method in plant breeding. The selection process is followed by hybridization where parent plants are hybridized to get new varieties, which are much better than the parent plants.
-Plant breeding is done or performed to improve the quality of plants by the production of new breeds that are superior to their parents in various categories like nutritional concentrations, disease-resistance, yield, and better tolerance to various stresses like water or salinity.
-Firstly, all the relatives of the particular crop are collected including the wild and domestic species. This type of collection is providing a wide variety of alleles for selection and is called germplasm collection.
-Now parents with the desired traits are identified and self-pollinated multiple times to create a purebred.
-After the selection is done, the hybridization is performed where two selected plants of different characters are cross-fertilized to produce the offspring that exhibit the characters of both the parents.
-After they are evaluated for the desired set of traits they are self-pollinated for several generations to attain a state of homogeneity.
-The selected plants are now tested in the field where they have to be grown ultimately under the conditions of the external environment.
-For three continuous growing seasons in various parts of the country with a different set of environmental conditions, they are evaluated.
-After the successful completion of the experimental stages, they are released in the markets, and the hybrid seeds available to the farmers.

So, the correct answer is, 'Selection and hybridization'.

Note:
-Plant breeding is done or performed to improve the quality of plants by the production of new breeds that are superior to their parents.
-Parents with the desired traits are identified and self-pollinated multiple times to create a purebred.
-The new breeds are superior to the parents in nutritional concentrations, disease-resistance, yield, and better tolerance to various stresses like water or salinity.