Define plant breeding? Describe the various methods of plant breeding.

Plant breeding is the process of producing new varieties of plants by artificial selection. It is a method of improving the genetic make-up of plants.
Following are the various methods of plant breeding:
(i) Hybridisation: It is the crossing between two genetically dissimilar plants to produce a new variety of plant.
(ii) Recombinant DNA technology: It is the method of transferring genes from one organism to another to modify the genetic make-up of latter. It gives rise to transgenic plants.
(iii) Polyploidy: It refers to increasing the chromosome number of a plant that leads to increase in the plant production.