Know The Main Responsibilities And Duties Of A Plant Breeder

By Author: Gooderham Horticulture Ltd
Total Articles: 10
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Plant Breeder – the name itself sounds quite heavy and technical. It might come across as someone who does a lot of scientific researches and or some very geeky person who might be always into too much of technical and biotechnological researches. Yes these are too heavy words to digest. In fact there are many people who are common people who do the breeding as a hobby.

Let us see a sneak peek into what a breeder of plants actually does:
Undertake experiments – These people undertake loads of experiments. But these are done in either green houses, glass houses or in nurseries. Mostly these are carried forward in controlled environmental conditions to ensure the best growth of the desired species. The experiments can be of any method; cross pollination or a vegetation method as well. whatever method it may be it needs a lot of careful thinking, logical approach and of course patience to get the desired product out.

Look out for new varieties – They always keep a watch out for any new variety or trait in any plant. While growing blooms it might happen that the flowers are unusually bigger size or have ...
... a streak of different colour on it or even be of an unusual fragrance. This needs to be carefully looked at and taken into consideration so that any new development does not get missed. A plant breeder has to always to be continuously on call and watch out always for something new.

Help out other enthusiasts – There might be many instances where in other breeders, enthusiasts or even gardener or farmers who might want help to grow more adaptive crops to the constantly changing climatic conditions and depleting environmental situations. in such cases the breeders take up the challenge of developing new species that will surely help the others in getting a good breed of crops.

Licensing and patenting – If a breeder has developed a new species or anyone else has done so, it is a well defined duty of the breeder or the horticulturist to assist the other person in getting the valid license and the patent for the new developed crop. This is very essential in helping the person get the due for all the work, energy and time that has been put into achieving this.

Promotional activity – Plant promotion; i.e. spreading the word of a new development that might help many others grow better crops in their respective parts of the world is also an essential part of a breeder’s work. Making the word reach out so that the crop developed reaches everyone in need is what the whole purpose of developing the new variety is. So without this the duty of the breeder is incomplete.
A breeder is not just a person who is into botanical researches but the whole work has a whole lot of more meaning, loads of hard work, great amount of logical and reasoning thinking that goes into the process. And of course the work is a well paid off work as well!