48 / SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2017 PLANT BREEDING INNOVATION EVOLUTION AS EARLY AS 8,000 B.C. to 5,000 B.C., Mesoamericans were working to domesticate corn, and by 700 B.C., Assyrians and Babylonians were hand-pollinating palm, shares Todd Wehner, a cucurbit breeder at North Carolina State University. It seems as though man has been altering the genetic makeup of plants since the beginning of time. During these early years, they were simply selecting plants that showed faster growth, larger seeds or sweeter fruits, adds Sarah Ward, an associate professor of genetics at Colorado State University. Plant breeding was a popular activity in the 1700s and 1800s; however, there was little understanding of the science behind it. To formalize the creation of new plant cultivars and plant breeding, Louis Leveque de Vilmorin, of the Vilmorin family of seed producers, founded the Vilmorin Breeding Institute in 1727. At the time, Vilmorin was working to lay the foundation for improved size, shape and sugar content of sugar beets. According to “Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding,” it was there that the progeny test was first used to evaluate the breeding value of a single plant. About a century later, Captain Robert FitzRoy asked Charles Darwin to join him as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle, to set sail on a five-year voyage surveying the world. It was during this expedition that Darwin observed similarities among plant spe- cies all over the globe, along with variations based on specific locations. Early Controversy This observation led him to believe humans had gradually evolved from common ancestors, yet it wasn’t until 1859 when he published his controversial theory of evolution. Yet, biolo- gists, botanists and plant scientists took note. At the turn of the century, three scientists were working on breeding problems and discovered a paper written decades earlier by Gregor Mendel. “Mendel’s paper detailed pea experiments, demonstrating the role of invisible ‘factors,’” says Sarah Ward, an associate professor of genetics at Colorado State University. “These invisible ‘factors’ were dominant and recessive alleles, or genes, that could produce the traits we see and could be passed to offspring,” Darwin’s theory of evolution and concept of natural selec- tion, combined with Mendel’s work on heredity, became the foundation of plant breeding and selective breeding, says Sam Eathington, vice president of global plant breeding for Monsanto. Since the publication of Mendel’s paper, plant breeding began to evolve and has never been the same. First came the concept of crosses, which led to what is known as improved hybrid vigor in the early 1900s. But the first commercial hybrid corn wasn’t produced until the 1920s. Mutation breeding was introduced in the 1930s, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It can be used to accelerate the process of trait development and Building on Success A focus of international, regional and national seed associations, as well as plant breeders in the public and private sectors, the latest plant breeding methods are seen as the key to unlocking the next generation of innovation. This series explores where we’ve been, where we are and the path forward. Written by Julie Deering Today’s plant breeding methods rely on the innovations and advances that came before them. The science of plant breeding is ever-evolving, and access to new technologies allows researchers to innovate at an unprecedented rate.