The potential use of novel techniques in plant breeding

The new technologies of molecular and cell biology have created a large interest in plant science. Some of the recent advances are reviewed. These techniques are of themselves advancing rapidly in terms of increasing sophistication; as they advance they allow even more detailed analysis of the plant's genome and the processes that it specifies. Even from today's standpoint it is possible to see some applications in terms of manipulating plants. These are particularly likely to come from enhancing (rather than replacing) the efficiency with which plant breeders carry out their tasks. However, in the long‐term the dramatic gains will come as the technologies provide the plant scientists with a vastly increased knowledge of how plants work. The challenge will then be to turn that knowledge into improved cultivars.