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Plant Breeding, an Evolutionary Concept

Dep. Plant Breeding, Iowa State Univ., P.O. Box 446, 6837 N.W. Beaver Drive, Johnston, IA 50131-0446

^* Corresponding author (duvick{at}phibred.com).

Recorded history and the archaeological record tell us that plant culture has been an inseparable part of human society for the past several millennia. Repeatedly, humans have developed radical new technology for controlling the plants that provided their sustenance; they have modified the genotypes of the plants they cultivated, and at the same time they have modified the way the plants were grown. In modern terminology, plant breeding and plant culture have always been essential agents of change in human society. History and the archaeological record also tell us that in each instance the new technologies brought more changes than had been intended. The unexpected changes have sometimes been beneficial to human society, sometimes not. They have always modified the world of nature. Today we are dealing with the latest in a long series of radical new technologies for modifying our food production practices. One of them is biotechnology applied to plant breeding. In this essay, I will look at biotechnology for plant breeding in context with some of the revolutionary technologies that have preceded it. I then will evaluate its utility (or danger) to human society and also to the world of nature that sustains-and includes - humanity.

Received for publication September 25, 1995.

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