Unravelling the output and outcome of field crops breeding in India since the implementation of the Seeds Act, 1966

Abstract

Crop breeding in India has been in progress for over 100 years and a large number of varieties of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fibres and sugarcane have been released prior to the adoption of the system of official release of varieties in October 1964. However, the Government of India has legislated the Seeds Act, 1966, to regulate the quality of seeds of the varieties, which came into force on October 1, 1969. The present paper discusses the historical aspects of the initiation of the varietal improvement programme in India, as well as the status of field crop varieties released and notified during 1969-2025 in pursuance of section 5 of the Seeds Act, 1966 and the induction of recently released varieties (2019-23) in the current seed production chain. A total of 7488 high yielding, climate resilient, diseases and pest resistant/tolerant varieties/hybrids of 96 crops comprising cereals (13), food legumes (18), oilseeds (15), fibres (7), sugarcane, sugar beet, tobacco, forages (27) and other potential crops (13) including 604 varieties developed by the private sector, have been released and notified till 2025 employing both conventional and molecular breeding. These include 122 varieties of seven field crops (rice, wheat, maize, pearl millet, chickpea, lentil, soybean and groundnut) developed through molecular breeding and 170 bio-fortified varieties of 16 field crops (rice, wheat, maize, barley, pearl millet, finger millet, little millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, lentil, faba bean, chickpea, soybean, groundnut, Indian mustard and gobhi sarson. Of the 2036 varieties of 58 field crops in the current seed production chain, 1425 released during 2019-23 and 796 were inducted in the seed chain during 2024-25 for breeder seed production with variety replacement rate of 56.8, 73.2, 62.8, 67.1 and 20.0%, respectively, for cereals, food legumes, oilseeds, forages and cotton & allied fibres. The impact of new highly released varieties was assessed through the yield enhancement of different field crops. Integration of conventional breeding with molecular breeding is foremost in all crops, but more specifically in minor crops. New approaches like rapid generation advancement, shuttle breeding, speed breeding, double haploidy, in vitro haploid production and genomic selection should also be used to accelerate the breeding cycle. Also, there is a need to fast-track the varieties and several new crops for which many varieties have been notified, into the seed chain and develop strategies in view of the large varieties/year is being released.