73
fruits and flowers. He collaborated with botanists and plant collectors through
which he was able to obtain plants from around the world. In 1717, he successfully
crossed a carnation pink (Dianthus caryophyllus) with a Sweet William (Dianthus
barbatus), and the resulting plant, described as Dianthus caryophyllus barbatus,
became known as Fairchild’s Mule. Significant revolutions in breeding took place
in the nineteenth century, starting with Austrian monk Gregor Mendel from Brno
(today a historic town in the Czech Republic) who, between 1856 and 1863, formulated what is known as the three principles of Mendel’s laws of inheritance, on
which modern genetics is based. Mendel focused on seven clearly identifiable traits
of pea plants: seed shape, flower color, seed coat tint, pod shape, pod color, flower
location, and plant height to elaborate the law of segregation, the law of independent
assortment, and the law of dominance (Mendel 1866) which form the basis of
Mendelian inheritance patterns, where a trait is controlled by a single locus in an
inheritance pattern. Mendel postulated the existence of discrete “factors” (today
known as genes) that are passed along from generation to generation. William
Bateson, an English professor of biology at Cambridge University and the first
director of the John Innes Centre, a leading plant and microbial genetics research
organization based in Norwich, United Kingdom, coined the word genetics in 1905.
3.2.1 Modern Breeding Approaches
Mendel’s laws of inheritance remain the solid foundation upon which modern
breeding techniques were developed. For many years, breeding was based on the
selection and crossing of the best individuals of a population. The advent of hybrid
crops, spearheaded by the development of hybrid maize in the early twentieth century, started a revolution which resulted in a significant acceleration of the incremental yield gain curve in those crops which where amenable to the new breeding
techniques. The “Green Revolution” emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, from collaborations and the transfer of technologies between nations, scientists, and farmers.
Norman Borlaug, the “Father of the Green Revolution,” tirelessly promoted the
development of high-yielding grain cultivars and the adoption of improved management techniques, including the use of fertilizers and pesticides and the deployment
of irrigation. The selection of cultivars with greater requirements for nitrogen, but
also vastly increased yield potential, is credited for saving over a billion people from
starvation. The Green Revolution started in Mexico, in collaboration with the US
Government, the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (“FAO”),
and the Rockefeller Foundation. From there, the breeding and management techniques expanded to other Latin American countries, Asia, and Africa. One of the
great successes of the Green Revolution is rice cultivar IR8, which was derived, in
the Philippines, from a cross between the Indonesian variety Peta and the Chinese
variety Dee-geo-woo-gen by scientists at the International Rice Research Institute
(“IRRI”). While IR8, which is a semidwarf variety resistant to lodging, required the
3 Open Innovation and Value Creation in Crop Genetics
fruits and flowers. He collaborated with botanists and plant collectors through
which he was able to obtain plants from around the world. In 1717, he successfully
crossed a carnation pink (Dianthus caryophyllus) with a Sweet William (Dianthus
barbatus), and the resulting plant, described as Dianthus caryophyllus barbatus,
became known as Fairchild’s Mule. Significant revolutions in breeding took place
in the nineteenth century, starting with Austrian monk Gregor Mendel from Brno
(today a historic town in the Czech Republic) who, between 1856 and 1863, formulated what is known as the three principles of Mendel’s laws of inheritance, on
which modern genetics is based. Mendel focused on seven clearly identifiable traits
of pea plants: seed shape, flower color, seed coat tint, pod shape, pod color, flower
location, and plant height to elaborate the law of segregation, the law of independent
assortment, and the law of dominance (Mendel 1866) which form the basis of
Mendelian inheritance patterns, where a trait is controlled by a single locus in an
inheritance pattern. Mendel postulated the existence of discrete “factors” (today
known as genes) that are passed along from generation to generation. William
Bateson, an English professor of biology at Cambridge University and the first
director of the John Innes Centre, a leading plant and microbial genetics research
organization based in Norwich, United Kingdom, coined the word genetics in 1905.
3.2.1 Modern Breeding Approaches
Mendel’s laws of inheritance remain the solid foundation upon which modern
breeding techniques were developed. For many years, breeding was based on the
selection and crossing of the best individuals of a population. The advent of hybrid
crops, spearheaded by the development of hybrid maize in the early twentieth century, started a revolution which resulted in a significant acceleration of the incremental yield gain curve in those crops which where amenable to the new breeding
techniques. The “Green Revolution” emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, from collaborations and the transfer of technologies between nations, scientists, and farmers.
Norman Borlaug, the “Father of the Green Revolution,” tirelessly promoted the
development of high-yielding grain cultivars and the adoption of improved management techniques, including the use of fertilizers and pesticides and the deployment
of irrigation. The selection of cultivars with greater requirements for nitrogen, but
also vastly increased yield potential, is credited for saving over a billion people from
starvation. The Green Revolution started in Mexico, in collaboration with the US
Government, the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (“FAO”),
and the Rockefeller Foundation. From there, the breeding and management techniques expanded to other Latin American countries, Asia, and Africa. One of the
great successes of the Green Revolution is rice cultivar IR8, which was derived, in
the Philippines, from a cross between the Indonesian variety Peta and the Chinese
variety Dee-geo-woo-gen by scientists at the International Rice Research Institute
(“IRRI”). While IR8, which is a semidwarf variety resistant to lodging, required the
3 Open Innovation and Value Creation in Crop Genetics