Plant breeding

High school (ages 12+)
Food & Cooking

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/plant-breeding

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the core principles?Selection (mass and individual plant) and hybridization are foundational techniques
2. What is the historical milestones?Domestication, Mendelian genetics, and the Green Revolution significantly advanced the field
3. How do farmers make plants bigger or tastier?Farmers pick the best plants and grow more of them, then sometimes cross two good plants together to create new ones that are even better.
4. Why do scientists cross different plants together?Crossing plants, called hybridization, mixes the good traits from two parents and can give the new plant extra strength or a sweeter taste.

Phenotype: The observable physical or biochemical characteristics of an organism, as determined by genetics and environment.
Heterosis: The phenomenon where the hybrid offspring of two genetically different parents exhibit superior traits compared to either parent.
Biofortification: The process of increasing the nutritional value of crops through conventional breeding or genetic engineering.