Applications of Somaclonal Variation, Plant breeders, Gene mutation, Herbicides, Progeny, Polygenic traits, Plant breeding

	Applications of Somaclonal Variations - Somaclonal variation is a useful source for introducing genetic variations that could be of value to plant breeders. Single gene mutation in the nuclear or organelle genome may give the best available variety in vitro that has a specific improved character. In this way somaclonal variation could be used to uncover new variants retaining all the favorable characters along with an additional useful trait, such as resistance to diseases or herbicides.
These variants could then be field tested to ascertain their genetic stability. Reciprocal crosses between desirable R1' progeny and seed derived controls would further stabilize the variants and help in seedset among the promising lines. Somaclonal variation might be an appropriate technology for genetic manipulation of crops with polygenic traits. It is an alternative tool to plant breeding for generation of new varieties that could exhibit disease resistance and improvement in quality and yield.