**2. Development of plant genetic material (in house breeding)**

Entries (pure lines/open pollinated varieties/composites/synthetics/hybrids etc.) are developed by the concerned plant breeders/agencies through scientific temperament and extensive breeding programs for the benefit (food and nutritional security) of humankind. Different conventional (Introduction, selection, hybridization followed by selection etc.) and advanced (tissue culture-based techniques like somaclonal variation, anther and pollen culture; mutation, marker assisted breeding, transgenic or genome editing techniques) breeding methods are being used by the different agencies (ICAR or non-ICAR national institutes, SAUs, private national or multinational companies etc.) to generate elite material for high yield potential, nutritional quality and other associated traits. Developed elite materials are being tested by the concerned plant breeder/s at their research station for three to four years in replications for stability and selected superior cultivars enter into the All India coordinated crop improvement projects (AICCIPs) trials for further testing in multi-environments across the country.
