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Human Interaction with Plants

Human Interaction with Plants, Botany is a branch of science dealing with study of plants, their biochemical processes, properties and structure. Evolution of botanical species and human beings is closely linked to each other as botanical species support human survival. However due to the provision of unsustainable human activity, plants are depleting, numerous species of plants are on verge of extinction and the biodiversity of plants is in danger

Plant Domestication:

Historical Timeline of Plant Domestication

Plant Breeding deals with modifying the genetic structure of a plant for the advantage of mankind. The history of plant breeding can be traced back to thousands of years. It can be seen that plant breeding started along with the beginning of human civilization and now it has spread all over the world. Plant breeding is carried out by professional plant breeders and amateur gardeners.

The provision of plant breeding leads to the domestication of wild plants. In this process, animals and wild plants are adapted to make them suitable for human use. Domestic wild plant species are raised for medicine, clothing, work, food and other human uses. Domesticated wild plants are cared for and raised by humans. The underlying purpose for plant domestication has not only been food, however, certain flowers, for instance, tulips were domesticated for decorative and ornamental reasons. To add on cotton plants were domesticated for fiber.

The domestication of plants began almost 10,000 years ago, in Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. In this era, individuals planted and collected wild plant seeds. The people ensured that plants had sufficient water so that they can grow adequately and also assured to plant the seeds in areas of adequate sun exposure. After the passing of a few weeks, the plants blossomed and the individuals harvested them.

Early attempts of plant domestication also took place in Asia where efforts were done for trait selection and conscious cultivation of plants by pre-Neolithic groups in Syria. By 8000 BC, cultivation of domesticated bottle gourd started in America, as migration from Asia and America took place. Moreover, around 9000 BC cereal crops were domesticated in the Middle Eastern region.

The provision of plant domestication transformed the orientation of humans around the world, from hunter-gatherers to agricultural societies, as the process of plant domestication continued to develop and evolve under trial and error. Over time diverse species were domesticated in different parts of the world, for example, soy, rice and millets were domesticated in East Asia; and beans, maize and squash were domesticated in America.

Plant Breeding

The prospect of plant breeding can be seen from a classical and modern context. Plant breeding can be carried out by means of numerous techniques extending from only picking plants containing the needed features for breeding, to added multi-faceted molecular breeding techniques. It is important to breed new crops…