What are the reasons for producing transgenic plants instead of classical breeding?
The classical way of plant breeding is a long process. It is mainly done by crossing two plants that are different but related. Pollen from one plant is transferred in a natural way by wind or by human help to another plant. In that way during meiosis the genes of both plants are distributed randomly to the progeny. By repeated backcrossing, a specific method in plant breeding, specific traits, such as resistances can also be introduced from a wild type into a cultivar. Normally the offspring of crossing two plants is produced through a random process, because during meiosis (the production of gametes) the genes from both parents are distributed randomly to the gametes. For that reason, the product of the crossing process cannot be predicted. The process to select for the desired trait takes a long time, because from each crossing process a high number of progenies, which contain different characteristics and have to be selected for the desired traits, arise. So it can take a long time
