The present text-book has been prepared for B.Sc. (Ag.) students of Indian Universities. An attempt has been made to present the principles and methods of plant breeding in a simple language and to use suitable examples from the Indian context. Tables and chart have been used, where necessary, to make the text clearer, and it is hoped that this would be of some help to the students. There is a certain amount of repetition throughout the book, which is intentional in the hope that this would act as a reinforcement for the memory.