Agricultural Sciences, 2015, 6, 467-478 Published Online May 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/as http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/as.2015.65046 How to cite this paper: Khan, M.H., Dar, Z.A. and Dar, S. A. (2015) Breeding Strategies for Improving Rice Yield—A Review. Agricultural Sciences, 6, 467-478. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/as.2015.65046 Breeding Strategies for Improving Rice Yield—A Review Mudasir Hafiz Khan 1* , Zahoor Ahmad Dar 2 , Sher Ahmad Dar 2 1 Department of Agriculture, Lal Mandi, Srinagar (J&K) 2 Division of Plant Breeding and Genetics, S. K. University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar Campus, Srinagar (J&K) Email: drmhkhan8@gmail.com Received 21 January 2015; accepted 18 May 2015; published 22 May 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract An increase in productivity is always one of the main goals of any crop breeding program includ- ing rice. However, many goals can be identified for this crop varying in importance from region to region, country to country, and even within a given country. Increase in grain yield potential is the major goal of almost all rice breeders programs. The major impacts are related to the develop- ment of new strategies to increase the genetic grain yield potential of the varieties. Rice breeders have been very successful in improving the crop. Some milestones are the contribution to the green revolution with the semi-dwarf varieties, the new rice plant type and hybrid rice. The main breed- ing method used to improve rice is the pedigree, but development of hybrids and population im- provement are added to the breeder’s portfolio. Breeders have been taking advantage of biotech- nology tools to enhance their breeding capacity; however, many programs are still struggling on how to integrate them into the breeding programs and how to balance the allocation of resources between conventional and modern tools. Keywords Rice, Hybridization, Ideotype, Heterosis, Male Sterility, Wide Hybridization, Genetic Engineering, MAS Breeding 1. Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L., 2n = 2x = 24) is second most widely grown cereal crop and the staple food for more than half of world’s population, providing two thirds of calorie intake for more than three billion people in Asia and one-third of calorie intake of nearly 1.5 billion people in Africa and Latin America. It is probably a descendent of wild grass that was most likely cultivated in the foothills of the far Eastern Himalayas. Some believes that the