Table 3. Comparison between traditional and modern breeding technologies.

Mutagen	Chemical (e.g., EMS)	Physical (e.g., gamma, X-ray or fast neutron radiation)	Biological – ZFNs, TALENs or CRISPR/Cas	Biological – Transgenics (e.g., Agro or gene gun)
Characteristics of genetic variation	–Substitutions and deletions	–Deletions and chromosomal mutations	–Substitutions, deletions and insertions	–Insertions
	–Loss of function mutations mainly	–Loss of function mutations mainly	–Loss of function and gain of function mutations	–Loss of function and gain of function mutations
	–Recessive traits mainly	–Recessive traits mainly	–Recessive and dominant traits	–Dominant traits
Advantages	–Unnecessary of knowing gene functions or sequences	–Unnecessary of knowing gene functions or sequences	–Gene specific mutations	–Insertion of genes of known functions into host plant genome
	–Easy production of random mutations	–Easy production of random mutations	–Efficient production of desirable mutations	–Efficient creation of plants with desirable traits
				–Unlimited application potential
Disadvantages	–Inefficient screening of desirable traits	–Inefficient screening of desirable traits	–Necessity of knowing gene functions and sequences	–Necessity of knowing gene functions and sequences
	–Non-specific mutations	–Non-specific mutations	–Prerequisite of efficient genetic transformation	–Prerequisite of efficient genetic transformation
	–Limited application potential	–Limited application potential	–Limited application potential
Other features	–Non-transgenic process and traits	–Non-transgenic process and traits	–Transgenic process but non-transgenic traits	–Transgenic process and traits