Genetic improvement of plant nutritional characters provides a new approach towards increasing the crop yields in unfavorable soil environments.The possibility of successfully breeding crops for nutritional characters depends on the knowledge of the genetics of the charaaters and their physiolegical-biechemical basts and the appecpri-ate application of breeding methodologies.This article briefly reviews the research developments of these aspects.The author also describe the perspectives of genetic improvemnt of plant nutritional characters and suggest possible research approaches for the future.