Legumes (family Fabaceae) comprise a diverse range of crops grown worldwide, which are important constituents of sustainable agriculture and harbour a role in improving human and livestock health. Legumes serve as a rich source of plant-based proteins, rank second in nutrition value after cereals, and are ideal to supplement a protein-deficient cereal-based human diet. Legumes also provide other essential services to agriculture through their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, recycle nutrients, enhance soil carbon content, and diversify cropping systems. Legume production and seed quality are affected by a range of biotic (pests, insect diseases, and weeds) and abiotic stresses (drought, heat, frost, and salinity). In addition to this, rapidly changing climate, shrinking arable land, erratic rainfalls, and depleting water and other natural resources impact legume production and threaten food and nutrition security worldwide.
Persistent demand for legume crops is existing to fulfil the food requirements of an ever-growing human population. Therefore, legume breeders and geneticists have employed different conventional and modern breeding strategies to improve yield, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, grain quality, and nutritional and nutraceutical properties. Conventional breeding strategies are laborious, time consuming, expensive, and inefficient to achieve the desired goals. However, advanced breeding techniques such as alien gene introgression, genomics-assisted breeding, transgenic technology, speed breeding, association and mapping studies, genome editing, and omics will contribute to sustainable agriculture and food security.
This Research Topic will focus on progress on the development of new and innovative breeding techniques aiming at developing superior cultivars for sustainable food and nutrition security.
1. The exploration of plant genetic resources (crop wild relatives, exotic lines, and landraces) to broaden genetic bases and mapping of novel genes.
2. Integration of conventional into innovative breeding techniques for genetic characterization of accessions.
3. New breeding techniques (NBTs) deployed towards the development of restructured legume crops with improved grain quantity and quality, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and reduced anti-nutrient and allergen compounds.
4. Speed breeding aimed at hastening the breeding cycle for the development of climate resilient cultivars.
5. Breeding with high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping tools for accurate and quick development of elite cultivars.
6. Development of QTL mapping and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWASs) to understand the genetic basis of complex traits.
7. Development of genomics assisted breeding technology towards the development of superior cultivars and pre-breeding materials.
8. Role of “omics” technology to advance legume productivity, agronomy, seed quality traits and market preference.
9. Recent advances in gene editing technology for legume improvement.
Legumes (family Fabaceae) comprise a diverse range of crops grown worldwide, which are important constituents of sustainable agriculture and harbour a role in improving human and livestock health. Legumes serve as a rich source of plant-based proteins, rank second in nutrition value after cereals, and are ideal to supplement a protein-deficient cereal-based human diet. Legumes also provide other essential services to agriculture through their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, recycle nutrients, enhance soil carbon content, and diversify cropping systems. Legume production and seed quality are affected by a range of biotic (pests, insect diseases, and weeds) and abiotic stresses (drought, heat, frost, and salinity). In addition to this, rapidly changing climate, shrinking arable land, erratic rainfalls, and depleting water and other natural resources impact legume production and threaten food and nutrition security worldwide.
Persistent demand for legume crops is existing to fulfil the food requirements of an ever-growing human population. Therefore, legume breeders and geneticists have employed different conventional and modern breeding strategies to improve yield, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, grain quality, and nutritional and nutraceutical properties. Conventional breeding strategies are laborious, time consuming, expensive, and inefficient to achieve the desired goals. However, advanced breeding techniques such as alien gene introgression, genomics-assisted breeding, transgenic technology, speed breeding, association and mapping studies, genome editing, and omics will contribute to sustainable agriculture and food security.
This Research Topic will focus on progress on the development of new and innovative breeding techniques aiming at developing superior cultivars for sustainable food and nutrition security.
1. The exploration of plant genetic resources (crop wild relatives, exotic lines, and landraces) to broaden genetic bases and mapping of novel genes.
2. Integration of conventional into innovative breeding techniques for genetic characterization of accessions.
3. New breeding techniques (NBTs) deployed towards the development of restructured legume crops with improved grain quantity and quality, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and reduced anti-nutrient and allergen compounds.
4. Speed breeding aimed at hastening the breeding cycle for the development of climate resilient cultivars.
5. Breeding with high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping tools for accurate and quick development of elite cultivars.
6. Development of QTL mapping and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWASs) to understand the genetic basis of complex traits.
7. Development of genomics assisted breeding technology towards the development of superior cultivars and pre-breeding materials.
8. Role of “omics” technology to advance legume productivity, agronomy, seed quality traits and market preference.
9. Recent advances in gene editing technology for legume improvement.
