The world population will reach ~9.8 billion by 2050 from the current 7.7 billion. With this population growth, estimated per capita land availability will also reduce from 0.42 ha in 1960 to 0.19 in 2050. These growing figures indicate that to fulfill the food demand of the increasing population, we need to modernize the breeding programs. Crop productivity is limited by diseases and environmental constraints, requiring the introduction of resistant and tolerant loci into the newly released cultivars. Plant scientists often study grain yield and quality traits, but due to the negative correlation that exists among them, grain yield has the utmost priority. Global climate change has also directly affected the environment and production due to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Several studies have shown that environmental factors have extreme effects on grain yield and quality; for example, high night temperature affects the grain chalkiness quality of rice. Studies on the effects of biotic and abiotic stresses during the crop growth period could provide accurate information for evaluating the impact of climate on crop production. The effects of genotype, environment, and genotype x environment interactions determine the phenotypic performance and its general and specific adaptation to different environmental conditions. Improved understanding of genotypes and environmental interactions could provide new strategies for breeding crop varieties that stably perform between changing environments and stress conditions.
Classical plant breeding has evolved considerably during the last century. This can be attributed to the combined action of molecular markers, improved experimental designs, statistical methods, understanding of population and quantitative genetics concepts, as well as the integration of other disciplines such as entomology, pathology, soil science, engineering, agronomy, and physiology. Climatic uncertainty causes erratic rainfalls, and warmer temperatures are projected in the future. This may convert long-season productive mega-environment to short-season heat stress environments, which require continuous introduction and exploitation of the new germplasm pool. Crop productivity is highly affected by environmental constraints and diseases, so new cultivars must incorporate new loci to cope with the different stresses affecting plant growth and yield. Breeders have another important challenge in developing new cultivars: to improve grain quality for end products that meet industrial and consumer requirements. Various approaches are available for breeding simultaneously for multiple traits using stability indices, multi-trait indices, and environment covariates. Here we propose breeding for multiple traits simultaneously under the stress conditions while exploiting the newer germplasm pool and conserving the genetic diversity.
We welcome submissions of original research, comprehensive or mini-reviews, opinions, perspectives, and method papers dealing with the breeding for multiple traits using various genomic approaches while coping with stresses and conserving the genetic diversity to enhance genetic gain.
The scope of this topic includes the following themes (but are not limited to):
1. Pre-breeding and germplasm characterization
2. Multi-parental populations (NAM, MAGIC) for diversifying genetic base and fine mapping of complex traits
3. QTL mapping, GWAS, candidate gene characterization, Marker-assisted
selection, prediction modeling, and genomic selection
4. Genomics-assisted-breeding for climate-smart agriculture
5. Harnessing rare allelic variations that are not being explored
6. Multi-trait selection using various covariance matrices
7. Incorporation of genotype by environment interaction or stability indices for multi-environment selection
8. Breeding for sustainable production systems and climate change
The world population will reach ~9.8 billion by 2050 from the current 7.7 billion. With this population growth, estimated per capita land availability will also reduce from 0.42 ha in 1960 to 0.19 in 2050. These growing figures indicate that to fulfill the food demand of the increasing population, we need to modernize the breeding programs. Crop productivity is limited by diseases and environmental constraints, requiring the introduction of resistant and tolerant loci into the newly released cultivars. Plant scientists often study grain yield and quality traits, but due to the negative correlation that exists among them, grain yield has the utmost priority. Global climate change has also directly affected the environment and production due to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Several studies have shown that environmental factors have extreme effects on grain yield and quality; for example, high night temperature affects the grain chalkiness quality of rice. Studies on the effects of biotic and abiotic stresses during the crop growth period could provide accurate information for evaluating the impact of climate on crop production. The effects of genotype, environment, and genotype x environment interactions determine the phenotypic performance and its general and specific adaptation to different environmental conditions. Improved understanding of genotypes and environmental interactions could provide new strategies for breeding crop varieties that stably perform between changing environments and stress conditions.
Classical plant breeding has evolved considerably during the last century. This can be attributed to the combined action of molecular markers, improved experimental designs, statistical methods, understanding of population and quantitative genetics concepts, as well as the integration of other disciplines such as entomology, pathology, soil science, engineering, agronomy, and physiology. Climatic uncertainty causes erratic rainfalls, and warmer temperatures are projected in the future. This may convert long-season productive mega-environment to short-season heat stress environments, which require continuous introduction and exploitation of the new germplasm pool. Crop productivity is highly affected by environmental constraints and diseases, so new cultivars must incorporate new loci to cope with the different stresses affecting plant growth and yield. Breeders have another important challenge in developing new cultivars: to improve grain quality for end products that meet industrial and consumer requirements. Various approaches are available for breeding simultaneously for multiple traits using stability indices, multi-trait indices, and environment covariates. Here we propose breeding for multiple traits simultaneously under the stress conditions while exploiting the newer germplasm pool and conserving the genetic diversity.
We welcome submissions of original research, comprehensive or mini-reviews, opinions, perspectives, and method papers dealing with the breeding for multiple traits using various genomic approaches while coping with stresses and conserving the genetic diversity to enhance genetic gain.
The scope of this topic includes the following themes (but are not limited to):
1. Pre-breeding and germplasm characterization
2. Multi-parental populations (NAM, MAGIC) for diversifying genetic base and fine mapping of complex traits
3. QTL mapping, GWAS, candidate gene characterization, Marker-assisted
selection, prediction modeling, and genomic selection
4. Genomics-assisted-breeding for climate-smart agriculture
5. Harnessing rare allelic variations that are not being explored
6. Multi-trait selection using various covariance matrices
7. Incorporation of genotype by environment interaction or stability indices for multi-environment selection
8. Breeding for sustainable production systems and climate change