About this Research Topic

Background

Rice and wheat are two of the most important food crops in the world, which together provide over 40% of the world’s human caloric intake. With the changing global environments and the expanding human populations, more new varieties of rice and wheat varieties with enhanced grain quality and grain yield are needed to be bred to fulfill the food and bioenergy demand of the world’s 9.6 billion population by 2050. Predictions suggest that crop yields will have to be double while ensuring nutritional requirements to adequately feed an increasing global population. The world is facing many nutritional challenges such as increasing non-communicable diseases, hunger, and malnutrition, and the need for food security and nutritional security is continuously increasing. Moreover, these crop residues can be used to produce bioethanol or butanol as bioenergy which will produce greater economic and social benefits.

The architecture of rice and wheat is mainly determined by tiller angle, tiller number, plant height, and inflorescence morphology, and in turn, affects grain yield through photosynthetic efficiency at the population level as well as through the biomass and harvest index. Many breeders agree that developing varieties with better architecture and biomass is a feasible strategy for breaking the yield ceiling. In addition, varieties with high grain quality are considered one of the most important breeding targets in rice and wheat.

This Research Topic will focus on genetics, genomics, and breeding approaches being used to improve the plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield traits in rice and wheat.

Biomass, grain quality, and grain yield are all complex quantitative traits controlled by polygenes. Several studies have been conducted to unravel and understand the genetics of these traits in rice and wheat. Therefore, several genes have been discovered and some of them have been deployed into released varieties through molecular breeding programs. However, the molecular mechanisms and genetic regulatory networks have remained largely unknown. Therefore, the identification and characterization of genes involved in the control of plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield will not only uncover the genetic basis of rice and wheat agronomic traits but also provide valuable genetic information for breeding.

This Research Topic of Frontiers in Plant Science aims at the genetic progress in rice and wheat plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield, and in the breeding practice of super high yield and improved quality varieties with ideal plant architecture.

In this Research Topic, we welcome all article types that show the recent research on genetics, genomics, and breeding of plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield traits in rice and wheat especially those that focus on:

(1) Development and use of molecular markers for plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield related traits in rice and wheat
(2) QTL mapping and genetic analysis of plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield related traits
(3) Genome-wide association studies for genetic dissection of plant architecture, biomass, grain quality, and grain yield related traits in rice and wheat
(4) Cloning and function analysis of key genes involved in plant architecture, biomass, grain quality and grain yield;
(5) Breeding of rice and wheat with desirable plant architecture, improved grain quality, and increased grain yield
(6) Genome editing strategy for breeding new varieties

Keywords: Rice, Plant Architecture, Grain Yield, QTL, Genome Editing, Wheat, Biomass, Grain Quality, Gene Cloning, Breeding

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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