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Genetic diversity is indispensable for plant breeding to improve crops
Author(s) -
Swarup Shilpa,
Cargill Edward J.,
Crosby Kate,
Flagel Lex,
Kniskern Joel,
Glenn Kevin C.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.1002/csc2.20377
Subject(s) - biology , genetic diversity , canola , microbiology and biotechnology , food security , plant breeding , biotic stress , agronomy , cultivar , population , agroforestry , abiotic stress , agriculture , ecology , demography , sociology , biochemistry , gene
Plant breeders face multiple global challenges that affect food security, productivity, accessibility, and nutritional quality. One major challenge for plant breeders is developing environmentally resilient crop cultivars in response to rapid shifts in cultivation conditions and resources due to climate change. Plant breeders rely on different crop genetic resources, breeding tools, and methods to incorporate genetic diversity into commercialized cultivars. Breeders use genetic diversity to develop new cultivars with improved agronomics, such as higher yield, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and to improve the nutritional quality of foods for a growing world population. Plant breeders perform the essential task of strategic integration of new genetic diversity while preserving important economic traits of individual crops such as relative maturity (maize, Zea mays L.), fruit type (tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), plant type (lettuce Lactuca sativa L.), and habitat type (canola, Brassica napus L.) that are highly specialized for specific consumer preferences or market needs. This review provides an industry perspective on how genetic diversity is incorporated for crop improvement by (a) using a real‐life example to highlight the vast amount of genetic diversity that exists in plants, (b) providing a conceptual example to illustrate strategic challenges a breeder faces while incorporating diversity, (c) describing how and why it can a decade or more to incorporate diversity into commercialized cultivars, even when advanced tools and technologies are used, and (d) sharing factors that plant breeders consider when applying various tools, including genome editing, at different stages of plant breeding.