Unlocking Crop Potential: Speed Breeding and its Synergies with Modern Breeding Techniques

Author: Siddhanath Shendekar, Nandkumar Kute, Banoth Madhu, Durgeshwari Gadpayale, Megha Meshram, Basavaraj P.S., Abhimanyu Ingle and Arvind Totre

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Abstract

The global population is projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and 10.4 billion by 2100, posing a significant challenge to food and nutritional security. Further, malnutrition and climate change factors are exacerbating this challenge. In the past, classical plant breeding methods have played a crucial role in addressing food security however, currently these are not sufficient to meet the food demand of ever-increasing population. Therefore, novel breeding technologies, like speed breeding, offer a promising solution. The key driving factors of speed breeding are manipulation of crop photoperiods, accelerating plant development and reduces generation turn over time. It mainly relies on intense lighting regimes to expedite crop growth while maintaining plant health. Speed breeding allows to take up multiple generations of crops, such as wheat, pea, barley, and chickpea, in a year. This review explores the progress made through speed breeding and its integration with other modern breeding methods to address challenges posed by population growth and climate change. Complementary strategies like shuttle breeding, doubled haploid technology, off-season crops, embryo culture and immature seed germination are also discussed. Overall, speed breeding offers a potential solution to address global food security and climate change challenges by reducing generation time and accelerating variety development.

Keywords

Speed breeding, photoperiod, temperature and generation

Conclusion

Speed breeding is an important technique to screen thousands of plant population in minimum period and less space to tackle the problems of climate fluctuations and global food security. Due to this technique it is possible to bred several varieties which can withstand in the era of climate change to resist the biotic and abiotic stresses within short period of time. Speed breeding can be combined with other modern breeding techniques such as plant phenotyping, marker assisted selection, marker assisted back crossing, genomic selection, genome editing and express edit to bred climate-smart crop varieties. Speed breeding protocols for short day and horticultural crops need to be optimized. Optimization of speed breeding protocols in neglected crops along with training of personnel for speed breeding are key aspects which need to be focused in future. By using speed breeding with modern breeding tools it’s possible to bring second green revolution to feed billions of populations.

References

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How to cite this article

Siddhanath Shendekar, Nandkumar Kute, Banoth Madhu, Durgeshwari Gadpayale, Megha Meshram, Basavaraj P.S., Abhimanyu Ingle and Arvind Totre (2023). Unlocking Crop Potential: Speed Breeding and its Synergies with Modern Breeding Techniques. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(7): 89-100.