30 Nov Pre-Breeding in Wheat: Opportunities and Challenges
गेहूँ में पूर्व-प्रजनन: संभावनाएं एवं चुनौतियां Pre‐breeding refers to all the activities designed to identify desirable characteristics and/or genes from un-adapted materials that cannot be used directly in breeding populations and to transfer these traits to an intermediate set of materials that breeders can use further in developing new varieties. Crop wild relatives have a high level of genetic diversity with rare alleles that enabled them to survive in natural and adverse environments. Most plant breeders fear in using exotic or un-adapted material due to its initial detrimental effects like linkage drag on elite breeding material. It is a necessary first step in the use of diversity arising from wild relatives and other un-adapted materials. Pre-breeding attempts to reset the genetic diversity of crops by reintroducing genetic variation that has been left behind. The Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of major wheat breeding programs across the globe is very low, particularly in recent years. It is feared that unless new diversity is infused into the breeding programs, we may face catastrophic reductions in productivity if the climate turns adverse. Wild species and exotic cultivated germplasm holds a wealth of alleles. If we can able to find them (alleles of interest) then it can be helpful to break yield barriers and enhance tolerance to stresses...