Pre-breeding plays a critical role in enhancing crop improvement by integrating desirable traits from wild and un adapted genetic sources into current breeding lines. This chapter underscores the significance of pre-breeding as a crucial link between gene banks, which house diverse genetic materials and plant breeding programs focused on developing new crop varieties. Core strategies involve the characterization of landrace populations, developing new parent populations, and the introgression of beneficial traits through various breeding methodologies. Understanding the gene pool concept is essential for sourcing genetic diversity. Pre-breeding encompasses techniques such as gene pyramiding, mutagenesis, polyploidy, genetic mapping, and the advancement of breeding technologies, including molecular markers and genetic transformation. The primary objective is to boost genetic diversity, enhance crop resilience to environmental stresses, and meet global agricultural demands by combining traditional breeding methods with modern molecular tools. Looking ahead, there is a pressing need for the collection and characterization of wild species, comprehensive gene/genome mapping, and the use of bioinformatics to address complex traits in crop improvement.
Pre breeding, landrace populations, genetic mapping, comprehensive gene/genome mapping
Acosta-Gallegos, J., Kelly, J. D., & Gepts, P. (2007). Prebreeding in common bean and use of genetic diversity from wild germplasm. Crop Science, 47, 44-59.
Anderson, E. (1949). Introgressive hybridization. New York, Chapman and Hall, Ltd., London: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Begna, T., Teressa, T., & Gichile, H. (2023). Pre-breeding's role in crop genetic improvement. International Journal of Research Studies in Agricultural Sciences, 10(9), 1-15.
Cantrell, R. P., Christopher, R., Dowswell, C. R., & Paliwal, R. L. (1996). Maize in the third world. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Cooper, H. D., Spillane, C., & Hodgkin, T. (Eds.). (2001). Broadening the genetic base of crop production. Wallingford: CABI Publishing in cooperation with FAO and IPGRI.
Dalrymple, D. G. (1986). Development and spread of high-yielding wheat varieties in developing countries (7th ed.). Washington, DC: U.S. Agency for International Development.
Falk, D. E. (2010). Generating and maintaining diversity at the elite level in crop breeding. Genome, 53(11), 982-991.
FAO. (2007). Adaptation to climate change in agriculture, forestry and fisheries: Perspective, framework and priorities. Rome, Italy: Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate Change, FAO.
Gorjanc, G., Jenko, J., Hearne, S. J., & Hickey, J. M. (2016). Initiating maize pre-breeding programs using genomic selection to harness polygenic variation from landrace populations. BMC Genomics, 17(30).
Haghighi, K. R., & Ascher, P. D. (1988). Fertile, intermediate hybrids between Phaseolus vulgaris and P. acutifolius from congruity backcrossing. Sexual Plant Reproduction, 1, 51-58.
Hamilton, R. S. (2001). Public pre-breeding: The case of rice in IRRI.
Harlan, J. R., & de Wet, J. M. (1971). Toward a rational classification of cultivated plants. Taxon, 20(4), 509-517.
Haussmann, B. I. G., Parzies, H. K., Prester, T., Susic, Z., & Miedaner, T. (2004). Plant genetic resources in crop improvement. Plant Genetic Resources, 2(1), 3-21.
ICRISAT. (2004). Success story, January 22, 2004. Patancheru, Hyderabad, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. Retrieved from www.icrisat.org
Jain, S. K., & Omprakash. (2019). Pre-breeding: A bridge between genetic resources and crop improvement. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 8(2), 1998-2007.
Kannenberg, L. W. (2000). HOPE, a hierarchical, open-ended system for broadening the breeding base of maize.
Knight, R. L. (1945). The theory and application of the backcross technique in cotton breeding. Journal of Genetics, 47(1), 76-86.
Kumar, V., & Shukla, Y. M. (2014). Pre-breeding: Its applications in crop improvement. Research News for U (16), 2250-3668.
Lokanathan, T. R., Singh, P., Agarwal, D. K., Mohan, P., Singh, S. B., Gotmare, V., & Singh, V. V. (2003). Genetic enhancement in cotton. Technical Bulletin from CICR, 26.
Luciano, L. N., &Peterinain, E. (2000). Pre-breeding: A link between genetic resources and maize breeding. Scientia Agricola, 57(3), 1-10.
Meena, A. K., Gurjar, D., & Kumhar, B. L. (2017). Pre-breeding is a bridge between wild species and improved genotypes: A review. Chemical Science Review and Letters, 6(22), 1141-1151.
Meena, J. K., & Kumar, R. (2017). Crop improvement through pre-breeding technologies. Rashtriya Krishi, 12(1).
Nass, L. L., &Paterniani, E. (2000). Pre-breeding: A link between genetic resources and maize breeding. Scientia Agricola, 57, 581-587.
Plunkett, D. L., Smith, N. J. H., Williams, J. T., & Anishetty, N. M. (1987). Gene banks and the world's food. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Richey, F. D. (1927). The convergent improvement of selfed lines of corn. The American Naturalist, 61(676), 430-449.
Ronen, G., Carmel, G. L., Zamir, D., & Hirschberg, J. (2000). An alternative pathway to carotene formation in plant chromoplasts discovered by map-based cloning and old gold color mutation in tomato. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97, 11102-11107.
Sebolt, A. M., Shoemaker, R. C., & Diers, B. W. (2000). Analysis of a quantitative trait locus allele from wild soybean that increases seed protein concentration in soybean. Crop Science, 40, 1438-1444.
Seetharam, A. (2007). Pre-breeding: An important step in the effective utilization of conserved germplasm. National workshop on utilization of wild mulberry genetic resources, November 2-3, 2007, 9-16.
Sharma, S. (2017). Prebreeding using wild species for genetic enhancement of grain legumes at ICRISAT. Crop Science, 57.
Shimeli, H., & Laing, M. (2012). Timelines in conventional crop improvement: Pre-breeding and breeding procedures. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 6(11), 1542-1549.
Simmonds, N. W. (1984). Decentralized selection. Sugar Cane, 6, 8-10.
Tanksley, S. D., & McCouch, S. (1997). Seed banks and molecular maps: Unlocking genetic potential from the wild. Science, 277, 1063-1066.
Tikader, A., & Dandin, S. B. (2001). Breeding behavior of some wild mulberry. Indian Silk, 40(1), 9-10.
Tikader, A., & Kamble, C. K. (2007). Survival potential of different mulberry (Morus spp.) accessions. Geobios, 34, 282-286.
Tikader, A., & Rao, A. A. (2003). Inter and intra-specific hybridization studies in mulberry (Morus spp.) germplasm. Bulletin of Indian Academy of Sericulture, 6(17-22).
Tikader, A., & Thangavelu, K. (2002). Breeding performance of some wild mulberry (Morus spp.). In Proceedings of the National Conference on Recent Trends in Plant Science Research (pp. 106-111). November 14-15.
Valkoun, J. J. (2001). Wheat pre-breeding using wild progenitors. Euphytica, 119, 17-23.
Vellve, R. (1992). Saving the seeds: Genetic diversity and European agriculture. London: Earthscan Publications.
Wang, R. C., Ster, A., Hey, L., Luke, L., & Deobley, J. (1999). The limits of selection during maize domestication. Nature, 398, 236-239.
Wehrhahn, C., & Allard, R. W. (1965). The detection and measurement of the effects of individual genes involved in the inheritance of a quantitative character in wheat. Genetics, 51, 109-119.
Witcombe, J. R., Joshi, A., Joshi, K. D., & Sthapit, B. R. (1996). Farmer participatory crop improvement. I. Varietal selection and breeding methods and their impact on biodiversity. Experimental Agriculture, 32(4), 445-460.
