In India, breeding programs in major crops has reached to a point of diminishing returns and it is feared that unless new diversity is infused into the breeding germplasm, we face catastrophic reductions in productivity if the climate turns adverse. Wild species and exotic cultivated germplasm hold a wealth of alleles. There is currently a major gulf between the operations of plant genetic resource collections and modern plant breeding that is potentially a major restriction in the development of crop varieties that are needed to meet novel agronomic and environmental challenges. This disconnect can be bridged through a process known as pre-breeding that is based upon the characterization of genetic resources for traits of interest and then transferring these traits into suitable, agronomically adapted genetic backgrounds. Pre-breeding” attempts to reset the genetic diversity of crops by reintroducing genetic variation that has been left behind1.

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that limits rice productivity worldwide. Na+ and K+ homeostasis, Na+ exclusion, and Na+ compartmentation are key mechanisms for salt tolerance response in ‘Nona Bokra’(donor) ILs developed in two genetic backgrounds (Cheniere & Jupiter). The genotypic and phenotypic data were analyzed using QTL IciMapping software v.4.1 for identification of QTLs for seedling stage salinity tolerance. Since the selected pre-breeding lines do not possess any undesirable domestication traits, these lines can be valuable resources for rice breeding programs to design salt-tolerant varieties in the future2.

Verticillium wilt represents the main phytosanitary limitation in olive orchards. A study evaluated wild-type olive and its related subspecies along with cross derivatives from crossing susceptible with the wild type. They screened them against Verticillium keeping Picual (susceptible) and Frontoio (resistant) as controls. Relative Susceptibility Index was used for the final classification of genotypes. Thirteen genotypes were categorized as resistant among them eight were from wild species, indicating that identification of a high level of resistance in wild type helps the breeder in managing the disease3.

For field crop improvement, sufficient genetic diversity exists in the form of landraces and wild relatives, which carry several useful genes for cultivar improvement. However, utilization of these resources in breeding programs is time-consuming and resource-demanding. To overcome this, pre-breeding activities should be initiated to generate new genetic variability using promising landraces and wild relatives for use by breeders in crop improvement programs1.

   References:

1. MEENA, A.K., GURJAR, D. AND KUMHAR, B.L., 2017, Pre-breeding is a bridge between wild species and improved genotypes—a review. Chem. Sci. Rev. Lett6(22):1141-1151.

2. PURAM, V.R.R., ONTOY, J. AND SUBUDHI, P.K., 2018, Identification of QTLs for salt tolerance traits and     prebreeding lines with enhanced salt tolerance in an introgression line population of rice. Plant Mol. Biol. Rep.36:695-709.

3. ROCIO, A. C., DOLORES, R. J., LORENZO, L., JOSE, B. A., RAUL, D. R. AND ANGJELINA, B., 2015, Pre breeding for resistance to Verticillium wilt in olive: Fishing in the wild relative gene pool. Crop Protection., 75:25-33.