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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #295219
Title: Can genomics boost productivity of orphan crops?

Author
item VARSHNEY, RAJEEV - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India
item RIBAUT, JEAN-MARCEL - International Maize & Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
item Buckler, Edward - Ed
item TUBEROSA, ROBERTO - University Of Bologna
item RAFALSKI, ANTONI - Dupont Pioneer Hi-Bred
item LANGRIDGE, PETER - Adelaide University

Submitted to: Nature Biotechnology
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/19/2012
Publication Date: 12/7/2012
Publication URL: http://DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2440
Citation: Varshney, R.K., Ribaut, J., Buckler IV, E.S., Tuberosa, R., Rafalski, A.J., Langridge, P. 2012. Can genomics boost productivity of orphan crops?. Nature Biotechnology. 30:1172-1176.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Advances in genomics over the past 20 years have enhanced the precision and efficiency of breeding programs in many temperate cereal crops. One of the first applications of genomics-assisted breeding has been the introgression of loci for resistance to biotic stresses or major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for tolerance to abiotic stresses into elite genotypes through marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC). For instance, introgression of a major QTL for submergence tolerance (Sub1) into widely grown rice varieties has substantially improved yield in >15 million hectares of rain-fed low-land rice in South and Southeast Asia. Despite this success story, the overall adoption of genomics-assisted breeding in developing countries is still limited especially for complex traits like yield under environmental stress in several other crops. Although maize, rice and wheat dominate global food production, several other crops are of great importance for some communities in developing countries. This group includes sorghum and millets, groundnut, cowpea, common bean, chickpea, pigeonpea, cassava, yam and sweet potato (Table 1). As they are not extensively traded and receive little attention from researchers compared to the main crops, these important crops for marginal environments of Africa, Asia and South America are often referred to as 'orphan crops'. Breeding for orphan crops is lagging behind major crops although they are key staple crops in many low-income countries where small-holder farmers cannot afford to buy improved seed. The magnitude of the breeding effort for those orphan crops and the capacity of adopting modern technologies is extremely variable across developing countries and generally directly related to the health of the national economy.