Genomic Tools in Groundnut Breeding Program: Status and Perspectives

Abstract

Groundnut, a nutrient-rich food legume, is cultivated world over. It is valued for its good quality cooking oil, energy and protein rich food, and nutrient-rich fodder. Globally, groundnut improvement programs have developed varieties to meet the preferences of farmers, traders, processors, and consumers. Enhanced yield, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and quality parameters have been the target traits. Spurt in genetic information of groundnut was facilitated by development of molecular markers, genetic, and physical maps, generation of expressed sequence tags (EST), discovery of genes, and identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for some important biotic and abiotic stresses and quality traits. The first groundnut variety developed using marker assisted breeding (MAB) was registered in 2003. Since then, USA, China, Japan, and India have begun to use genomic tools in routine groundnut improvement programs. Introgression lines that combine foliar fungal disease resistance and early maturity were developed using MAB. Establishment of marker-trait associations (MTA) paved way to integrate genomic tools in groundnut breeding for accelerated genetic gain. Genomic Selection (GS) tools are employed to improve drought tolerance and pod yield, governed by several minor effect QTLs. Draft genome sequence and low cost genotyping tools such as genotyping by sequencing (GBS) are expected to accelerate use of genomic tools to enhance genetic gains for target traits in groundnut.

Co-localization of major quantitative trait loci for pod size and weight to a 3.7 cM interval on chromosome A05 in cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

“…In a breeding program, it is very difficult and expensive to screen large number of lines across multiple environments for yield assessment. Genomics-assisted breeding (GAB) has potential to accelerate the process of achieving higher genetic gain in less time and with minimum resources using molecular markers [4, 5]. In order to deploy GAB, linked markers for PRTs is essential for developing high yielding peanut varieties.…”

“…In recent years, QTLs associated with economically important traits such as disease resistance [8, 9], drought tolerance [10, 11], seed and oil quality [12, 13], agronomic and yield traits [14, 15] were identified in peanut crop. Molecular markers tightly linked to QTLs after validation can be further deployed in GAB [5, 16]. For example, one major QTL for rust resistance was introgressed from resistant cultivar ‘GPBD 4’ into three early maturing elite varieties through marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) [17].…”

Conventional and Molecular Techniques from Simple Breeding to Speed Breeding in Crop Plants: Recent Advances and Future Outlook

“…Furthermore, SSD can be accelerated through the use of HTP [69,70]. SSD is most suitable for handling large segregating populations; while HTP tools are used in breeding programs [71]. Without undermining genetic variability and genetic development, SSD optimizes resource distribution, reducing the time spent growing crops and lowering costs associated with earlier generations' progress [72].…”

Past, Present and Future Perspectives on Groundnut Breeding in Burkina Faso

“…As in most sub-Saharan countries; no increase in genetic gain has been recorded in the last 30 years [67,68]. Furthermore, the national breeding programme struggles to keep up with the evolving breeding methods, suffering from a lack of research leadership and insufficient technical expertise [67,69]. While technology can be accessed, especially through outsourcing, the primary challenge for groundnut improvement in Burkina Faso is the capacity to assemble relevant technological options to create an optimized varietal development pipeline [67].…”

“…In principle, the target traits for groundnut improvement depend on farmers' needs, consumer and market demands, and processing requirements [69]. The most pressing need in Burkina Faso is for groundnut varieties with high yield potential that also possess tolerance to major biotic and abiotic yield-reducing factors.…”