Wheat end-use quality: State of art, genetics, genomics-assisted improvement, future challenges, and opportunities

Abstract

Wheat is the most important source of food, feed, and nutrition for humans and livestock around the world. The expanding population has increasing demands for various wheat products with different quality attributes requiring the development of wheat cultivars that fulfills specific demands of end-users including millers and bakers in the international market. Therefore, wheat breeding programs continually strive to meet these quality standards by screening their improved breeding lines every year. However, the direct measurement of various end-use quality traits such as milling and baking qualities requires a large quantity of grain, traits-specific expensive instruments, time, and an expert workforce which limits the screening process. With the advancement of sequencing technologies, the study of the entire plant genome is possible, and genetic mapping techniques such as quantitative trait locus mapping and genome-wide association studies have enabled researchers to identify loci/genes associated with various end-use quality traits in wheat. Modern breeding techniques such as marker-assisted selection and genomic selection allow the utilization of these genomic resources for the prediction of quality attributes with high accuracy and efficiency which speeds up crop improvement and cultivar development endeavors. In addition, the candidate gene approach through functional as well as comparative genomics has facilitated the translation of the genomic information from several crop species including wild relatives to wheat. This review discusses the various end-use quality traits of wheat, their genetic control mechanisms, the use of genetics and genomics approaches for their improvement, and future challenges and opportunities for wheat breeding.

Reviewing the essential roles of remote phenotyping, GWAS and explainable AI in practical marker-assisted selection for drought-tolerant winter wheat breeding

“…Despite these advancements, MAS is still extensively used to efficiently screen for traits of interest. For instance, MAS has been employed in wheat breeding to improve resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and to maintain yield potential ( Song et al., 2023 ; Subedi et al., 2023 ). A notable advantage of MAS may be that, compared to the genome-wide approach of GS, only a few markers ultimately need to be used by the breeder, making MAS –despite its limitations– an affordable solution for practical breeding.…”

Development of MAS-derived wheat genotypes with high GPC, PHST and rust resistance

“…Many breeders have tried utilizing traditional breeding techniques for improvement of GPC, which has only marginally improved. The goal of increasing GPC faces challenges due to a negative correlation between GPC and grain yield, as well as the complex control of GPC by multiple genes/QTL, each with small effect and poor heritability (Simmonds 1995;Groos et al 2003;Balyan et al 2013;Subedi et al 2023). Despite this, signi cant progress has been made during the last 20 years due to the discovery of a key gene, Gpc-B1, for high protein content in tetraploid wheat.…”