Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.) Breeding

Abstract

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is an important bast fiber crop, and a source of fiber to many industries. This crop is diploid (2n = 2x = 36) in nature, and belongs to Malvaceae family. Kenaf breeding is directed to develop the new cultivars that are better in fiber production, fiber quality, resistant to anthracnose, photo-insensitivity, resistant to salt and drought stresses, and so on. This review describes the various successes in kenaf breeding, and reports the future opportunities. The various classical and advanced breeding approaches have great potential to achieve the goals. However, the recent approaches in plant breeding and biotechnology could have more prospective to accelerate the kenaf breeding. These may include genomic selection, CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system, and other omics-based approaches. We suggest that the integration of recent approaches with classical ones has vital importance in improving the efficiency, speed, and accuracy of kenaf breeding.

Keywords

• bast fiber
• kenaf
• genetic diversity
• heterosis utilization
• biotechnology
• molecular markers