Frontiers in Horticulture (Aug 2024)

From wild to mild and back again: envisioning a new model of crop improvement strategies

  • Richard C. Pratt,
  • Michael Benjamin Kantar,
  • Nathan Fumia,
  • Amol N. Nankar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fhort.2024.1409398
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

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Climate change creates a leverage point in plant breeding. We must rethink the way we employ plant breeding, utilize genetic diversity, and prioritize edible plant production across the landscape. A long-term strategy to ‘redirect’ the process of crop domestication that prioritizes the generation of abiotic and biotic stress-tolerant cultivars is needed. A proposed neo-domestication strategy is presented as a case study. It entails the re-domestication of chile by retro-crossing of modern plant cultivars with landraces and a desert-adapted wild relative. An organized, collaborative effort could reintroduce stress tolerance genes that will render new cultivars more tolerant to challenges imposed by climate change. Purposeful populations generated using a broad spectrum of genetic diversity could also provide the basis for an evolutionary–participatory plant breeding process. The process must recognize the need for a paradigm shift in our resource allocation and breeding strategies. To succeed, a shared vision for neo-domestication of chile must recognize the importance of human cultural values and the need for sustained cooperation among stakeholders.

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