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Insight into the Molecular Breeding Research Status for Crop Improvement in India: Prospects and Achievements

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Abstract

The development of molecular marker technology in the 1980s changed the fate of plant breeding and greatly complemented crop improvement. The information generated from molecular markers (QTLs mapping and association mapping) and genome sequencing could construct a foundation for the genetic improvement of complex traits in crops through molecular breeding approaches. This review is intended to be a synopsis and up-to-date coverage of achievements and ongoing molecular plant breeding research in the Indian Council of Agriculture Research-Agricultural Universities (ICAR-AUs) for the improvement of biotic and abiotic stress, post-harvest, and nutritional quality attributes in plants. India’s contributions to international crop plant genome sequencing initiatives were also covered in this assessment. The challenge of achieving food security and nutritional quality has prompted ICAR-AUs to step up their molecular plant breeding research in recent years.

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  1. Ashwini Zadokar and Pankaj Kumar have contributed equally to this work and share the first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department, of Biotechnology, Dr. Y.S, Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Ashwini Zadokar & Pankaj Kumar

  2. Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, 176061, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Arun Kumar

  3. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, 201002, India

    Arun Kumar

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  1. Ashwini Zadokar
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  4. Rajnish Sharma
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PK conceived the idea and designed the article; AZ and PK are responsible for literature mining and wrote the draft manuscript; PK, RS, and AK reviewed and edited the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pankaj Kumar.

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Zadokar, A., Kumar, P., Kumar, A. et al. Insight into the Molecular Breeding Research Status for Crop Improvement in India: Prospects and Achievements. Plant Mol Biol Rep 41, 537–558 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-023-01395-5

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