Guidelines and Priorities for Breeding and Sustainable Production of Vegetable Cultivars
Cutting-edge Research in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 5,
Page 22-54
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cras/v5/6602D
Abstract
Vegetables are key ingredients in a well-balanced nutritious diet. Their worldwide rising consumption reveals the awareness of their health benefits. The production and marketing of vegetables crops is undergoing continuous change globally. This is mainly due to the growing demands of consumers for safe and healthy vegetables, and the growth in scale and influence of supermarkets chains. Horticultural science can respond to many of these challenges through research, breeding and innovation that can seek to gain more efficient methods of crop production, refined post-harvest storage and handling methods, newer and higher value vegetable cultivars and demonstration of their health benefits.
Plant breeding is long-term endeavour that require dedicated expertise and infrastructure plus substantial and stable funding. High tech seed industry is a key part of modern horticulture that combines, seed production, genetic improvement, seed production, storage, and distribution. A few multinational corporations, dominate the global vegetable seed trade. Vegetable breeding has to address and satisfy the needs of both the consumer and the producer. Plant breeding provides means for introducing host plant resistance, adapting crops to stressful environments, and developing cultivars with the desired produce quality. Innovation in vegetable breeding depends on specific knowledge, the development and application of new technologies, access to genetic resources, and capital to utilise them. The driving force behind this innovation is acquiring or increasing market share. Access to technology, as well as biodiversity, is essential for the development of new vegetable cultivars. Active and positive connections between the private and public breeding sectors and large-scale gene banks are required to avoid a possible conflict involving breeders’ rights, gene preservation and erosion.
Horticulturists will need to develop cultural practices and vegetable breeders to breed vegetables for a multifunctional horticulture (diversity, health promotion, post-harvest, year-round suply, etc.) and to cope with harsher climate conditions and lower inputs than they have come to expect. Improved production systems that can cope with climate extremes must allow vegetables to produce under high temperatures, greater drought stress, increased soil salinity, and periodic flooding. This will involve a combination of improved vegetable cultivars and modified production systems.
Keywords:
- Vegetable production
- health benefits
- marketing
- breeding strategy
- conventional selection
- marker-assisted selection
- hybrids
- genetic engineering
- sustainability
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