Muraleedhar S. Aski – författare

This edited volume covers the application of modern breeding tools for developing climate-smart pulse crop cultivars. The primary focus is on utilizing available genomic resources and next-generation breeding technologies such as genome-wide association mapping, genomic selection, genome editing, and accelerated breeding pipelines for the rapid development of stress-resilient, systems-specific pulse cultivars.

Pulses contribute to 10% of global daily protein intake and 5% of energy. Their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and serve as an alternative protein source to meat makes them crucial in combating global warming. With the global population expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, pulses production needs to increase by at least 70% to meet demand. However, pulses production is facing growing biotic and abiotic challenges, exacerbated by climate change. Thus, developing next-generation climate-smart cultivars is essential to ensure food and nutritional security. Recent efforts by global and national breeding communities have led to the discovery of new genomic resources, shifting breeding from phenotype-based to genome-based approaches. These advances integrate rapid generation advancement pipelines with genomic-assisted breeding, trait mapping, and genome editing tools.

This book is valuable for agricultural scientists, scholars, and graduate students involved in pulse crop improvement. It also serves as a reference for policymakers and research grant managers in formulating pulse research programs.

This edited book covers the application of modern genomics tools for developing climate-smart oilseed cultivars. The book''s prime focus is on utilizing available oilseed genomic resources and application of next-generation genetics and breeding tools, viz. genome-wise association mapping, genomic selection, genome editing and accelerated breeding pipelines and their efficacy for rapid development and delivery of stress-resilient oilseeds cultivars.

Oilseeds are crucial for human and animal nutrition and cater to diverse industrial applications. Besides oil content, the oilseed meal possesses proteins and a higher proportion of essential amino acids, which benefit human well-being. Additionally, the contribution of oilseeds towards renewable energy mitigates the risk of climate change by reducing carbon footprint. Hence, it is imperative to enhance oilseeds production from the current 178 to 282 million tons by 2050 to meet the demands of both the population and the environment. The current genomics era delivered various genomic resources in oilseed crops, which resulted in the discovery of genes for several agronomic and stress-resilience traits and resistance to pests and diseases. Further, the availability of next-generation plant breeding tools, such as genomic selection, genome editing, and speed breeding, are being implemented along with traditional and marked assisted selection. Thus, the book is framed to compile the importance and utility of next-generation breeding tools for enhancing stress resilience in oilseed crops in the climate change era.

The book is exciting and valuable to national and international agricultural scientists, scholars and graduate students associated with oilseed crops improvement in specific and field crops in generic. The book also serves as reference in formulating various oilseed improvement programs for policymakers and research grant managers.