Hybrid breeding in wheat: technologies to improve hybrid wheat seed production

• Published in: Journal of experimental botany 2013-12, Vol.64 (18), p.5411-5428
• Main Authors: Whitford, Ryan, Fleury, Delphine, Reif, Jochen C, Garcia, Melissa, Okada, Takashi, Korzun, Viktor, Langridge, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; arable soils; Biological and medical sciences; Breeding; Breeding - methods; Chimera; Corn; Crops, Agricultural - genetics; DARWIN REVIEW; fertilizers; flowering; flowers; Flowers - genetics; Flowers - physiology; food security; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genetics; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; grain yield; Heterosis; Heterosis. Floral biology applications: apomixy, male sterility, incompatibility, varia; Hybrid Vigor; Hybridity; hybrids; male fertility; Male infertility; new technology; outcrossing; Plant breeding: fundamental aspects and methodology; Plant Infertility - genetics; Plant physiology and development; Plants; Plants, Genetically Modified; pollen; production costs; Seeds - genetics; Self-Fertilization; selfing; Transgenic plants; Triticum - genetics; Wheat
• ISSN: 0022-0957; 1460-2431
• DOI: 10.1093/jxb/ert333

Global food security demands the development and delivery of new technologies to increase and secure cereal production on finite arable land without increasing water and fertilizer use. There are several options for boosting wheat yields, but most offer only small yield increases. Wheat is an inbred plant, and hybrids hold the potential to deliver a major lift in yield and will open a wide range of new breeding opportunities. A series of technological advances are needed as a base for hybrid wheat programmes. These start with major changes in floral development and architecture to separate the sexes and force outcrossing. Male sterility provides the best method to block self-fertilization, and modifying the flower structure will enhance pollen access. The recent explosion in genomic resources and technologies provides new opportunities to overcome these limitations. This review outlines the problems with existing hybrid wheat breeding systems and explores molecular-based technologies that could improve the hybrid production system to reduce hybrid seed production costs, a prerequisite for a commercial hybrid wheat system.