Use of wild relatives in breeding programs to develop climate resilient wheat

Abstract

The changing climate is having a significant impact on wheat production. This impact is not limited to increasing heat and drought stress but also includes other stresses, extreme weather events, and adverse conditions. To meet the growing food demands of a rising population, wheat breeding requires incorporating new, diversified resources that can produce high-quality wheat in various stressful environments. Wild relatives that are genetically similar are countless resources for improving yield-related traits and increasing tolerance to environmental stress. By using wild relatives to introduce genes into widely grown crops and contribute to environmental tolerance, we can develop crops resilient to climate change. In this chapter, we confer the impression of climate change on wheat production, as well as its wild relatives. We also highlight the challenges of hybridization, such as genetic distance, crossover frequencies, and selecting desirable traits while minimizing linkage drag. Finally, we deliver an index of valuable traits that could exist in these species and potentially be exploited through interspecific hybridization approaches. Here is an outline of how introgression works and what factors distress the breeding approach. We will also discuss optimization methods to increase the chances of recovering desired climate-resilient introgressive lines in wheat improvement programs.