Speed Breeding- An Emerging Trend in Crop Improvement

During the past century, traditional breeding programs resulted in several significantly better types in a variety of unique breeding programs around the world. The plant develops slowly because of the lengthy breeding cycle, which can take ten to fifteen years from the cross to cultivar release. That stated it is quite difficult to combine multiple polygenic traits using traditional breeding methods. Speed breeding is a technique that reduces the length of the breeding cycle by lengthening the photoperiod and adjusting other glasshouse growth factors like temperature, soil type, spacing, etc. Rapid generational advancement is made possible by this strategy. Speed breeding yields 3 to 9 generations annually as opposed to 1 to 2 generations annually using standard selection processes. Instead of 2-3 generations per year under typical glasshouse conditions, speed breeding can produce up to 6 generations per year for spring wheat, durum wheat, barley, chickpea, and pea, and 4 generations for canola. Speed breeding, thus, permits the rapid generation of stable and homozygous genotypes.