Utilizing Genetic Resources for Agronomic Traits Improvement

Dear Colleagues,

Plant genetic resources are the raw material for plant breeders. Landraces and wild relatives were and still are used to supply interesting alleles to improve agronomic traits: dwarfing, resistance to plant pathogenic agents (fungi, bacteria, viruses, parasite plants, insects, etc.), tolerance to abiotic stresses (cold, heat, drought, salinity, etc.), longer shelf life and bruising tolerance in fruits, etc. For instance, dwarfing, photoperiod insensitivity, and resistance to rusts have been crucial traits for wheat breeding in the last 60 years. Repeated backcrossings and marker-assisted selection help breeders to transfer those alleles into elite cultivars. The need for new alleles in plant breeding is continuous since new virulent races of plant pathogens arise constantly, global warming requires heat tolerant genotypes, and the demands of the market (mechanized harvesting, handling, quality, etc.) are permanently evolving. In this Special Issue, we aim to publish papers related to the use of plant genetic resources for key agronomic traits in the current plant breeding scenario. The genotypes carrying those traits may be utilized in a breeding program for obtaining a new cultivar.

Dr. Fernando Martinez-Moreno
Dr. Magdalena Ruiz
Dr. María B. Picó
Dr. María-José Díez
Guest Editors

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