Genetic and Genomic Strategies for Enhancing Seed Quality and Grain Nutrition in Cereal Crops
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2026 | Viewed by 16
Special Issue Editors
Interests: rice germplasm; gene discovery; nutritional quality; genomic breeding; seed quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Given the increasing global population growth and climate change, enhancing grain quality and nutrition of staple crops (such as rice, maize, and wheat) has become pivotal for ensuring food security. Food security requires adequate, healthy foods in sufficient quantity, quality, and variety for both humanity and the planet. Advances in genetic research and genomic breeding technologies provide innovative solutions for developing green, high-yield, and superior cereal varieties. Recently, scientists have proposed an initiative of developing green, nutritious super rice using genomic breeding strategies, which include genomic selection, integrated marker-assisted selection, whole-genome sequencing, and gene editing. This initiative aims to improve the nutritional value of rice grains, address the severe health problem of malnutrition, and relieve the pressure on high-yield targets by minimizing resource depletion and environmental impact. This Special Issue of Plants will highlight the latest advances in leveraging multi-omic approaches to decipher the genetic variation in various nutrients, metabolites, and bioactive substances. The issue will also cover the efficient exploration of valuable green and nutritional traits (genes), the elucidation of the genetic basis and molecular regulatory networks of multiple nutrients in whole grains, and the optimization of breeding strategies for developing new varieties of cereal crops with enhanced adaptability, high yield, and nutrient density.
Prof. Dr. Sibin Yu
Dr. Jauhar Ali
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- whole grain
- nutrition
- bioactive components
- stress tolerance
- high-yielding
- cereal crops
- genomic selection
- breeding strategies
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