Recent Advances in Breeding, Genetic Improvement, and Quality Evaluation of Forage and Turfgrass

Dear Colleagues,

Recent years have witnessed remarkable progress in plant breeding, driven by rapid innovations in modern biotechnology and molecular tools. Forage and turfgrass species, which are fundamental to livestock production and urban greening, possess unique biological characteristics that distinguish them from annual grain crops. Most of these species feature complex genomes characterized by polyploidy, high heterozygosity, large genome sizes, and abundant repetitive sequences, posing substantial challenges for genetic dissection and molecular breeding. These genomic complexities, combined with perennial growth habits, vegetative propagation, and intricate stress responsive mechanisms, demand tailored strategies for trait dissection and cultivar development. Breakthroughs in dissecting the genetic architecture underlying key traits, including biomass yield, forage quality, turf performance, and abiotic/biotic stress resistance, have opened new avenues for precision breeding. The functional characterization of trait-governing genes and elucidation of their regulatory networks are now central to accelerating genetic gain in these economically essential yet understudied species. This topic aims to highlight advanced research specifically dedicated to the genetic improvement of forage and turfgrass, with a strong emphasis on bridging fundamental genetic findings with practical breeding applications, particularly in the context of their genomic complexity.

Scope

(1) Precise identification and evaluation of germplasm resources: employing phenomics, biochemical profiling, and other diagnostic tools to assess genetic diversity and select elite accessions for breeding programs.

(2) Genetic dissection of complex agronomic traits: investigating the inheritance and molecular basis of forage yield, nutritional quality, turfgrass aesthetic and functional traits (color, density, uniformity, wear tolerance), as well as resilience to drought, salinity, flooding, and major diseases/pests.

(3) Functional gene mining and regulatory mechanism elucidation: conducting gene cloning, expression profiling, and in-depth dissection of metabolic and regulatory pathways to identify key genes and clarify the molecular regulatory networks that determine the formation, stability, and plasticity of key agronomic traits.

(4) Molecular marker development and QTL/GWAS mapping: using linkage and association mapping to locate quantitative trait loci for important agronomic and quality traits.

(5) Marker-assisted selection (MAS) breeding: establishing cost-effective and high-throughput marker systems to accelerate variety development, with particular focus on combining multiple desirable traits in perennial forage and turfgrass cultivars under complex genetic backgrounds.

(6) Innovation of breeding technologies for genetic improvement of crop traits: deploying physical and chemical mutagenesis and haploid breeding to produce new genetic variations for species trait improvement. It also includes the application of CRISPR/Cas9 and other precision gene editing tools to achieve targeted enhancement of crop agronomic traits.

(7) Breeding for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance: integrating physiological, biochemical, and molecular approaches to develop resilient forage/turfgrass cultivars that perform reliably under changing climatic conditions and intensive management regimes

Prof. Dr. Zinian Wu
Prof. Dr. Xuemin Wang
Dr. Fang Tang
Dr. Chunyu Tian
Topic Editors