Plant Breeding through Conventional and Biotechnological Methods

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Genetics, Genomics and Breeding".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2023) | Viewed by 6314

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Applied Biosciences, The Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas, 57001 Thessaloníki, Greece
Interests: genomics; plant breeding; CRISP/R; stress tolerance; molecular genetics; population genetics molecular species identification and authentication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 261, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: tissue culture; stress tolerance; molecular plant breeding; genetic resources; seed breeding omics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Dimitra, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: genetic resources; omics; breeding yield; tree breeding; novel methods in breeding
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant breeding is one of the most important human agricultural activities. It has helped humanity to develop and improve food in terms of quality and quantity and has played a significant role in food security. Since the phenotypic selection of the first humans and farmers, our scientific knowledge has improved dramatically. Plant breeding science has moved from phenotypic selection to genetics, molecular breeding and molecular markers, and lately, from omics technologies to genome-wide association studies. Thousands of species and varieties have been sequenced and phenotyped, and new markers have been developed. Whole genomes and varieties of many plant species have been sequenced and mapped, offering unique knowledge. The vast scientific progress has gone even further from genetic engineering to editing technologies, which has introduced the scientific community to new frontiers and new challenges. Furthermore, agriculture and humanity face challenges not seen before such as climate change and human population increase. These challenges put plant production and food security under pressure to meet the needs lying ahead. Moreover, we have now learned that there is no magic solution but instead a unique solution where interdisciplinary collaboration is needed in order to progress in new innovative solutions that might be needed urgently in the view of the fast-coming challenges. This Special Issue concentrates on the recent developments in the field of plant breeding using either conventional or biotechnological methods or their combinations.

Dr. Panagiotis Madesis
Dr. Irini Nianiou-Obeidat
Prof. Dr. Ioannis Ganopoulos
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • increase yield
  • stress tolerance
  • disease resistance
  • novel methods
  • crispR/CAS9
  • omics
  • climate change

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 7288 KiB  
Article
Seed Germination Behavior, Molecular Analysis of Four Populations of Arbutus andrachne Species from Greece, and Cultivation Practice for Producing High-Quality Plants
by Elias Pipinis, Athanasios Stampoulidis, Aikaterini Angeliki Kotoula, Elias Milios, Stefanos Kostas, Stefanos Hatzilazarou, Evgenia Papaioannou, Alexandros Papaeirinaios, Kyriaki Kitikidou and Kalliopi Radoglou
Agriculture 2023, 13(7), 1428; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13071428 - 19 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1474
Abstract
Arbutus andrachne, the Greek strawberry tree, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae native to the Mediterranean basin, and is a valuable phytogenetic resource. In the context of sustainable exploitation of A. andrachne, four Greek natural populations [...] Read more.
Arbutus andrachne, the Greek strawberry tree, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae native to the Mediterranean basin, and is a valuable phytogenetic resource. In the context of sustainable exploitation of A. andrachne, four Greek natural populations of species were selected and a detailed germination protocol, molecular analysis, and cultivation practices were reported herein for the first time. The 1 month period of cold stratification or the treatment with gibberellic acid resulted in similar patterns of seed germination over a wide temperature range for all four populations. Differences among the four populations were observed in five of six morphological traits measured in 1-year-old seedlings. The 2-year-old plants grown in plastic bags (2.26 L in volume) showed superior growth rates. Foliage, but not roots, of 2-year-old seedlings supplemented with mineral fertilizers had higher fresh masses than untreated seedlings. The four A. andrachne accessions exhibited more genetic variability within than among populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Breeding through Conventional and Biotechnological Methods)
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19 pages, 2039 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Greek Tobacco Varieties (Nicotiana tabacum L.) Grown in Different Regions οf Greece
by Eleni Tsaliki, Theodoros Moysiadis, Evripidis Toumpas, Apostolos Kalivas, Ioannis Panoras and Ioannis Grigoriadis
Agriculture 2023, 13(7), 1394; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13071394 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2307
Abstract
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is an important industrial crop grown in more than one hundred countries worldwide, with high adaptability on a great variety of soils, and under quite diverse climatic conditions. Information regarding the chemical composition of tobacco leaves is important [...] Read more.
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is an important industrial crop grown in more than one hundred countries worldwide, with high adaptability on a great variety of soils, and under quite diverse climatic conditions. Information regarding the chemical composition of tobacco leaves is important for the tobacco industry because it generally may exhibit important differences among different locations. In this study, five oriental and six flue and air-cured type tobacco varieties were cultivated in five areas of Greece for three cultivation periods, in order to evaluate the effect of these three factors (variety, area, and period), on the yield as well as nicotine content, and sugar and nitrate content of the produced leaves. For the oriental type varieties, the results showed that the area exhibited significant interaction with both variety and the cultivation year, related to the yield. Concerning the nicotine content, no significant differences were observed regarding the areas of experimentation; however, it significantly varied within the varieties. In particular, the nicotine content of Katerini 53 exhibited a significant difference compared to Xanthi 2A, which had the highest content of all tested varieties. Sugar content was affected significantly by all the factors considered, with the area of Xanthi exhibiting lower values compared to all other varieties. Regarding the flue and air-cured varieties, the only interaction that was found to be statistically significant, when the yield was assessed, was between the cultivation year and the area. It was found that there was a significant interaction between cultivation year and area for the nicotine content as well. Furthermore, cultivation year and variety significantly affected the sugar content. The varieties Burley 21E and NC7LC gave the lowest sugars. In general, it was observed that in the case of the oriental type varieties, the variety adaptation in specific regions resulted in higher yields, with the paradigmatic example of the variety Katerini 53 in the Katerini area, and Xanthi 81 in the Xanthi area. On the other hand, in the case of the flue and air-cured varieties, Karditsa was the area that exhibited the lowest yield of all tested varieties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Breeding through Conventional and Biotechnological Methods)
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16 pages, 2847 KiB  
Article
Morphological and Molecular Characterization of a New Self-Compatible Almond Variety
by Niki Mougiou, Persefoni Maletsika, Aristarhos Konstantinidis, Katerina Grigoriadou, George Nanos and Anagnostis Argiriou
Agriculture 2023, 13(7), 1362; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13071362 - 7 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1999
Abstract
Almonds are one of the most popular nuts, cultivated in countries with Mediterranean climates. In an almond orchard of the self-incompatible cultivar ‘Ferragnes’ in Greece, a tree with different morphological characteristics and signs of self-compatibility was observed. The aim of this study was [...] Read more.
Almonds are one of the most popular nuts, cultivated in countries with Mediterranean climates. In an almond orchard of the self-incompatible cultivar ‘Ferragnes’ in Greece, a tree with different morphological characteristics and signs of self-compatibility was observed. The aim of this study was to study the phenotype, investigate the self-compatibility trait, and elucidate the phylogenetic background of this tree, named ‘Mars’. Morphological traits and kernel and nut characteristics were measured in ‘Mars’, ‘Ferragnes’, ‘Tuono’, and ‘Lauranne’ cultivars. The self-compatibility trait of almonds is attributed to the Sf allele; thus, its existence was investigated in ‘Mars’ by PCR amplification. Moreover, the S-RNase genes of all the cultivars were sequenced. The genetic profile of ‘Mars’ was identified using eight SSR molecular markers and compared with the ‘Ferragnes’, ‘Ferraduel’, ‘Texas’, ‘Tuono’, and ‘Lauranne’ cultivars. The morphological traits suggest that ‘Mars’ is more similar to the ‘Ferragnes’ cultivar, while it bears the Sf allele. S-RNases sequencing revealed that ‘Mars’ has the genotype S1Sf, and the SSR markers showed that it is differentiated genetic material, suggesting it is a cross between ‘Ferragnes’ and ‘Tuono’. Therefore, ‘Mars’ is evaluated as a self-compatible variety with interesting agronomic traits for use in new mono-cultivar almond plantations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Breeding through Conventional and Biotechnological Methods)
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