Breeding Strategies for Enhancing Nutritional Quality of Legumes
Special Issue Editor
Interests: legumes; biofortification; genomics; transcriptomics; metabolomics; breeding; molecular markers; seed-plant-phenotyping; genotyping; mineral composition; landraces
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Legumes, belonging to the large plant family Fabaceae, have been integral to human and animal nutrition for millennia. Based on their nutritional uses, legumes can be categorized into four main groups:
- Pulses, including grain legumes such as lentils, beans, chickpeas, lupins, and dry peas, consumed as dry seeds;
- Vegetables in the form of fresh green pods, including green beans, snow peas, and fresh peas;
- Oilseed legumes, including soybeans and peanuts;
- Forage legumes, such as alfalfa, clover, and vetch.
Legumes are rich in protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates, and they are a significant source of essential vitamins and minerals, including iron, zinc, folate, magnesium, and antioxidants. Due to their high protein and mineral content, pulses are a staple food for lower-income rural populations, particularly in temperate and subtropical regions. Additionally, legumes play a vital role in crop rotation systems by enhancing soil nitrogen fixation through their symbiotic relationship with rhizobia, which boosts soil fertility. This ecological benefit contributes to a low environmental footprint, an essential feature for agriculture in the face of climate challenges.
This Special Issue focuses on the breeding challenges and advancements aimed at enhancing the nutritional value of legume crops, including grains, to meet the growing global demand, improve food security, and alleviate malnutrition. With the advent of advanced technologies in genome sequencing, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics, a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of key molecular pathways in legume species is emerging. This progress is paving the way for the development of improved legume varieties to address the global challenges posed by the climate crisis.
The specific topics covered in this issue include the following:
- Biofortification approaches, with a focus on pulses;
- The breeding of new legume cultivars;
- Genome-editing technologies;
- The utilization of omics technologies.
Dr. Photini V. Mylona
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- breeding strategies
- legumes
- nutritional quality
- genome-editing
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