Molecular Marker-Based Selection Tools in Spring Bread Wheat Improvement: CIMMYT Experience and Prospects

Abstract

Wheat is a staple food for the major part of the world’s population. For wheat and other crops, it is generally agreed that in order to meet future challenges in food production, multifaceted breeding approaches are needed, including the use of current available genomics resources. Since more than three decades, molecular markers have acted as a versatile genomics tool for fast and unambiguous genetic analysis of plant species of both diploid and polyploid origin. Together with decreasing marker assay costs and interconnected genotyping service facilities, the opportunity to apply marker-assisted selection (MAS) strategies is becoming accessible to more and more breeding programs. We describe the use of molecular markers in wheat breeding with emphasis on the status of MAS in the CIMMYT global wheat program and will share our experience on recently developed prediction methods using genome-wide markers to archive genetic gain for more complex traits