Enhancing cereal productivity via nitrogen use efficiency: from conventional breeding to modern genomics

Cereal crops constitute the primary staple foods in India and worldwide, forming the foundation of food security by supplying essential nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins and minerals that are essential for human health. Cereal productivity is largely determined by the availability and efficient utilization of nutrients, particularly nitrogen (N), which is a vital macronutrient involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis, amino acid formation and overall plant growth and yield. However, nitrogen remains the most limiting nutrient in agricultural crops due to its highly dynamic nature and susceptibility to losses through leaching, volatilization, and denitrification. To address these constraints, researchers have adopted integrated strategies encompassing genetic, physiological and agronomic approaches. Conventional breeding programs focus on the selection and hybridization of genotypes with superior nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), targeting key traits such as improved root architecture including root length, density and branching, efficient root transporters for nitrate and ammonium uptake and enhanced nitrate assimilation mechanisms. In addition, canopy architecture and photosynthetic efficiency play a crucial role in optimizing nitrogen utilization, ultimately contributing to higher grain yield and improved grain protein content. Molecular breeding, including quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping has emerged as a powerful approach for unraveling the complex genetic architecture of NUE related traits. The identification of major QTLs governing root system architecture, nitrogen uptake, assimilation enzymes and yield components facilitates marker assisted selection (MAS) for the rapid introgression of favorable alleles into elite cultivars. Furthermore, integrating biological nitrogen inhibitors (BNIs) as a sustainable agronomic strategy helps reduce nitrogen losses by suppressing nitrification in soil. Recent advances in genomic technologies, including the study of transcription factors, microRNAs (miRNAs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) based genome editing, have revolutionized cereal crop improvement. These tools enable precise regulation and modification of genes involved in nitrogen metabolism, such as nitrate transporters and glutamine synthetase (GS), thereby enhancing nitrogen assimilation pathways. Transcription factors, in particular, play a pivotal role in regulating gene expression networks associated with nitrogen uptake, transport and utilization. Modern approaches significantly enhance the potential for developing high-yielding cereal varieties with improved NUE, reduced fertilizer dependency, and better environmental sustainability.