Faster, Smarter, Precise: Integrating Speed Breeding and CRISPR-Based New Genomic Techniques into the Conventional...

Area of Science:

• Plant breeding and genetics
• Agricultural science
• Molecular biology

Background:

• Generation time is a major limitation in achieving genetic gain in plant breeding.
• Speed breeding (SB) optimizes environmental conditions to enable rapid plant generation cycling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and evaluate speed breeding (SB) methodologies and applications.
• To compare SB with conventional breeding frameworks.
• To examine the integration of SB with new genomic techniques (NGTs) and regulatory landscapes.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of existing studies on speed breeding.
• Structured comparison of core SB parameters and applications.
• Analysis of genotype-by-environment interactions and biological integrity concerns.
• Discussion of NGTs, including CRISPR/Cas9, within the EU regulatory framework.

Main Results:

• SB enables 4-7 generations/year in long-day crops and 4-5 in short-day crops, significantly reducing generation time.
• Consensus exists on core SB parameters, with some divergence on far-red light supplementation.
• SB applications include hybridisation, genomic selection, disease screening, and allele introgression.
• Integration of SB with NGTs, under new EU regulations, can reduce variety development time from decades to years.

Conclusions:

• Speed breeding is a powerful tool for accelerating genetic gain and variety development.
• SB, NGTs, and conventional field selection are complementary and most effective within a unified pipeline.
• Addressing challenges like genotype-by-environment interactions and infrastructure costs is crucial for widespread SB adoption.