Improvement in Fruit Crop Plants Through Mutation Breeding for Sustainable Development

Fruit crops are an important entity of the agriculture sector that plays a significant role in global nutritional health and food security. It has been estimated that by 2050, there will be 70% more food demand to meet the requirements of the fast-growing world population. Therefore, there is a need to improve the existing fruit crop cultivars by enhancing their diversity, productivity, nutritional attributes, and adaptability within ever-climate-changing scenarios. Conventional breeding methods for fruit crop improvement have been in practice for a long time, however, these techniques are laborious as they have a long phase of juvenility, heterozygosity issues, and are time-consuming. Mutation breeding's role in fruit crop improvement has been documented because of its ability in creating variability and shortening the time for new cultivar development. The mutation breeding for crop improvement through physical and chemical mutagens has been successfully exploited in fruit crops like pear, peach, banana, papaya, grapes, almond, plum, sour and sweet cherry, apple, lemon, blueberry, and rough lemon. In fruit crops, mutagenesis has shown evidence in improving the fruit traits like color development, fruit size enhancement, taste, aroma, and has induced dwarfism and self-incompatibility. The artificial plant mutation techniques such as physical and chemical mutations are very fascinating and the application of these techniques in fruit crops is resulting in new sustainable commercial cultivars.