Untapped Rice Genetic Resources and Pre-breeding in Genomics Era

Rice production faces mounting challenges due to factors such as population growth, shifting dietary preferences, and climate variability. To ensure sustainable rice cultivation, it’s imperative to tap into the diverse genetic resources of rice. This chapter explores the significance of untapped genetic resources in enhancing rice productivity and resilience, explain the concept of pre-breeding and its role in modern rice breeding programs and discuss the advancements in genomic tools and their application in pre-breeding for untapped potential of wild and traditional rice varieties and their integration into modern breeding strategies through pre-breeding in the genomics era. These rice genetic resources possess a diverse range of traits, including resistance to multiple diseases (like blast, bacterial blight, sheath blight and tungro virus), pests (such as stem borers, gall midges and plant hoppers) and various abiotic stresses (including drought, submergence, heat, cold, salinity and soil toxicities). Moreover, they provide nutritional improvements and the ability to adapt to evolving environmental conditions. Despite their potential, the utilization of these resources has been constrained by challenges like inadequate characterization and limited availability. Nonetheless, unlocking these resources holds significant promise for preserving biodiversity, bolstering stress resilience, and addressing nutritional deficiencies. In the genomics era, pre-breeding has undergone a transformative evolution, enabled by the integration of high-capacity sequencing, advanced phenotyping techniques, and bioinformatics tools. This revolutionizes the identification and integration of favorable traits from untapped resources to elite cultivars. Key steps in the pre-breeding process include trait identification, genomic analysis, gene introgression, and the utilization of molecular markers for precise trait transfer. However, challenges persist, including ethical and regulatory considerations regarding genetic modification, intellectual property rights, and the necessity to balance introduced traits with agronomic characteristics. To fully unlock the potential of untapped rice genetic resources through pre-breeding, collaborative efforts involving researchers, policymakers, and farmers are paramount.