Genetic Gain Enhancement in Maize Breeding for Sustained Food and Nutritional Security

Maize is one of the important cereal crops of the world and has diverse uses as a source of energy, viz., food, fodder, feed, and fuel. In the past few decades, the genetic gain loss has slowly increased, which ultimately declined the yield growth in maize and also other cultivated crops. There are various approaches to enhancing genetic potential associated with different parameters like unlocking and creating genetic variation, improving heritability, increasing selection intensity, and shortening breeding cycle time. To enhance genetic gain, there were many approaches like modern breeding techniques and platforms, implemented with improved agronomic practices, field-based phenotyping, a better understanding of the genetic architecture of traits, and enhanced public–private association to ensure that the improved crop products effectively reach the farmers. Recent years have witnessed a significant shift towards genomics-driven approaches in maize, both qualitative and quantitative trait improvement like precision phenotyping, genomic selection, next-generation sequencing, genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), marker-assisted breeding employing trait-associated traits, speed breeding, and doubled haploid techniques are in trends these days to enhance genetic gain of maize yield and nutritional quality. These advanced technologies not only improve genetic gain but also enhance nutritional security for fulfilling the demand for food and nutritional requirements of the growing billions of the population across the world.