Speed Breeding

Speed Breeding is a plant breeding method that allows plant breeders to accelerate the breeding process by controlling temperature, photoperiod, intensity, and kinds of light for crop improvement. It is a combination of techniques that involves the manipulation of environmental conditions such as manipulation of the photoperiod and intensity of light, regulation of the temperature regime, regulation of soil moisture, modification of the levels of carbon dioxide, use of plant nutrition, hormones, and tissue culture under which crop genotypes are grown that ultimately aims to expedite flowering and seed set, to proceed to the following breeding generation as rapidly as possible. It shortens the breeding cycle and accelerates crop breeding. Selection methods are pivotal in reducing breeding cycles in various plant breeding programs. These methods, namely single seed descent, single pod descent, single plant selection, clonal selection, and marker-assisted selection, are utilized to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of plant breeding.

With speed breeding, high-throughput phenotyping and genotyping techniques, marker-assisted/genomic selection, and genome editing can be integrated to improve traits such as higher yields and better nutritional quality and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress in crop species. The technique allows plant breeders to deliver improved crop varieties more rapidly.

This technology is gaining popularity for developing new plant varieties in a short time in the controlled environment of the greenhouse. Genome editing technologies can accelerate plant growth and the period of the reproductive cycle, cutting the development time for fast-breeding crop varieties by nearly half.

Speed or accelerated breeding is a new agricultural research technology to develop climate-smart improved crop varieties. By applying this technology, it is possible to reduce the breeding period and save significant research costs. It has been successfully applied to major food crops, such as wheat, maize, rice, soybean, etc., to develop improved varieties of crops. However, speed plant breeding requires high skills and advanced physical infrastructure, including greenhouses. [Md. Tofazzal Islam]