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Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies
Research Guide
What is Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies?
Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies is a field in plant science that examines the interactions between genetic variation in crops and environmental factors to improve breeding, conservation, and trait development, particularly in legume crops like chickpea, pigeonpea, and faba bean.
This field encompasses 209,241 works focused on genomics, breeding, and conservation of legume crops, covering crop wild relatives, drought tolerance, marker development, and nutritional quality. Key studies address population genetics, inbreeding depression, and genetic diversity using nuclear DNA markers. Research provides insights for trait improvement and sustainable food production through genetic linkage maps and envirotyping.
Topic Hierarchy
Research Sub-Topics
Chickpea Genomics and Marker Development
This sub-topic covers genome sequencing, SNP marker identification, and QTL mapping in chickpea for traits like yield and disease resistance. Researchers develop genomic tools for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs.
Drought Tolerance in Legume Crops
Studies identify physiological, molecular, and genetic mechanisms conferring drought tolerance in legumes like chickpea and pigeonpea, including root architecture and osmotic adjustment.
Crop Wild Relatives in Legume Breeding
This area explores genetic diversity from wild relatives of chickpea, pigeonpea, and faba bean for introgression of traits like pest resistance and abiotic stress tolerance into cultivated varieties.
Pigeonpea Breeding and Genetic Resources
Research focuses on pigeonpea genomics, hybrid breeding technologies, and conservation of genetic diversity to improve yield, nutritional profile, and adaptability.
Nutritional Quality Improvement in Faba Bean
Investigations target enhancing protein content, anti-nutritional factor reduction, and micronutrient biofortification in faba bean through breeding and biotechnological approaches.
Why It Matters
Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies supports sustainable agriculture by identifying genetic resources from wild relatives for breeding drought-tolerant varieties, as in the $2 million BTI and Meiogenix collaboration to develop drought- and disease-resistant tomatoes. It enables prediction of genotype-by-environment interactions using machine learning, as demonstrated in maize grain yield predictions across multi-environment trials by Fernandes et al. Tester and Langridge (2010) highlighted breeding technologies to boost crop production under climate change, targeting traits like drought tolerance essential for feeding billions with reduced inputs. Tools like EnvRtype facilitate environmental characterization for genomic prediction of reaction norms, aiding resilient crop development amid a 40% genetic yield gap in wheat due to diversifying environments.
Reading Guide
Where to Start
"Seed Banks and Molecular Maps: Unlocking Genetic Potential from the Wild" by Tanksley and McCouch (1997), as it introduces how germplasm banks and genetic maps access wild diversity for crop breeding, foundational for legume studies.
Key Papers Explained
"Population Genetic Consequences of Small Population Size: Implications for Plant Conservation" by Ellstrand and Elam (1993) establishes risks of genetic drift in small plant populations. This connects to "Inbreeding effects in wild populations" by Keller (2002), which details fitness declines, building on Charlesworth and Charlesworth (1987)'s "INBREEDING DEPRESSION AND ITS EVOLUTIONARY CONSEQUENCES". "Nuclear DNA content of some important plant species" by Arumuganathan and Earle (1991) provides baseline data, while Nybom (2004)'s "Comparison of different nuclear DNA markers for estimating intraspecific genetic diversity in plants" offers tools to measure diversity amid these risks.
Paper Timeline
Most-cited paper highlighted in red. Papers ordered chronologically.
Advanced Directions
Recent preprints explore envirotyping for resilient crops, predicting enviromically adapted varieties with big data amid a 40% wheat yield gap, and global genotypic synthesis for GHG reduction. News highlights $2M BTI-Meiogenix drought-resistant tomato project and Texas Tech's tissue-culture-free gene editing. Tools like EnvRtype and Maize_GxE_Prediction enable genomic prediction of reaction norms.
Papers at a Glance
| # | Paper | Year | Venue | Citations | Open Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Population Biology of Plants. | 1978 | Journal of Applied Eco... | 7.0K | ✕ |
| 2 | INBREEDING DEPRESSION AND ITS EVOLUTIONARY CONSEQUENCES | 1987 | Annual Review of Ecolo... | 3.3K | ✓ |
| 3 | Inbreeding effects in wild populations | 2002 | Trends in Ecology & Ev... | 3.3K | ✕ |
| 4 | Nuclear DNA content of some important plant species | 1991 | Plant Molecular Biolog... | 3.2K | ✕ |
| 5 | Population Genetic Consequences of Small Population Size: Impl... | 1993 | Annual Review of Ecolo... | 2.5K | ✕ |
| 6 | Seed Banks and Molecular Maps: Unlocking Genetic Potential fro... | 1997 | Science | 2.4K | ✕ |
| 7 | Breeding Technologies to Increase Crop Production in a Changin... | 2010 | Science | 2.3K | ✕ |
| 8 | Ecological Determinants of Genetic Structure in Plant Populations | 1984 | Annual Review of Ecolo... | 2.1K | ✕ |
| 9 | Plant population genetics, breeding, and genetic resources | 1990 | Gene | 1.9K | ✕ |
| 10 | Comparison of different nuclear DNA markers for estimating int... | 2004 | Molecular Ecology | 1.8K | ✕ |
In the News
BTI, Meiogenix and FFAR Announce $2 Million ...
In a landmark $2 million initiative, the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) and biotechnology company Meiogenix have launched a collaboration to develop drought- and disease-resistant tomatoes by t...
Crop genetic improvement for future climate resilience
## Leveraging genetic innovations for accelerated breeding of climate resilient and nutritious crops You are here: The UK-CGIAR Centre /Crop genetic improvement for future climate resilience ## Ove...
Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI) focuses on collaborative science engagement that intends to develop a community of researchers acr...
Texas Tech Scientists Develop Novel Acceleration ...
### The breakthrough for creation of transgenic and gene-edited crops without tissue culture was forged by the Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance.
Decibel Bio Launches with $12M Funding to Advance Crop ...
Decibel Bio, a plant biotechnology startup, has emerged from stealth with $12 million in funding to advance its crop epigenetics platform. Investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Future Ven...
Code & Tools
Fernandes, I.K., Vieira, C.C., Dias, K.O.G. et al. Using machine learning to combine genetic and environmental data for maize grain yield predictio...
Provide tools for collecting environmental data from GIS-based platforms,enabling environmental characterization studies, providing environmental r...
**GenoCLIM** ( https://rstudio.aws.science.psu.edu:3838/aaf11/CLIMGeno/ ) is an SHINY component of **Arabidopsis CLIMtools** ( http://www.personal....
easyPheno is a Python framework that enables the rigorous training, comparison and analysis of phenotype predictions for a variety of different mod...
# BestiaPop: A python package to automate the extraction and processing of climate data for crop modelling
Recent Preprints
A global synthesis of genotypic variation in crop ...
Targeted crop selection offers a promising potential pathway to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from global croplands. Yet, the influence of crop genotypes on GHG emissions remains poorly stu...
Harnessing enviro-typing for the development of resilient crops
* Introduction * Environmental characterization and genotype-by-environment interaction * Environmental variables * Envirotyping and multi-environment trial data * Geographic data * Soil informatio...
Predicting enviromically adapted varieties with big data
Global wheat production faces significant challenges, primarily stemming from the rapid diversification of growing environments due to climate change. The latter translates directly into fluctuatin...
Recent Advances in Crop Genetics and Breeding - PMC
Crop improvement remains central in addressing global challenges related to food security, climate change, and sustainable agriculture. Advances in genomics, high-throughput phenotyping, bioinforma...
Genetically modified Crops: Balancing safety, sustainability ...
enhanced methodologies for long-term risk assessment, and inclusive governance models. These models must effectively reconcile innovation imperatives with safety requirements and public trust consi...
Latest Developments
Recent developments in genetic and environmental crop studies in 2026 include advancements in climate-resilient crop breeding, with gene-edited crops projected to increase yields significantly, and over 60% of new crop varieties incorporating biotech traits for resilience (Farmonaut, Farmonaut, LinkedIn). Additionally, research highlights the use of pan-genomics to develop drought-resistant maize (Nature Plants), and the exploration of genotype-by-environment interactions in maize to improve adaptation (Nature Communications). Advances in plant breeding for agroecological transition and leveraging polygenic local adaptation in barley are also notable, emphasizing sustainability and environmental adaptation (Wiley, Nature Communications).
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main crops studied in Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies?
The field focuses on legume crops including chickpea, pigeonpea, and faba bean. Studies cover their genomics, breeding, conservation, crop wild relatives, drought tolerance, marker development, and nutritional quality. This provides insights for trait improvement and sustainable food production.
How do nuclear DNA markers estimate genetic diversity in plants?
Nuclear DNA markers such as RAPD, AFLP, ISSR, and STMS estimate intraspecific genetic diversity in wild angiosperms and gymnosperms. A compilation of 307 studies showed estimates from dominantly inherited markers like RAPD, AFLP, and ISSR are similar and directly comparable. STMS analysis provides comparable results as detailed in Nybom (2004).
What role do seed banks play in crop improvement?
Seed banks preserve genetic diversity as repositories for improving agricultural crops. Genetic linkage maps enable tracking of genes from wild relatives into cultivars. Tanksley and McCouch (1997) described how this unlocks genetic potential from the wild.
Why is inbreeding depression significant for plant conservation?
Inbreeding depression arises in small populations due to genetic drift and mating among relatives. It has evolutionary consequences affecting fitness in wild populations. Charlesworth and Charlesworth (1987) and Keller (2002) examined its impacts on plant conservation.
What environmental factors are considered in envirotyping for crops?
Envirotyping includes genotype-by-environment interactions using multi-environment trial data, geographic data, and soil properties. Soil factors cover chemical, physical, and biological properties influencing crop growth. Recent preprints emphasize environmental conditions for resilient crop development.
Open Research Questions
- ? How can genotypic variation in crops be synthesized globally to minimize GHG emissions from croplands?
- ? What environmental variables best predict genotype-by-environment interactions for drought tolerance in legumes?
- ? How do machine learning models integrate genetic and big environmental data to close genetic yield gaps like the 40% in wheat?
- ? Which nuclear DNA markers most accurately capture ecological determinants of genetic structure in legume populations?
- ? What breeding technologies maximize nutritional quality improvements under future climate scenarios?
Recent Trends
Field integrates envirotyping with multi-environment trials, soil properties, and machine learning for reaction norm predictions, as in EnvRtype tools.
Preprints from last 6 months address 40% genetic yield gaps in wheat and GHG emissions via genotypic variation.
News reports $2M BTI-Meiogenix funding for drought-resistant tomatoes and $12M Decibel Bio for crop epigenetics, signaling focus on climate resilience without growth rate data available.
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