AI-driven innovation and applications in crop breeding technology

Abstract

The growth rate of global grain production can no longer meet the demands arising from population expansion. Meanwhile, climate change, cultivated land degradation and environmental stress are further exacerbating the vulnerability of the food production system. Ensuring food security is fundamental to maintain the stability and sustainable development of human society. Crop breeding is the pivotal technical means to achieve this goal. Developing new crop varieties with high yield, superior quality, and multiple resistances have become the core pathway to safeguard agricultural sustainable development and global food supply. However, traditional breeding techniques suffer from long cycles, low accuracy and limited efficiency, which cannot satisfy the development requirements of modern seed industry. The rapid iteration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has injected new intelligent momentum into the innovation of crop breeding, driving the transformation of breeding technology from traditional experience-based breeding to precise, intelligent and efficient breeding. In this review, we summarized the development of crop breeding, and focused on the innovative breakthroughs of genomic selection, precision genome editing, protein design and high-throughput phenotyping driven by AI. We also further elaborated the intelligent driving effects exerted by these technologies on key breeding links involving germplasm mining, gene function analysis, directional trait improvement, intelligent phenotypic assessment and intelligent factory breeding. Finally, we discussed the challenges and future developmental prospects of AI deployment in crop breeding, aiming to provide a reference for the innovation and industrial application of intelligent breeding technologies.