Future Directions in Pepper Breeding: Perspectives from the Pepper Breeding Panel at the 27th International Pepper Conference

Status, Challenges, and Future Perspectives in the Genetic Improvement of Major Oilseed Crops: A Critical Narrative Review

Oilseed crops underpin edible-oil supply, livestock feeding, industrial feedstocks and rural incomes, yet recent production growth has depended heavily on harvested-area expansion and remains concentrated in a small number of crops and regions. This critical narrative review examines the status of major annual oilseeds, the biological and institutional causes of uneven genetic progress, and the extent to which conventional breeding, genomics, phenomics, genomic prediction and genome editing can improve yield, stability, product quality and sustainability. Literature published principally from 2000 to 20 May 2026 was identified through accessible scholarly indexes, DOI registries and authoritative institutional sources, with foundational earlier studies retained where necessary. The evidence indicates that breeding has delivered clear gains in adaptation, hybrid performance, oil composition and resistance to selected diseases, but progress is markedly less consistent for complex traits expressed across variable environments. Narrow breeding pools, polyploidy, structural variation, antagonism among seed yield, oil concentration and meal quality, weak phenotyping, and poorly connected seed systems constrain the conversion of gene discovery into cultivar-level impact. Pangenomes and high-density markers have improved variant discovery, while genomic selection can shorten cycles and raise selection intensity when training populations represent the target breeding population. Prediction often deteriorates across unrelated germplasm, environments and market classes, limiting claims of universal efficiency. Genome editing provides persuasive proof of concept for fatty-acid modification, flowering adaptation and shatter resistance, but transformation dependence, homoeologue redundancy, regulatory divergence and sparse multi-environment evidence impede routine deployment. The strongest path forward is therefore not technology substitution but integration: broad and strategically managed diversity, product-profile-led breeding, robust multi-environment phenotyping, dynamic genomic prediction, targeted editing, and delivery systems designed around farmers, processors and consumers. Future genetic improvement should be judged by realised, durable genetic gain per unit time and cost, together with nutritional, environmental and distributive outcomes.

Mutation Breeding as a Tool for Sustainable Crop Production and Climate Resilience: Experiences from the South-Eastern Europe (SEE) and Central Asia (CA)

The review summarizes practical experiences in using mutation breeding for crop improvement in South-Eastern Europe (SEE) and Central Asia (CA), demonstrating that mutation breeding can be a field-validated, effective approach for developing climate-resilient crops. Drawing on coordinated research conducted within national breeding programs and international initiatives supported by FAO/IAEA, applied methodologies, trait-evaluation strategies, and concrete breeding outputs in cereals, legumes, and industrial crops are presented. The use of gamma irradiation, fast neutrons, and chemical mutagens has successfully generated stable mutant lines stable mutant lines with enhanced traits, such as increased thousand-grain weight in wheat, altered oil quality in sunflower, and improved drought tolerance in common bean and sesame. The integration of classical pedigree selection with modern breeding tools such as high-throughput phenotyping, molecular and biochemical markers, and doubled-haploid technology has enabled earlier and more efficient identification of superior genotypes in mutation breeding programs. The review underscores the practical relevance of mutation breeding in contemporary pipelines to maintain yield stability and quality under adverse environmental conditions.

Advances in predictive breeding for wheat: concepts, methods, and applications

Wheat is one of the world’s main crops. Its improvement is pivotal given the threat of climate change and the growing population. However, enhancing breeding efficiency and improving wheat are challenging due to strong genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions and the biological complexity underlying the wheat genome and key agronomic traits. In this context, predictive frameworks and data-driven approaches can offer new strategies to address these challenges. This article provides a comprehensive review of the latest developments in wheat breeding, highlighting emerging predictive frameworks and their contributions to modern breeding pipelines. First, we report on genomic selection (GS) applications, emphasizing GS’s ability to improve complex traits by shortening the breeding cycle and increasing selection accuracy. We then describe the applications of phenomics in wheat breeding, including both ground- and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs)-based systems. We also discuss the potential for implementing multi-omics strategies to improve complex wheat traits. We debate how predictive breeding frameworks can assist in identifying the best parents and crosses in wheat breeding. Finally, we presented the latest panorama of software for predictive breeding and its integration with other technologies. This review reports recent advances demonstrating how predictive frameworks are reshaping wheat breeding methods, highlighting current progress and outlining future opportunities to accelerate genetic gain in wheat improvement.

Molecular Markers Associated with Genetic Diversity, Stress Tolerance, and Breeding Traits in Theobroma cacao: A Review

This comprehensive review demonstrates that shifting from reactive field evaluation to marker-driven, genomics-assisted precision design provides the definitive molecular framework required to engineer high-yielding, climate-resilient, and disease-proof cacao cultivars, thereby permanently safeguarding the long-term economic sustainability of global cocoa supply chains.

Current Challenges in Cereal Breeding.

Integrating speed breeding and genomic tools to accelerate genetic gain in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.).