Role and economic importance of crop genetic diversity in food security

Temesgen Begna*

Determination of genetic diversity and their relationships among breeding materials is very crucial in crop improvement strategies. Characterization and evaluation of germplasm is pre-requisite to screen out the desired genetic materials for the genetic improvement programs. The collection of germplasm relies on the several number of accessions it possesses and the genetic materials available in those accessions for yield and yield components. Climate change and geographical isolation are identified as two majors in the formation of new species. The other sources of germplasm diversification and evolution are biotic factors like competition and predation among themselves. Phenotypic characters are the most important conventional tools to analyse variation among the genetic materials and the visible morphological traits are very crucial tools in genetic diversity investigation. Plant breeding is primarily relied on the variation exist in the genetic diversity of cultivated and their wild relatives together for further improvements. Plant phenotyping is defined as the investigation of plant characters by researchers for yield, quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Genetic variation and selection are the two basic principles of plant breeding. Additive (heritable) and non-additive variance (dominance and epitasis) are the important components of genetic variance of any quantitative traits. Hence, it is important to decompose the visible phenotypic variation into heritable and non-heritable components with suitable genetic components like genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance. Genetic diversity is the totality of genetic difference of genetic variation in the genetic make-up of a species. Genetic diversity ha paramount role in the perpetuation of a species through offering adaptation mechanisms to biotic and abiotic environmental stresses and enables change in the genetic composition to cope with changes in the environment. Eventually, plant genetic diversity is playing a key role in the continuation of agricultural development with significant improvement in different morphological and agronomical characteristics. Selection for improvement highly depends on inherent levels of genetic diversity present at the time in the species, rate of evolutionary response and adaptation to the environmental conditions. As the genetic diversity increases the ability to adapt to changing environments also increases within a given species. Especially, when the climate fluctuation, new pests and diseases are occurred, the species which have huge genetic diversity capable of overcome the challenges. Since crop plant improvement program is integrated with different research disciplines, the availability and accessibility of diverse genetic materials ensure the sustainability of global food production network. 

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Published on: Apr 17, 2021 Pages: 164-169

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-815X.000104
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