Recent Advancements in Genetic Improvement of Food Legume Crops

Abstract

Legumes are the second-largest source of food after cereals, all over the world, and an essential protein source in the vegetarian diet. These crops remain essential to subsistence production as they have the inherent capacity to survive in an adverse ecosystem and require minimum investment for their management. The increasing challenge of feeding a rapidly growing population places excessive pressure on current food production systems, which can no longer be sustained by traditional plant breeding alone. Therefore, modern breeding methods with increased genetic gains are required to meet the food demand of the increasing population. In the past few decades, the efficiency of legume crop breeding programs has increased considerably using novel and multidisciplinary approaches in breeding programs. A multidisciplinary approach combining conventional plant breeding, mutation breeding, plant biotechnology, and molecular breeding is strategically ideal for production of new and improved crop varieties. This chapter focuses on recent advancements in plant biotechnology, related molecular methods, phenomics, and their application in breeding of legume crops.