Director. Generation Challenge Program Selects. CIMMYT. MŽxico. SUIZA-MƒXICO.
Jean-Marcel Ribaut
Generation Challenge Programme (GCP), c/o CIMMYT, Int APDO Postal 6-641, 06600 Mexico, DF, Mexico. http://generationcp.org
RESUMEN (ABSTRACT)
Molecular breeding (MB) is definitely an efficient approach, when the necessary minimum human and operational resources are already in place. This is because MB increases genetic gain per crop cycle, stacks favourable alleles at target loci and reduces the number of selection cycles. In the last decade, the private sector has benefitted immensely from MB, which demonstrates its efficacy. In contrast, MB adoption is still limited in the public sector, and hardly used in developing countries. Major bottlenecks in these countries include shortage of well-trained personnel, inadequate high-throughput capacity, poor phenotyping infrastructure, lack of information systems or adapted analysis tools, or simply resource-limited breeding programmes. The emerging virtual platforms aided by the information and communication technology revolution will help to overcome some of these limitations, by providing breeders with better access to genomic resources, advanced laboratory services, and robust analytical and data management tools. It is unrealistic to project that large-scale MB breeding activities will be conducted in the near-term in developing countries. However, the exponential development of genomic resources, the ever-decreasing cost of marker technologies and the emergence of platforms for accessing MB tools and support services, plus the increasing publicÐprivate partnerships and needs-driven demand for improved varieties to counter the global food crisis, are all grounds to predict that MB will have a significant impact on crop breeding in developing countries.