Breeding crops in a conventional way demands considerable time, space, inputs for selection, and the subsequent crossing of desirable plants. The duration of the seed-to-seed cycle is one of the crucial bottlenecks in the progress of plant research and breeding. In this context, speed breeding (SB), relying mainly on photoperiod extension, temperature control, and early seed harvest, has the potential to accelerate the rate of plant improvement. Well demonstrated in the case of long-day plants, the SB protocols are being extended to short-day plants to reduce the generation interval time. Flexibility in SB protocols allows them to align and integrate with diverse research purposes including population development, genomic selection, phenotyping, and genomic editing. In this review, we discuss the different SB methodologies and their application to hasten future plant improvement. Though SB has been extensively used in plant phenotyping and the pyramiding of multiple traits for the development of new crop varieties, certain challenges and limitations hamper its widespread application across diverse crops. However, the existing constraints can be resolved by further optimization of the SB protocols for critical food crops and their efficient integration in plant breeding pipelines.

Chickpea is the third major cool season grain legume crop in the world after dry bean and field pea. Chilling and freezing range temperatures in many of its production regions adversely affect chickpea production. This review provides a comprehensive account of the current information regarding the tolerance of chickpea to freezing and chilling range temperatures. The effect of freezing and chilling at the major phenological stages of chickpea growth are discussed, and its ability for acclimation and winter hardiness is reviewed. Response mechanisms to chilling and freezing are considered at the molecular, cellular, whole plant, and canopy levels. The genetics of tolerance to freezing in chickpea are outlined. Sources of resistance to both freezing and chilling from within the cultivated and wild Cicer genepools are compared and novel breeding technologies for the improvement of tolerance in chickpea are suggested. We also suggest future research be directed toward understanding the mechanisms involved in cold tolerance of chickpea at the physiological, biochemical, and molecular level. Further screening of both the cultivated and wild Cicer species is required in order to identify superior sources of tolerance, especially to chilling at the reproductive stages.

Efforts to improve the yield and quality of cultivated chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) are constrained by a low level of intraspecific genetic diversity. Increased genetic diversity can be achieved via the hybridisation of the cultivated species with the unimproved 'wild' relatives from within the 43 species of the Cicer genus. To date, the 8 species sharing an annual growth habit and chromosome number with C. arietinum have been the primary focus of screening and introgression efforts. Screening of these species has uncovered morphological characteristics and resistance to a number of abiotic and biotic stresses that are of potential value to chickpea improvement programs. Detailed analysis of protein and DNA, karyotyping, and crossability studies have begun to elucidate the relationships between the annual Cicer species. In comparison, perennial species have received little attention due to difficulties in collection, propagation, and evaluation. This review discusses the progress towards an understanding of genetic relationships between the Cicer species, and the introgression of genes from the wild Cicer species into the cultivated species.

Camelina ( Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) is an oilseed known for its potential as a low-input biofuel feedstock and its high levels of beneficial fatty acids. We investigated the role of geographical origin in genetic variation and fatty acid content, expecting to find significant variability among 53 accessions and a link between ecogeography and both origin and key oil traits. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting revealed high levels of diversity within the 53 accessions. Even though sampling was relatively biased towards the Russian–Ukrainian area, this region was identified as a genetic diversity hotspot and possible centre of origin for camelina. The accessions were categorized by principal coordinate analysis using molecular marker data, enabling identification of links between geographical distribution and these categories. The influence of geographic location on four canola oil quality measures in camelina was evaluated using a geographic information system. These measures were (1) more than 30% α-linolenic acid, (2) less than 3% erucic acid, (3) less than 10% saturated fatty acids, and (4) a ratio of α-linolenic to linoleic acid greater than 1. The results clearly confirm that camelina oil quality characteristics are strongly influenced by environmental factors. The unprecedented high genetic diversity in this group of accessions offers an excellent opportunity to investigate valuable genes for successful adaptation of camelina to specific ecogeographical conditions such as drought.

The Fabaceae species have a major role to play in sustainable farming systems, but they have lagged behind other families in respect to the development of doubled haploid protocols for plant improvement. Currently, no plant improvement program uses doubled haploids on a routine basis for any member of the Fabaceae. There has recently been renewed interest in haploid research as the usefulness of doubled haploid material in molecular mapping has become clear. This review provides a comprehensive account of the current information regarding the development of haploid protocols in the Fabaceae. In the Fabaceae crop species there have been isolated reports of haploid plant induction in the phaseoloid clade; soybean, cowpea and pigeonpea, as well as promising progress towards haploidy in peanut and winged bean. As yet there have been no reports of haploid plant production in the galegoid clade, but early stage haploid embryogenesis has been achieved in chickpea, field pea, and lupin. Success in the production of haploid plants has also been reported within the pasture genera Lotus, Medicago, and Trifolium and the arboreal genera Cassia, Peltophorum, and Albizzia. A review of the literature has enabled us to identify some general similarities between the protocols developed for haploid plant induction across the various legumes. These are the culture of intact anthers; use of a cold pretreatment to induce sporophytic development; targeting of microspores at the uninucleate stage of development; and use of MS ( Murashige and Skoog, 1962 Murashige, T. and Skoog, F. 1962. A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol. Plant., 15: 473–497. [CSA] [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ) based nutrient medium with plant growth regulators to encourage continued division following induction. These protocol commonalities will assist researchers to identify approaches suited to their target Fabaceae species. The paucity of research funding for haploid research in most Fabaceae species has highlighted the need for strong collaborative linkages between institutions and researchers.