Role of molecular markers in vegetables improvement

Abstract

Vegetables serve as the major source of nutrients in the daily diet in developing countries. But, this group of plants are most vulnerable to various pest and diseases. Most of the vegetables are annuals and restricted to location specific environments. Their growth and yield of economic products are drastically reduced under a variety of abiotic stresses. A number of conventional breeding methods are available for genetic improvement of vegetable crops. But, selection of desirable plants in the breeding programme often becomes misleading due to inadequate biotic and abiotic threshold conditions and other environmental factors. Recent advances in development of molecular markers have made it possible for reliable selection and to speed up the breeding cycle in vegetable crops. Therefore, in the present pursuit, the authors presented a detailed review of the role of molecular markers to assist breeding programme of important vegetable crops.