Accelerating soybean breeding: A comprehensive review of speed breeding

Abstract

This review explores the pivotal role of soybeans in global agriculture, emphasizing their nutritional richness and multifaceted contributions. Recognizing the challenges faced by traditional breeding practices, including limited genetic diversity and prolonged breeding cycles, the paper underscores the significance of innovative approaches such as speed breeding (SB) in soybean improvement. Speed Breeding, grounded in environmental manipulation, emerges as a revolutionary tool, accelerating plant growth, development, and breeding cycles. Integrating speed breeding with modern breeding technologies, including genomic selection, high-throughput phenotyping, marker-assisted selection, genome editing, and precision phenotyping, offers unparalleled advantages such as accelerated genetic gain and efficient trait improvement. However, challenges in optimizing growth conditions, ensuring phenotypic stability, and addressing economic constraints are discussed. The paper highlights the need for collective efforts to fully harness the benefits of speed breeding in soybean breeding, paving the way for sustainable, resilient, and high-yielding soybean varieties to meet global food security demands.