Delong  Wang , Pingping  Yang , Jiong  Fu

Modern Agricultural Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 1   
Received: 18 Dec., 2024    Accepted: 28 Jan., 2025    Published: 15 Feb., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wheat is an indispensable crop in the global agriculture and food industry. Its diverse uses have put forward specific requirements for the quality and processing performance of different varieties. This review summarizes the latest progress in the breeding of wheat varieties for specific purposes, analyzes the key traits of specific purpose varieties (such as gluten strength, protein content, processing performance, etc.), and evaluates the combination of traditional breeding methods with modern technologies, including marker-assisted selection (MAS), genomic selection (GS), gene editing technology (such as CRISPR/Cas9) and the potential of hybrid breeding. Successful cases are further discussed, such as the improvement of gluten quality in bread wheat, protein optimization in durum wheat, and the solution of nutritional deficiency problems by zinc- and iron-enriched wheat. This review shows that the introduction of modern technologies has significantly improved breeding efficiency, but technical and economic limitations, the impact of climate change on trait performance, and the diversification of market demand remain major challenges. In the future, the sustainable development of wheat varieties for specific purposes will be further promoted through the integration of multi-omics data, the application of precision agriculture technology, and the sharing of global breeding resources. This review provides a comprehensive guide for the breeding of wheat varieties for specific purposes, which is of great significance to the sustainable development of the global wheat industry.

Wheat; Specific use; Biofortification; Genomic selection; Precision breeding