Seed Production in Kazakhstan

Challenges and Solutions for Seed Production in Kazakhstan

• Domestic seed producers face pressure from foreign competitors, resulting in unrealized seed products.
• The industry previously faced difficulties due to lack of government support, but has made significant progress with the introduction of a large gene pool of 5 million samples.
• Modern varieties of vegetable crops need to meet requirements such as taste, attractive appearance, disease and pest resistance.
• F1 hybrids are considered a promising area in vegetable seed production.
• The problems in domestic vegetable growing are interconnected with the overall issues in Russian seed production.
• The country's agriculture is moving towards intensive forms of production that require high-quality seeds.
• Climate change, new pests, and diseases pose risks to crop production.
• There is a technical lag in breeding, which affects the country's food security.
• Staffing issues in breeding and seed production lead to a "rapid aging" of scientific personnel and breeders.
• The share of substandard seeds has increased to 30%, resulting in lower potential yields.
• Slow introduction of new varieties is due to poor processes of variety exchange and renewal.
• Lack of funds for high-quality seed material leads to low marketability of seeds.

To address these challenges and develop effective seed production in Kazakhstan:

• Effective technologies in breeding and seed production need to be developed and implemented.
• Mechanisms for organizing industrial seed production should be established to provide high-quality seed material.
• Programs for the development of seed production should be adopted at the federal level.
• Quality control of seed material should be carried out by monitoring bodies.
• Mandatory state support is needed for breeding and seed breeding centers.
• Collaboration between stakeholders, including legislative and executive authorities, agricultural science, and local specialists, is crucial.
• Specialized vegetable farms should be created in regions with favorable climatic conditions.
• Specialized vegetable storages and processing plants should be built to support the growth of the industry.

Understanding Gene Pools in Crop Breeding

• Gene pools of a crop species are categorized as primary, secondary, and tertiary based on the ease of gene transfer between them.
• The primary gene pool consists of cultivated varieties, landraces, ecotypes, and wild or weedy races, and is the major source of genetic variation for breeding programs.
• The secondary gene pool includes related species within the same genus, and gene transfer between the crop and these species is possible but difficult.
• Hybrids in the secondary gene pool tend to be sterile and have poor chromosome pairing during meiosis.
• The tertiary gene pool includes distant relatives in other genera or distantly related species within the same species.
• Gene transfer between the crop and species in the tertiary gene pool is very difficult and may require special techniques such as embryo rescue or chromosome doubling.
• Bridging species can facilitate gene exchange between crop species and tertiary gene pool species by developing complex hybrids.
• Wide hybridization involves crossing individuals outside of cultivated species, typically from the secondary or tertiary gene pools.
• Wide crosses may be useful for transferring important traits such as disease resistance that are not found in cultivated genotypes.
• In wheat, the T1BL.1RS wheat-rye hybrid has been widely used in breeding programs for disease resistance and yield improvement.
• In rice, genes for resistance to diseases such as grassy stunt virus and bacterial blight have been successfully transferred from wild species to cultivated rice.
• Other examples of wide hybridization can be found in Table 1.

Mutation Breeding: Creating Genetic Variation through Mutations

• Mutation and transgenes induced mutation are methods used to artificially create genetic variability.
• Lethal mutations do not pass on to descendants, but nonlethal mutations increase genetic variation.
• Some mutations are reduced by natural selection, while others accumulate and lead to adaptive changes.
• Germline mutations are passed on to offspring, while somatic mutations are not.
• Quality Protein Maize (QPM) is a successful example of mutation breeding.
• QPM has twice the lysine and tryptophan content compared to regular maize.
• Mutation breeding traditionally used chemical or physical agents to induce mutations.
• Disadvantages of this approach include non-targeted mutation events and high expenses for phenotyping.
• Newer approaches include space light ion irradiation and CRISPR/Cas-based RNA-guided DNA endonucleases.
• The procedure to create a mutant population involves treating seed of an inbred genotype and growing the resulting M1 population.
• The M1 population consists of heterogeneous plants with different mutations in their genomes.
• Self-fertilization of the M1 plants produces the M2 generation, allowing the observation of phenotypes.

Mutation Breeding: Creating Genetic Variation through Mutations

• Mutation and transgenes induced mutation are methods used to artificially create genetic variability.
• Lethal mutations do not pass on to descendants, but nonlethal mutations increase genetic variation.
• Some mutations are reduced by natural selection, while others accumulate and lead to adaptive changes.
• Germline mutations are passed on to offspring, while somatic mutations are not.
• Quality Protein Maize (QPM) is a successful example of mutation breeding.
• QPM has twice the lysine and tryptophan content compared to regular maize.
• Mutation breeding traditionally used chemical or physical agents to induce mutations.
• Disadvantages of this approach include non-targeted mutation events and high expenses for phenotyping.
• Newer approaches include space light ion irradiation and CRISPR/Cas-based RNA-guided DNA endonucleases.
• The procedure to create a mutant population involves treating seed of an inbred genotype and growing the resulting M1 population.
• The M1 population consists of heterogeneous plants with different mutations in their genomes.
• Self-fertilization of the M1 plants produces the M2 generation, allowing the observation of phenotypes.

Understanding Gene Pools and Hybridization in Plant Breeding

• Breeders need to be aware of the use of unique genetic material in plant breeding.
• The primary gene pool includes cultivated species that can be easily crossed and hybrids are generally fertile.
• Most breeders work exclusively within the primary gene pool as it is the major source of genetic variation for improvement programs.
• The secondary gene pool includes species between which gene transfer is possible, but difficult. Hybrids tend to be sterile and recovery of desired types in advanced generations is generally difficult.
• The tertiary gene pool includes distant relatives in other genera or distantly related species within the same species. Hybrid sterility is common, but chromosome doubling may restore fertility.
• Bridging species can facilitate the exchange of germplasm between crop species and tertiary gene pool species by developing complex hybrids.
• Wide hybridization refers to crossing individuals outside of cultivated species, typically involving the secondary and/or tertiary gene pools.
• The T1BL.1RS wheat-rye translocation has been widely used in bread wheat breeding programs for disease resistance and improved grain yield.
• In rice, useful genes have been transferred from wild species to cultivated rice for disease resistance and hybrid rice production.
• Grass stunt virus resistance was successfully transferred from Oryza nivara to cultivated rice through backcross breeding.
• Genes for resistance to brown plant hopper, white backed plant hopper, and bacterial blight have also been transferred from wild Oryza species to cultivated rice.
• Understanding gene pools and hybridization is essential for plant breeders to develop better genetic packages and improve crop traits.