Introgression-Based Breeding for Climate-Smart Crops: Genomic Strategies to Enhance Nutrient Use Efficiency

Global agriculture faces increasing pressure to enhance productivity while reducing environmental impacts associated with inefficient nutrient use. Nitrogen and phosphorus losses contribute significantly to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Conventional breeding has largely focused on yield under high-input systems, often neglecting traits linked to nutrient efficiency. However, crop wild relatives and landraces provide a rich reservoir of alleles controlling root architecture, nutrient uptake, transport, and remobilization. Recent advances in genomics, sequencing technologies, and bioinformatics enable precise identification and tracking of these alleles. Despite this progress, the systematic introgression of beneficial alleles into elite backgrounds remains challenging due to complex trait architectures and linkage drag. Strengthening introgression-based approaches is therefore critical to unlocking this diversity for sustainable crop improvement.The goal of this Research Topic is to advance introgression-based breeding frameworks that leverage genomic tools to improve nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in crops. While crop wild relatives and landraces harbor extensive genetic variation for NUE traits, the effective transfer of these alleles into elite germplasm remains a major bottleneck. This collection aims to highlight strategies that prioritize targeted introgression, supported by genomics-assisted selection, to efficiently incorporate beneficial alleles while minimizing linkage drag. We seek contributions that integrate pre-breeding, quantitative genetics, and predictive breeding approaches to enhance the precision and speed of introgression pipelines. By combining high-resolution genotyping, phenomics, and advanced breeding designs, this Research Topic will showcase how introgression can be systematically optimized. Ultimately, the objective is to enable the development of climate-smart cultivars with improved productivity and resilience under reduced fertilizer inputs and variable environmental conditions.We invite original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and methods papers that focus on introgression-driven breeding strategies for nutrient use efficiency. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Targeted introgression of NUE-related alleles from wild relatives and landraces• Genomic tools to track and optimize introgression segments• Strategies to mitigate linkage drag during introgression breeding• Integration of genomic selection with introgression pipelines• Genetic dissection of NUE traits (N, P, K, and micronutrients) in introgressed populations• Root system architecture and nutrient acquisition traits derived from exotic germplasm• Genome editing approaches to refine or complement introgressed loci• Multi-environment evaluation of introgressed lines• Translational pipelines from allele discovery to cultivar developmentWe particularly encourage interdisciplinary studies that demonstrate how introgression-based approaches can be operationalized in practical breeding programs targeting climate resilience and reduced-input agriculture. Topic editors: Ivan Jauregui, Sandip Mallikarjun Kale Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81127/introgression-based-breeding-for-climate-smart-crops-genomic-strategies-to-enhance-nutrient-use-efficiency