2025/02/19 by Prabhanjan Rane, Jai Prakash, Awtar Singh · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Physiology and Cultivation Studies #Plant Reproductive Biology #Plant Molecular Biology Research
paper · doi:10.1080/14620316.2025.2462664
openalex publication_date 2025/02/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
Juvenility is the initial phase in a plant life cycle when it cannot respond to flowering signals, and its duration varies across species. In woody perennial fruit crops, this phase can extend for several years, significantly slowing breeding efforts. Reducing the juvenile period is critical for developing high-yield, high-quality varieties with stress resistance and extended shelf life. Conventional approaches, such as optimising growth conditions, using dwarfing rootstocks, selecting early-flowering mutants, and applying growth regulators, are somewhat effective but often labour-intensive, time-consuming, and resource-heavy. Biotechnological methods, including embryo culture, overexpression studies, RNA interference, virus-induced flowering, and CRISPR-Cas, enable early flowering trait introduction from non-commercial or compatible species. Such approaches allow breeders to achieve results in a few years rather than decades. In Fast-Track breeding approach, a flowering gene is temporarily introduced to speed up development, which can later be removed through breeding, resulting in non-transgenic offspring. This review examines conventional and advanced biotechnological strategies for shortening breeding cycles in perennial fruit crops, while also addressing the technical and regulatory challenges associated with these methods in breeding programmes.