Rice Breeding in Vietnam: Retrospects, Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

Rice breeding was conducted for a long time during historical times and is an important job in Vietnam because rice is the major food for domestic consumption and export. In this review, we have provided a comprehensive insight into the importance of promising rice germplasm resources, breeding achievements, and breeding approaches as well as discussed challenges and perspectives of rice breeding in this country. With rice germplasm and wild rice relative resources with rich and various genetic diversity, their useful genes and traits have been exploited and integrated into commercial varieties as the final outputs of rice breeding programs. New achievements of the modern genetics era have been approached and effectively contributed to breeding activities in this country. Genome sequences, molecular breeding, and mutation are powerful tools and playing vital roles in developing new varieties with characteristics of interest that should be followed by the current market demands. In the last decades, there has been a plethora of newly generated varieties by Vietnamese scientists and rice breeders and approved by the state authorities. However, very few domestic mega varieties have prevailed over the imported varieties. Therefore, rice breeding in this country is faced with big challenges, including limitations of backgrounds, budgets, and even talents in basic research to compete with other rice-producing countries. The target goals and long-term approaches for rice breeding should be paid explicitly in priority to ensure national food security and the advantage and development of rice breeding in this country.

Genomic regions and candidate genes selected during the breeding of rice in Vietnam

“…Rice has been cultivated in Vietnam for over 4000 years (Khanh et al, 2021) and originated around 9000 years ago from the Yangtze valley (Gutaker et al, 2020). Selection within Vietnam has resulted in the four Japonica and five Indica subpopulations, these are comprised of landraces except for the I1 subpopulation, which is comprised of accessions with 'elite' genetic composition, resulting from recent breeding with modern-bred varieties (Tables 1 and 2; Higgins et al, 2021).…”

“…Vietnam harnesses a rich novel rice diversity due to the presence of native and traditional rice varieties adapted to its broad latitudinal range, diversity of ecosystems and regional food preferences (Fukuoka et al, 2003 ). This diversity constitutes a largely untapped and highly valuable genetic resource for local and international breeding programs (Khanh et al, 2021 ). Vietnamese rice shows a strong population structure, which is captured within five Indica and four Japonica subpopulations that we have recently described (Tables 1 and 2 ; Higgins et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Here, we identified regions in the rice genome which have been selected by conscious and unconscious human selection by leveraging the strong population structure among Vietnamese‐native rice varieties and landraces, which has resulted from adaptation to diverse geography, environmental pressures and agronomic practices. Rice has been cultivated in Vietnam for over 4000 years (Khanh et al, 2021 ) and originated around 9000 years ago from the Yangtze valley (Gutaker et al, 2020 ). Selection within Vietnam has resulted in the four Japonica and five Indica subpopulations, these are comprised of landraces except for the I1 subpopulation, which is comprised of accessions with ‘elite’ genetic composition, resulting from recent breeding with modern‐bred varieties (Tables 1 and 2 ; Higgins et al, 2021 ).…”

Genomics and big data: Research, development and applications

“…hướng đến năm 2030…, một số hệ gen người, động vật, thực vật, vi sinh vật đã và đang được các nhóm nghiên cứu chuyên sâu về gen, hệ gen tại các viện nghiên cứu, trường đại học và các đối tác quốc tế tiến hành giải trình tự thành công sử dụng các công nghệ NGS. Tuy nhiên, đối tượng nghiên cứu và số lượng hệ gen được xác định chưa nhiều cũng như cơ sở dữ liệu và việc khai thác dữ liệu còn rất hạn chế do hướng nghiên cứu khá mới, nguồn nhân lực, kinh phí nghiên cứu, cơ sở hạ tầng và trang thiết bị còn thiếu và chưa đồng bộ (Lê Thị Thu Hiền et al, 2016;Nông Văn Hải, 2019;Tran et al, 2021).…”

Characterizing Rice Quality Properties and Comprehensive Taste Quality: A Case Study of Three-years of Regional Varietal Trials in the Mekong Delta

“…Annually, a large number of promising rice varieties are developed by research institutions, private companies, and individual breeders, are evaluated in different locations, and approved the state authorities (Khanh et al, 2021). Promising lines are then sent to regional testing sites before being released (Ngo et al, 2019).…”