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Abstract
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.) is an underutilized resilient crop of North Western Himalayas belonging to the family Polygonaceae and is a source of essential nutrients and therapeutics. Common Buckwheat and Tatary Buckwheat are the two main cultivated species used as food. It is the only grain crop possessing rutin, an important metabolite with high nutraceutical potential. Due to its inherent tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses and a short life cycle, Buckwheat has been proposed as a model crop plant. Nutritional security is one of the major concerns, breeding for a nutrient-dense crop such as Buckwheat will provide a sustainable solution. Efforts toward improving Buckwheat for nutrition and yield are limited due to the lack of available: genetic resources, genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics. In order to harness the agricultural importance of Buckwheat, an integrated breeding and OMICS platforms needs to be established that can pave the way for a better understanding of crop biology and developing commercial varieties. This, coupled with the availability of the genome sequences of both Buckwheat species in the public domain, should facilitate the identification of alleles/QTLs and candidate genes. There is a need to further our understanding of the molecular basis of the genetic regulation that controls various economically important traits. The present review focuses on: the food and nutritional importance of Buckwheat, its various omics resources, utilization of omics approaches in understanding Buckwheat biology and, finally, how an integrated platform of breeding and omics will help in developing commercially high yielding nutrient rich cultivars in Buckwheat.
Acknowledgements
Dr. S. M. Zargar acknowledges the support of National Mission on Himalayan Studies [NMHS] implemented by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change [MoEF&CC] (GBPNI/NMHS-2017-18/SG24/622), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (SR/FT/LS-27/2011) and DBT, New Delhi (BT/PR45195/NER/95/1930/2022; dated: 06-5-2022) for funding. S. M. Zargar also acknowledges the support of European Commission for funding of Erasmus mobility project that established collaboration between two Laboratories at SKUAST-K, India and University of Padova, Italy. R. Mahajan (PI) and S. M. Zargar (Mentor) are also grateful to DST KIRAN WOS-B, New Delhi, India for funding (Vide Project Sanction Order No. DST/WOS-B/2018/832). The authors are also highly thankful to Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, (Prof. Nazir A. Ganai) SKUAST-K, for his support and guidance. The authors also acknowledge Dr. Lekha T Pazhamala (NIPGR, New Delhi) for critical reading and editing of the manuscript.
Author contributions
S. M. Zargar conceptualized the idea of the article and contributed to writing at different stages of the manuscript; A. Hami and M. Manzoor, contributed to writing different sections of the manuscript and prepared tables. R. Mahajan and K.A. Bhat collected references and contributed to improving the readability of the manuscript. R. A. Mir designed the figures and modified parts of the manuscript. N.R. Sofi, P. A. Sofi and A. Masi contributed by improving the readability of the manuscript. U. Gani revised the manuscript as per reviewer’s comments. S.M. Zargar finalized the manuscript then all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).