1Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India
2University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, India
3Department of Biochemistry, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, Ayodhya, India
4Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
5Department of Food Technology, School of Applied and Life Sciences, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, India
6Environment and Life Sciences Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat, Kuwait
7Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Dr. Khem Singh Gill Akal College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Baru Sahib, India
8Centre of Research Impact and Outcome, Chitkara University, Rajpura, India
9Chitkara Center for Research and Development, Chitkara University, Baddi, India
*Corresponding Author Nidhi Dubey, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India, E-mail: nidhi.19843@lpu.co.in
**Ajar Nath Yadav, Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Dr. Khem Singh Gill Akal College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Baru Sahib, India, E-mail: ajarbiotech@gmail.com
Online published on 9 January, 2026.
Orphan crops play an important role in global food and nutrition security, and may have the potential to contribute to sustainable food systems under stress conditions. Despite their huge importance for present and future agriculture, orphan crops have generally received little attention from the global scientific community. Due to this, they produce inferior yields in terms of both quantity and quality. Orphan crops are part of all food kinds including root and tuber crops, legumes, cereals, and vegetables as major crops. Orphan crops can provide essential nutrients to worldwide diets, help economic growth in the global poorest places, and strengthen the entire agri-food industry’s resistance against both abiotic and biotic challenges. Producer’s plant landraces are obtained and exchanged through a disorganized market system, and little scientific effort has been devoted to orphan crops. Breeding and investigation may be accelerated by using speed breeding technique that reduces plant production times, helping to meet ever-increasing needs. The present review highlights the ongoing efforts and future possibilities for accelerating the breeding of orphan crops, as well as divergent genomic approaches for deploying speed breeding in low-resource areas throughout the world.
Biotic, Abiotic, Minor Crops, Neglected Crops, Speed Breeding, Tolerance
