The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

Objective(s):
1. To present an historical perspective on crop improvement to enhance nutritional content. 2. To assess the current status and challenges of research aimed at breeding fruits and vegetables for improved nutritional or health promoting attributes. 3. To examine case studies wherein vegetables are currently being bred for altered nutritional or phytonutrient content. 4. To examine case studies wherein fruits are currently being bred for altered nutritional or phytonutrient content. 5. To discuss the potential challenges and opportunities faced by future projects aimed at breeding enhanced nutritional or phytonutrient content.

There is a historical record of crop breeding to alter nutritional components in important world crops.    In particular, a body of work describes efforts to systematically change levels of macronutrient pools, such as protein, oil or carbohydrate, especially in agronomic crops, but also in some horticultural crops.   More current research efforts have focused on micro-phytonutrients in vegetables and fruits that impart some health promoting effect when consumed.   As the world population continues to increase and food demand increases in parallel, there will be a continuous need to monitor nutritional content of our important horticultural crops.   In many cases there will be a need to systematically work to increase nutritional content.  This colloquium will first seek to present an historical perspective on this subject, demonstrating numerous successful examples wherein important crops have been altered or enhanced for nutritional content over more than a century of modern plant breeding.   Several case studies will also be presented, demonstrating how some current efforts approach selecting for and breeding different levels of specific micro-phytonutrients (e.g., anthocyanin) in particular crops (e.g., tomato).  Presentations will also describe specific examples in which relatively new approaches (e.g., marker assisted selection or plant transformation) are being used in horticultural crop improvement efforts.  Challenges and opportunities for future enhancement efforts in vegetables and fruits will also be examined in order to present a comprehensive discussion and the “big picture” for this topic.