Use of genetic resources and prebreeding activities in order to improve nutritional and health-related properties of cereals and pseudocereals

The research activities for wheat quality improvement have been focused on the utilization of wheat germplasms in the last decade, including the old varieties and wild relatives as well as the obtainment and evaluation of new breeding lines. Several studies have been conducted on the environmental effects on quality, development of evaluation, and processing methods for end uses. These studies reveal the usefulness of ancient germplasms as genetic resources for cereal breeding and highlight that only a small part of the genetic variation present in wild relatives and traditional varieties has been utilized yet. The rapid evolution of new genotyping and phenotyping techniques and their decreasing costs should allow the exploitation of the hidden diversity for enhancing yield, quality, and adaptation for biotic and abiotic stresses in cereals. Keywords: cereals, genetic resources, wheat wild relatives, molecular marker, nutrition, plant breeding, prebreeding, pseudocereals.