Recent advances in tree improvement for agroforestry species

Abstract

Agroforestry as the name suggests, involves tree and crop interaction, hence tree improvement for agroforestry species slightly differs as that of the forest tree species. In addition to maximizing the economic yield, these species are selected for their social, economical and environmental sustainability. The breeding objectives vary as their use in different agroforestry systems according to suitability of different agro-climatic regions. The breeding programs are being implemented for the genetic improvement starting from the classical breeding to the use of modern biotechnology tools. The prioritization of the breeding tools varies with the knowledge of the species, their breeding objective and the economic returns upon the improvement. Thus in the improvement of agroforestry species, we can find the basic reproductive biology to the recent omics study depending on the species. The present review focuses on the recent trends in the tree improvement for some of these agroforestry important species.