<italic>De novo</italic> domestication and preliminary cultivar development of sand rice (<italic>Agriophyllum squarrosum</italic>), a sand dune pioneer species

Abstract

<p indent="0mm">The comprehensive utilization of desert plants and sandy land resources is of far-reaching significance to the eco-civilization progress and food security in the arid region of northern China. The pioneer species <italic>Agriophyllum squarrosum</italic> is broadly distributed on the mobile sand dunes in the arid and semi-arid areas of northern China. Its seed, also called sand rice, has well-balanced nutritional values and has been consumed for more than <sc>1300 years.</sc> In 2010, our group first initiated the domestication research of sand rice by investigating the various historical literature and food consuming records of sand rice. Genetic modification and breeding are currently dependent on natural populations and artificial mutagenesis. A few modified lines with better agronomic traits have been initially isolated, laying a material foundation for further cultivation evaluation in different areas and cultivar declaration. However, the speed domestication of sand rice still requires systematically analyzing phenotypic variation among different germplasms, the establishment of a genetic transformation system, and isolating elite lines with a synchronous germination rate and strong seedling vigor.