Euphytica (2024) 220:42 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-024-03300-x REVIEW A comprehensive review on speed breeding methods and applications Nischay Chaudhary · Rubby Sandhu Received: 23 May 2023 / Accepted: 21 January 2024 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024 Abstract To meet the rising requirement for food production, by 2050, it is necessary to increase global production two-fold, necessitating the growth of new crop varieties. However, this process is time-consuming, largely determined by the crop’s generation period. To address this challenge, Speed Breeding (SB) technology leverages controlled environmental conditions to accelerate plant development, allowing for the multiplication of many generations per year. SB also allows for the integration of advanced protocols such as gene editing, phenotyping, and genotyping accelerating crop improvement. SB has been effectively applied to various crops, including cereals, pulses and canola crops, producing 4–6 generations in a year. With its application to a wide range of crops and lower labor requirements than breeding methods, SB offers a practical and efficient option for crops with large populations. Speed breeding has come up as a highly efficient and potent method for rapidly developing new plant varieties. Notable successes have been achieved in crops like cereals, oilseed and vegetables where new cultivars have been developed with desirable attributes such as more protein content, disease resistance, salt tolerance and drought tolerance. Overall, speed breeding offers an accessible and N. Chaudhary · R. Sandhu (*) Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University JalandharDelhi G.T. Road, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India e-mail: dr.rubby23@gmail.com transformative option for crop improvement, which will definitely help in global agricultural demand and mitigate the result of climate alteration on agriculture. This review provides a glance of SB’s activities across various crops and its significance in the current context of crop improvement. Keywords Speed breeding · Single seed descent · Genome editing · Rapid generation advancement · Growth chambers Introduction Speed breeding has received a lot of attention around the world of plant breeding because of its potential to accelerate plant growth and development that boosts agricultural yields and enhance food security. Speed breeding involves growing plants under controlled environments that optimize light, temperature, and other growth factors to accelerate the breeding process. By doing so, the technique presents possibilities for quickly producing stable and homozygous genotypes, enabling the swift progression of generations, and hastening the advancement and launch of novel varieties (Watson et al. 2018). Speed breeding is emerging as the best technique to accelerate the breeding cycles of neglected crop (Chiurugwi et al. 2019). Numerous phenotyping protocols have been customized for the speed breeding system, facilitating the identification and choice of significant traits. Vol.: (0123456789) 13 42 Page 2 of 12 Illustrative instances encompass seminal root attributes linked to drought adaptation (Richard et al. 2015), grain dormancy contributing to pre-harvest sprouting resilience (Hickey et al. 2010), and diseaserelated attributes like adult plant resistance (APR) to leaf rust (Riaz et al. 2016), stripe rust (Hickey et al. 2011), and yellow spot (Dinglasan et al. 2016) in bread wheat. This process also integrates early seed harvesting (Watson et al. 2018). The strategy employs early-generation selection in populations stemming from phenotypically diverse parentage, a practice proven advantageous for enhancing populations with desirable alleles (Hickey et al. 2012; Richard et al. 2018). Speed breeding methods are a convenient strategy for hastening conventional breeding Euphytica programs, but their implementation requires specialized knowledge, well-equipped plant phenotyping centers, suitable facilities, and ongoing funds backing for research and development projects to be effective (Wanga et al. 2021). Despite, the application of speed breeding techniques can be costly and requires specialized knowledge and facilities, there is potential for significant acceleration in traditional breeding programs and produce stable and homozygous genotypes in a shorter timeframe. Likewise, a study by Hickey et al. (2017) observed the speed breeding approach with conventional breeding along with shuttle breeding in wheat. In Fig. 1, the comparative timeline of wheat variety development is visually depicted, highlighting the results of Hickey Fig. 1 Timeline comparison of speed breeding with other breeding techniques Vol:. (1234567890) 13 (2024) 220:42 Euphytica Page 3 of 12 (2024) 220:42 42 et al.’s (2017) study. The figure demonstrates the significant reduction in breeding time achieved through the speed breeding approach (1–2 years) compared to conventional breeding (3–7 years) and shuttle breeding (3 years). Furthermore, Saxena et al. (2017) study on pigeon pea showed that the immature seeds could be harvested and germinated successfully by reducing germination time by 3 weeks allowing 4 seed to seed generation completed in a year. History and evolution of speed breeding Speed breeding was first practiced in the 1980s by John W. Finley and Todd T. Herzog of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Mississippi. They used artificial lighting to multiply the number of wheat crops each year. In the 1980s, NASA and Utah State University collaborated on a research program to advance the generation of wheat on a space station, which paved the way for opportunities of crop breeding in space to fulfil the dietary needs of astronauts, the USU-Apogee was the initial dwarf wheat cultivar created using the technique of ‘speed breeding’ (Ghosh et al. 2018; Hickey et al. 2019). In the 1990s, the discovery of LED lights and their impact on plant growth and development were assessed at the University of Wisconsin, USA. This discovery helped to accelerate research and application of speed breeding for crop improvement. Induced by NASA’s efforts, researchers at the University of Queensland coined the phrase "speed breeding" in 2003 to accelerate wheat breeding generation improvement. To shorten generation times, speed breeding is combined with many technologies, such as DH technology and embryo rescue (Ahmar et al. 2020). Illustration of history and evolution of speed breeding is given in Fig. 2. Speed breeding coupled with advanced breeding methods The combination of speed breeding with other modern breeding techniques, like single seed descent, double haploid and MAS has the potential to accelerate crop improvement research by shortening generation times, testing cultivar hybridity and purity, and allowing rapid gene introgression into recurrent parent backgrounds. Several studies have shown the success of speed breeding coupled with genome Fig. 2 History and evolution of speed breeding editing in crop plants. For instance, researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 technique to edit genes in wheat plants, resulting in increased yield and drought resistance. In tomato plants, the combination of CRISPR/ Cas9 technique and speed breeding resulted in plants with reduced ethylene biosynthesis that improved the shelf life of the fruit (Liu et al., 2021). In rice plants, the application of TALEN gene editing technique resulted in plants with increased resistance to bacterial blight disease (Shan et al. 2013). An illustration depicting Speed breeding coupled with modern breeding techniques is given in Fig. 3. Speed breeding protocols By multiplying the plant generation that can be cycled within a year, speed breeding protocols can reduce the breeding time period and lead to greater genetic gain in crop improvement programs. This is especially beneficial for line development and crossing prior to field evaluation (Hickey et al. 2019). It is necessary for different crops to respond differently against varying growing environments, which underscores the need for the development of cropspecific speed breeding protocols that are standardized. (Velez-Ramirez et al. 2014). The plant breeding Vol.: (0123456789) 13 42 Page 4 of 12 Euphytica (2024) 220:42 Fig. 3 Speed breeding coupled with modern breeding techniques process can be slow due to the difficulty and timeconsuming nature of crossing elite parental lines. Precisely managing the growth environment, particularly the lighting and temperature-controlled conditions, is the primary hurdle when utilizing speed breeding, with more 50% of the cost of speed breeding protocols going toward this aspect (O’Connor et al. 2013). Subsequently, several generations of selfing are required, which can take up to six years. Selfing is a plant breeding process that involves crossing a plant with either itself or a genetically identical plant, resulting in offspring that have uniform genetics. (Lenaerts et al. 2019). Various breeding techniques, including shuttle breeding, embryo rescue, and doubled haploid, have been developed for generation advancement in different crops. While doubled haploid technology is commonly used in maize to create purelines, (De La Fuente et al. 2020) it can be laborintensive and requires specialized skills, especially when dealing with large populations. Speed breeding, on the other hand, enables to produce 4–6 generations each year while being less labor-intensive, making it more accessible for crops with large populations. In addition, the process of speed breeding can include the evaluation of physical traits in its methodology. This technique is versatile and can be used for various Vol:. (1234567890) 13 types of plant genetic material, without the need for specialized laboratory conditions for tissue culture. It is a highly effective approach for small-grain cereals, as it enables the growth of a significant number of genetically pure lines in a compact space, resulting in cost and space savings (Watson et al. 2018). In this part of the article, different techniques to apply speed breeding methods have been discussed crop wise. Methods for quick generation progression in various crops is given in Table 1. Fast breeding of major crops Speed breeding was evaluated as a method to speed up research on cereal crops such as spring wheat, barley, durum wheat. Watson et al. (2018) used three methods to accelerate the plant breeding to overcome the time taken to release the new variety. Figure 4 depicts methods of speed breeding techniques on wheat in controlled environments (I), a glasshouse (II), and a homemade low-cost growth room (III) as demonstrated by Watson et al. in 2018. To support circadian clock genes, Speed Breeding I used a light/dark cycle instead of a continuous photoperiod. A Conviron BDW chamber was utilised to grow plants in regulated settings. The lighting Euphytica Page 5 of 12 (2024) 220:42 42 Table 1 Methods for quick generation progression in various crops with information on the no. of generations attained per year, days required for flowering, and the selection procedures employed Crop Technique/ protocol used Selection Reference Days of flowering No. of generation/ method year Wheat Rice Canola Soybean Pigeon pea Alternating light and dark condition, soil moisture Photothermal condition and high-density plantation Controlled environment CO2 supplementation-controlled environment Photoperiod, controlled environment, immature seed germination Growth hormones Light intensity and immature seed germination 28–41 75–85 73 23 50–56 7.6 4 4 5 4 SSD SSD SSD SSD SPD (Zheng et al. 2013) (Collard et al. 2017) (Watson et al. 2018) (Jahne et al. 2020) (Saxena et al. 2017) 33 33 5 7 SPD (Cazzola et al. 2020) (Samineni et al. 2020) Lentil Chickpea SPD, Single Pod Descent; SSD, Single Seed Descent; “–” not available Fig. 4 Demonstration of speed breeding in controlled environment (I), glasshouse (II) and homemade low-cost growth room (III) applied on wheat by Watson et al. 2018 emulated sunrise and dusk. Speed breeding II, Photo thermal glasshouse was installed with sodium vapour to maintain 17/22 °C. The 22-h photoperiod and 12-h temperature cycle alternate. The temperature was Vol.: (0123456789) 13 42 Page 6 of 12 17 °C and the lighting were out for two hours at night. At 45 cm above the bench, mature plants received 440-650 μmol m-2–1. Temperature and light fluctuations were abrupt. Speed breeding and day-neutral settings increased wheat spikes but not grains. Speed breeding III, a low-cost growing chamber concept using just LED lights to reduce lighting and cooling costs. Based on genotype and cross-breeding strategy, this approach provides 4–5 generations each year in a limited area (Fig. 1). In a study conducted by Collard et al. in 2017, an innovative greenhouse system was introduced for cultivating rice. This system utilized specialized seedling trays to foster plant growth. To ensure a robust germination rate of 95–100%, four to five seeds were strategically sown in each individual cell. Subsequently, a meticulous thinning process was undertaken at approximately 10–14 days after planting (DAP), where only one plant per cell was retained. The application of fertilizers was practiced with a minimalistic approach. Moreover, the harvesting phase typically commenced around 90 DAP, taking into account the specific population dynamics. The entire harvesting process was usually finalized within a span of 95–105 DAP. Upon achieving the desired target generation, such as F5 or F6, the panicles underwent a critical step of being transplanted into the field, organized in rows referred to as ’panicle rows.’ This step was crucial for amplifying seed production, often yielding F5:6 seeds. This innovative approach showcased in Collard et al.’s research signifies a pivotal advancement in rice cultivation, underlining meticulous techniques from germination to field establishment, thereby contributing to improved yields and sustainable farming practices. A protocol for speed breeding in peanut using controlled temperature and continuous light was developed, which allowed for the inbreeding of ­F2, ­F3, and ­F4 generations within a year, after parental crosses and field growth of ­F1 plants. Similarly, in soybean, Euphytica (2024) 220:42 Jahne et al. (2020) achieved 5 generations in a year by implementing LED technology, early harvesting, and a 10-h photoperiod. To create a rapid generation protocol for canola, a comparative study of various factors that can impact canola growth and pod filling, including soil, light, temperature, and irrigation was conducted and examination of the state that affect the germination of immature embryos in six different canola varieties was done (Yao et al. 2016). The approach involved manipulating light, temperature, watering, and potting mix to induce flower differentiation and culturing young embryos in vitro. It has been found that temperatures exceeding 33℃ can result in reduced anthesis time and elevated male sterility in crop such as soybean (Hatfield and Prueger 2015; Singh et al. 2015). Temperature control plays an important role in promoting flower growth, seed production, and maturation, all of which are essential for expediting breeding processes. In the instance of wheat and barley, embryo cultures were used to obtain immature seeds that were subsequently germinated at a temperature range of 20–22℃ (Zheng et al. 2013). Using a 10-h photoperiod enriched with blue light and deprived of far-red light, soybean plants matured in 77 days of sowing, for five generations to be grown in a year (Harrison et al. 2021). Similarly, supplying additional ­CO2 in chamber and LED system elevates 5 generations says (Nagatoshi and Fujita 2019) and (Jahne et al. 2020) respectively. Table 2 provides a comprehensive overview of the key findings and insights from these studies. The protocols of speed breeding are established for some vegetable crops include tomato (Solanum Lycopersicon), pea (Pisum sativum), soybean (Glycine max) while there is still a need for further research to standardize and develop speed breeding protocols for legumes, leafy vegetables, and herbs. Many efforts are established and standardized speed breeding methods for a range of vegetable crops, including radish, pea, and tomato, aimed at improving yield Table 2 List of emerging Soybean speed breeding technique developed Sr. no Technique/protocol used No. of generation/ year Reference 1 2 3 4 Fresh seed method and MAS Red and blue light, coupled with thermal condition CO2 supplementation and lamps LED system, immature seed germination Least 4 or more 5 or more 5 or more 5 or more (Fang et al. 2021) (Harrison et al. 2021) (Nagatoshi and Fujita 2019) (Jähne et al. 2020) Vol:. (1234567890) 13 Euphytica Page 7 of 12 (2024) 220:42 under continuous light exposure. To enhance continuous light tolerance, the CAB-13 gene has been incorporated through introgression (Velez-Ramirez et al. 2014). Speed breeding is helpful to decrease generation time taken for other crops like tomato and potato (8 generation per year in two fields) Pepper (continuous light for early flowering and fruit) (Chiurugwi et al. 2019). Onion is biennial, cross-pollinated and exhibits inbreeding depression (Khosa and Dhatt 2020); that takes 10—12 years for varietal development (Brewster 2008; Khosa and Dhatt 2020). Speed breeding in onions can be expedited by inducing onion bulbs to break their dormancy. This process can accelerate the development of bulbs within 45 days and enable rapid bulb maturation within 46–80 days, which is significantly shorter than the 5–6 months typically required for bulb development (Brewster 2008; Khosa and Dhatt 2020). The standardized speed breeding protocol for potatoes involves supplementing plants with a continuous long photoperiod in a controlled greenhouse environment. This results in accelerated plant growth, earlier flowering and fruiting, and faster seed maturity (Sood et al. 2020). The sensitivity of tomato towards continuous light supplementation is well-documented. However, recent studies have identified a locus known as CAB-13 associated on the short arm of chromosome 7, which is responsible for continuous light tolerance. The CAB-13 gene has been linked with the marker 7–20-1B and its role in conferring light resistance has been extensively tested (Velez-Ramirez et al. 2014). Using gene expression analysis and gene ontology, researchers were able to discover differentially expressed proteins by investigating metabolic pathways and biochemical events that lead to continuous light tolerance in tomato. This knowledge was then used to cultivate tomato plants in a speed breeding chamber supplemented with 24 h light. Legume species, particularly temperate pulses, have been the subject of several generation acceleration protocols, with a focus on optimizing their growth and development. The concept of a speed breeding program aimed at quickly cycling through generations and efficiently accumulating desired traits has garnered significant interest in various coolseason legumes such as chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), Faba beans, lentils, and peas (Pisum sativum). Additionally, certain warm legumes including common beans, cowpeas, and pigeon peas have also captured 42 attention in relation to this approach (Saxena et al. 2019) soybean, and groundnut (Mobini et al. 2015). These pulses exhibit a positive response to long photoperiod due to their facultative long day plant nature (Croser et al. 2021). Research has shown that providing optimal conditions of continuous light, controlled environment within a greenhouse can significantly enhance the growth rate of peanut plants (Jahne et al. 2020). For reducing generation cycles in pea and bambara groundnut, a combination of in vitro protocols and in vivo manipulation has been found to be more effective. However, an in vivo-only approach has shown promising results for peas and grass peas (Varshney et al. 2021). These techniques have allowed for the production of up to F8 of lentil within a year (Mobini et al. 2015). A technique for accelerated generation advancement in pigeon pea involves harvesting underdeveloped seeds from 35 day old plants, resulting in 100% germination and enabling three to four generations to be grown within a year (Saxena et al. 2017). Early flowering was seen in chickpea plants exposed to 12/ 12 h of light/dark cycle using a 60W incandescent bulb emitting 870 lm of light intensity (Samineni et al. 2020). The chipped seeds demonstrated a high germination rate, ranging from 95 to 99% (Parmar et al. 2021). Starting from 2016, the technology of SB has been integrated into public breeding programs for cool-season legumes in Australia. The derived RILs have been employed to identify the associations between genes and traits (Dadu et al. 2021; Khoo et al. 2021; Taylor et al. 2021; Zaman et al. 2019), Integration of SB with other technologies has been adopted to hasten the development of cultivars (Croser et al. 2021). The increasing instances of speed breeding being applied to both long-day and, more recently, shortday plants serve as evidence of its wide applicability in breeding initiatives. This approach enables accelerated development of homozygosity, the establishment of mapping populations, and substantial reduction in the time, space, and resources required for cultivar enhancement. Opportunities of speed breeding Speed breeding presents possibilities for quickly producing stable and homozygous genotypes, enabling the swift progression of generations and hastening the Vol.: (0123456789) 13 42 Page 8 of 12 advancement and launch of novel varieties. (Watson et al. 2018). Manipulation of photoperiod regime Speed breeding techniques that rely on light offer the advantage of maintaining continuous photosynthesis throughout the entire day and year (Bhatta et al. 2021). According to (Samineni et al. 2020) research, exposing chickpea plants to 12/ 12 h of light/dark cycle using a 60 W incandescent bulb emitting 870 lm of light intensity resulted in early flowering. Similar photoperiod regimes utilizing light sources that emit Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) ranging from 400–700 nm and a light intensity of 360–650 μmol/m2/s was effectively employed in numerous crops, such as wheat, rice, pea, canola, and chickpea, to expedite speed breeding processes (Watson et al. 2018). Management of temperature condition To facilitate the germination of immature chickpea seeds that were directly sown, a consistent temperature of 25 ± 1 ℃ was maintained alongside a light/ dark cycle of 12 h each (Samineni et al. 2020). It has been found that temperatures exceeding 33℃ can result in reduced pollen viability and elevated male sterility in crops such as rice, sorghum, and soybean (Hatfield and Prueger 2015; Singh et al. 2015). Temperature control plays an important role in promoting flower growth, seed production, and maturation, all of which are essential for expediting breeding processes. In the instance of wheat and barley, embryo cultures were used to obtain immature seeds that were subsequently germinated at a temperature range of 20–22 ℃ (Zheng et al. 2013). Expediting breeding through the quick formation of homozygous lines Speed breeding is a collection of methods that involve modifying the growing conditions of crop genotypes to hasten the process of flowering and seed production, thereby allowing for rapid progression to the next generation in breeding. This approach helps to save resources and time in breeding by facilitating faster generation advancement. Vol:. (1234567890) 13 Euphytica (2024) 220:42 Achievements The use of speed breeding programs has revolutionized the agricultural industry by enabling the rapid growth of several crops, including cereals, pulses and oilseed crops. This technique has allowed up to six generations per year in wheat, barley, chickpea, and up to four generations in canola (Acquaah 2009). Researchers from University of Queensland, Australia successfully performed speed breeding technique in wheat, followed by a development of new variety from John Inns Center, UK in 2017, with continuous use of speed breeding to develop different variety, as illustrated in Fig. 5. By utilizing speed breeding, the development of new cultivars has become more efficient and effective. One notable success of speed breeding is the creation of the "DS Faraday" variety of wheat, which is a high protein, fine wheat with potential to pre-harvest sprouting (Kapiel 2018). Additionally, the "Scarlett" barley cultivar in Argentina, which was previously susceptible to many diseases, has been modified using a modified backcrossing method with four lines to develop resistant lines in just two years (Hickey et al. 2017). Speed breeding has also been used to achieve drought tolerance in barley (Ghosh et al. 2018). In rice, the use of speed breeding has led to the development of the "YNU31-2–4" salt-tolerant variety. This was achieved through the insertion of a gene using SNP marker and the acceleration of the breeding cycle through speed breeding (14 h light/10 h dark- germination to 30 days of germination, ten h light/14 h dark reproductive phase). The recently introduced varieties produced through the application of speed breeding techniques is displayed in Table 3. The efficiency of speed breeding has revolutionized crop improvement and has the potential to transform the agricultural industry. Current major challenges of speed breeding Speed breeding methods are a useful strategy for hastening conventional breeding programs, but their implementation requires specialized knowledge, well-equipped plant phenotyping centers, suitable facilities, and ongoing funds backing for research and development projects to be effective (Wanga et al. 2021). Precisely managing the growth environment, particularly the lighting and temperature-controlled conditions, is the primary hurdle when utilizing speed Euphytica Page 9 of 12 (2024) 220:42 42 Fig. 5 Achievements of speed breeding (This image was created using Bio Render) Table 3 List of newly released varieties using speed breeding techniques Crops Varieties Year of release Developed by Wheat Yumai 34 Long reach lancer Mace DS Faraday Julins Nw4568 Excalibur Scarlett Tallon WI 4240 In VIgor L140P 45H29 NAM-NU14 Nitouche Purple podded pea 2014 2016 2016 2018 2018 2018 2015 2019 2020 2018 2019 2016 2017 2020 2020 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences University of Queensland, Australia University of Queensland, Australia University of Queensland, Australia John Innes Centre, UK University of Queensland, Australia University of Adelaide, Australia University of Queensland, Australia University of Queensland, Australia John Innes Centre, UK Bayer Crop Science Pioneer University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Queensland, Australia John Innes Centre, UK Barley Canola Maize Pea breeding, with more 50% of the cost of speed breeding protocols going toward this aspect (O’Connor et al. 2013). While advance breeding techniques like Marker-Assisted Selection, Pedigree-Assisted breeding have been integrated, the size and expense of the infrastructure required for speed breeding can still constrain the number of multiplication and sizes that can be assessed due to its significant cost which utilizes established marker-trait associations, can help to optimize resource utilization in conjunction with speed breeding (Chen et al. 2018), a detailed comparison of existing breeding techniques is provided in Table 4. By merging speed breeding and quality field trials, scientists can concentrate their efforts on the essential elements of the breeding program that require acceleration. These may include the crossing of parental lines in crops that are clonally propagated or have extended juvenile periods, as well as the development of high-quality inbreds exploited by hybridization (Chen et al. 2018). For breeding programs that lack sufficient resources, including land, equipment, and qualified staff, speed breeding offers Vol.: (0123456789) 13 42 Page 10 of 12 Euphytica (2024) 220:42 Table 4 Comparison of speed breeding with other breeding techniques Technique Advantages Disadvantages Reference Traditional breeding Proven success Marker assisted selection Faster than traditional breeding Slow and labour intensive Limited by marker density and accuracy Faster than marker-assisted selection Requires high-density genotyping Fast and efficient Requires specialized equipment (Varshney and Dubey 2012) (Bernardo 2016) Genomic selection Speed breeding (Spindel et al. 2016) (Watson et al. 2018) a viable solution for quickly improving their initial breeding resources (O’Connor et al. 2013). Applying breeding convention to systems that enable rapid marketing of new varieties can help to recover the extra costs associated with breeding (Collard et al. 2017). Conclusion Speed breeding offers exciting possibilities for rapidly producing stable and homozygous genotypes, expediting the breeding process, and launching new cultivars in a shorter timeframe. By handling the photoperiod regime and managing temperature conditions, researchers can accelerate the speed breeding techniques for numerous crops, such as wheat, barley, pea, canola, and chickpea. Furthermore, the integration of advance breeding methods, for example genomics-assisted breeding, and linking breeding ways to systems for swift commercialization can help recoup the additional breeding expenses. Overall, speed breeding has efficiency to revolutionize conventional breeding programs, saving resources and time and enabling more rapid progress in plant breeding. In conclusion, while the application of speed breeding techniques can be costly and requires specialized knowledge and facilities, there is potential for significant acceleration in traditional breeding programs and produce stable and homozygous genotypes in a shorter time-frame. The use of speed breeding techniques in evaluating pod shattering resistance in canola cultivars has shown promising outcome in accelerating the development of pod shatter-resistant cultivars. This phenotyping protocol could be a useful tool for breeders to enhance the efficiency of their breeding programs. Integrating modern breeding techniques and enhanced field trials can optimize resource utilization, and linking plant breeding programs to systems for swift commercialization Vol:. (1234567890) 13 can help recoup additional breeding expenses. Speed breeding has the ability to revolutionize conventional breeding methods, saving resources and time and enabling more rapid progress in plant breeding. Author contributions RS conceived the idea and did the literature search. NC prepared the manuscript. RS read and critically revised the manuscript. Funding Self-funded. Declarations Conflict of interests ests. The authors declare no competing inter- Ethics approval As this is a review article, no ethics approval is required. Consent to participate The corresponding author states that all authors have given consent to participate. Consent to publish The corresponding author states that all authors have given consent to publish this article in the Euphytica Journal. References Acquaah G (2009) Principles of plant genetics and breeding. John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118313 718 Ahmar S, Gill RA, Jung KH, Faheem A, Qasim MU, Mubeen M, Zhou W (2020) Conventional and molecular techniques from simple breeding to speed breeding in crop plants: recent advances and future outlook. 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