By Deborah Taylor
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to address the challenges posed by climate change, evolving pests, and pathogens, and ensure food security for the projected global population of 10 billion by 2050, according to researchers at The University of Queensland. AI can accelerate the development of high-performing plants and animals for sustainable and profitable farming.
The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation team at the university has identified four applications for AI in crop and livestock breeding. Firstly, AI can help in deciding which plants and animals to breed, taking into account the preferences of millions of consumers in an increasingly challenging environment. Secondly, AI can analyze large-scale images to capture genetic variations between related lines of plants and desirable traits in animals.
Thirdly, AI can use genetic markers to predict the breeding potential of different varieties. Finally, AI can transform the breeding process by considering a breeding population as a collection of DNA chunks rather than individual genetic lines. AI can identify optimal crossing paths to create new and superior genotypes by combining beneficial DNA segments across the genome.
Furthermore, the combination of AI-informed selection with “speed breeding,” which enables quick turnover of multiple generations, allows researchers and breeders to generate significantly improved genotypes ready for evaluation in only a year or two. The University of Queensland is already utilizing speed breeding and AI in wheat and barley projects supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
By integrating speed breeding with AI, scientists can tap into extensive datasets and bring together desirable traits faster than ever before, particularly in traits governed by multiple genes. This advancement in AI and breeding techniques has the potential to revolutionize the industry and address the upcoming challenges of food security in a rapidly changing world.
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Source: l.
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