Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol.16, No.4, 148-155 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/tgg 152 5.2 Ethiopia uses high-protein wheat in food aid programs Ethiopia has introduced high-protein wheat in food aid programs to address malnutrition issues. This is particularly suitable for areas where wheat is the staple food. High-protein wheat provides more essential amino acids for the body, which helps improve nutrition. The local government selected varieties with high protein content and distributed this more nutritious wheat to those in need, such as children and pregnant women (Tanin et al., 2024). This example also shows that when breeding, we should not only focus on yield, but also pay attention to nutritional content, especially in areas in need of assistance. 5.3 China's innovation in wheat nutrigenomics China has also made many new attempts in wheat breeding, with the goal of making wheat both nutritious and high-yielding. Researchers have proposed a method called "High Nutrient Use Efficiency Fertilization" (High NUFER). This method can make wheat have high yield and more protein, reduce fertilizer use, and have less impact on the environment (Hou et al., 2023). They developed the most suitable fertilization plan based on the genes and actual growth of wheat to help improve the nutritional level. These explorations in China show that as long as the method is appropriate, it is possible to cultivate high-yield and nutritious wheat, and it can also be more environmentally friendly, which will have a positive impact on food security. 6 Challenges and Opportunities 6.1 Genetic and physiological trade-offs It is actually quite difficult to breed wheat that is both high-yielding and nutritious. Sometimes, in order to make wheat drought-resistant or disease-resistant, we may end up reducing its yield or affecting its quality. For example, some drought-resistant wheat may not produce much grain even though it is suitable for dry places. This is because these traits are not determined by a single gene, but by many genes and the environment (Bapela et al., 2022). Wheat genes are inherently complex. If you want it to be high-yielding, nutritious, disease-resistant and drought-resistant, it will be even more difficult (Mondal et al., 2016). Therefore, when breeding, you cannot just focus on one aspect. If you improve a certain trait, you may make others worse, so you have to try to balance it. 6.2 Socioeconomic and market constraints In addition to technical issues, there are also some social and market difficulties. Some people do not approve of nutritionally fortified wheat, especially genetically modified wheat. When promoting it, you may encounter people who do not understand it and the policy does not keep up (Bhalla, 2006). The current market demand for wheat is more about how well it can be processed, such as how well it is ground into flour and how well it makes bread. On the contrary, whether it is nutritious is not the main consideration. This also makes it difficult to promote many varieties that focus on "nutrition" (Subedi et al., 2023). In addition, breeding and promoting new varieties cost a lot of money, which is a big problem for research on nutritious wheat (Saquee et al., 2024). To solve these problems, on the one hand, more publicity is needed to make people aware of the benefits of nutritious wheat; on the other hand, the government should also introduce policies and provide some financial and technical support. 6.3 Policy and research gap The new technologies used in breeding, such as "genomic selection" and "marker-assisted breeding", are not widely used in practice. One reason is that policies cannot keep up and support is not strong enough (Paux et al., 2022). This affects the promotion speed of new technologies. In addition, whether fortified wheat is good for people if eaten for a long time has not been thoroughly studied. There are still many blanks in its impact on health and food security (Sharma et al., 2023). To solve these problems, scientists, governments and enterprises need to work together. Only through more communication and cooperation can we build a good mechanism to promote truly nutritious and promising wheat varieties so that more people can benefit from them. 7 Future Outlook 7.1 Integrating multi-omics technologies for nutritional breeding Now, more and more scientists are beginning to use "multi-omics" to improve the nutrition of wheat. These methods include genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome. Through these technologies, we can
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==