**2. Conclusion**

The wheat breeding program in Kenya has become of age. Ever since the first crosses were made in the 1910s leading to the release of cultivar *Equator* in 1920 and subsequently over 130 other cultivars (**Table 2**), measurably genetic gain has been made. However, recent trends both in the country's production and consumption landscapes necessitate that for wheat to continue to play its rightful roles as a food crop for an increasing Kenyan population, breeding efforts must not only be enhanced but such should be systematic and guided by international best practices for it to create novelty and stimulate industry. Lastly, there is optimism that a large potential for enhancing wheat productivity through breeding, and of course management avails for Kenya especially if synergies among local, regional, and international collaborations are enriched.


**1.5. Leveraging modern breeding tools and best practices**

10 Wheat Improvement, Management and Utilization

in the microtiter plots per se.

rics in plant breeding.

**2. Conclusion**

laborations are enriched.

effort will contribute to faster cultivar development.

Modern plant breeding increasingly utilizes innovations that promise greater efficiencies over current breeding methods. A key approach has been the utilization of biotechnology in many breeding programs globally. While the Kenya breeding program prides success in releasing cultivars through conventional selection methods, DNA-based marker-assisted selection (MAS) still largely underutilized might expedite development of desired cultivars if well implemented. MAS is applicable in four main areas that wheat breeders in Kenya often encounter: for efficient detection and selection of a small number of traits that are difficult to manage via phenotype and usually characterized with low penetrance and/or complex inheritance, for the retention of recessive alleles in backcrossing pedigrees, for the pyramiding of disease-resistance genes, and for aiding in the choice of parents in crossing, to ensure minimal levels of duplication [31]. However, just as this author posits, wheat breeding will continue to be mostly characterized by selection in the breeding plots, rather than detection

Since selection in the breeding plots has traditionally been based on phenotyping, success in the future for the Kenya wheat breeding program must be inbuilt on robust phenotyping platforms. The objective of modern phenotyping is to increase the accuracy, precision, and throughput of phenotypic estimation at all levels of biological organization while reducing costs and minimizing labor through automation, remote sensing, improved data integration, and experimental design [32]. Hence robust phenotyping assays for the nation program with the objective of reducing inefficiencies in development and release of superior cultivars would immensely benefit from investments in infrastructure and human capacities in biomet-

The bigger picture is in utilizing methodologies that combine accurate phenotyping and sufficient genotyping in modeling gene discovery and introgression in breeding populations. Recently, the national program collaborating with other researchers has implemented both biparental and association mapping works for rust resistance genes (e.g., [23, 33, 34]). Such

The wheat breeding program in Kenya has become of age. Ever since the first crosses were made in the 1910s leading to the release of cultivar *Equator* in 1920 and subsequently over 130 other cultivars (**Table 2**), measurably genetic gain has been made. However, recent trends both in the country's production and consumption landscapes necessitate that for wheat to continue to play its rightful roles as a food crop for an increasing Kenyan population, breeding efforts must not only be enhanced but such should be systematic and guided by international best practices for it to create novelty and stimulate industry. Lastly, there is optimism that a large potential for enhancing wheat productivity through breeding, and of course management avails for Kenya especially if synergies among local, regional, and international col-


a Breeder refers to institution under which the variety was developed and is maintained: NBS, national breeding station. Now defunct; KARI, Kenya agricultural research institute. Now defunct; KALRO, Kenya agricultural and livestock research organization; KSC, Kenya seed company; and UoE, University of Eldoret.

**Table 2.** List of bread wheat varieties for commercialization in Kenya over a century of crop improvement.
