RECENT RESEARCH

Crop wild relatives are an inestimable source for vegetable improvement to tackle both biotic and abiotic stresses. Consequently, the major focus of this chapter is on the utilization of crop wild relatives in research and breeding of tomato and in other vegetable crops. Wild relatives of tomato have been crucial in the improvement of cultivated tomato through classical breeding, such as pest and disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, and to a much lesser extent, fruit quality. Methods usually applied in molecular breeding, such as quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis, can help detect genes in wild species that may improve yield- or quality-related traits in elite varieties. Work is being done to assess crop wild relatives for beneficial traits to improve other important vegetables, including peppers, eggplant, onion, brassicas, and lettuce. Improved technologies, especially genomics-assisted breeding, are facilitating the introgression of favorable traits from wild species into cultigens.