REVIEW article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1590870
Breeding for resistance to maize streak virus: Challenges, progress and future directions: A Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Seed Co Limited, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2African Centre for Crop Improvement, School of Agricultural, Earth & Environmental Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- 3International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria
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Maize (Zea mays L.) is a commodity crop sustaining livelihoods and economies globally. However, maize productivity is challenged by many factors. Maize streak virus disease (MSV) is the most damaging in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It causes grain yield losses of up to 100% when susceptible varieties are grown without protection. MSV also affects the quantity and quality of crop biomass and silage production. Therefore, there is a need for effective MSV control strategies to minimize both crop yield and quality losses. Breeding and deploying MSV-resistant varieties is the most sustainable, costeffective, and amenable control measure, especially for smallholder growers. Hence, breeding for MSV resistance in maize varieties targeted for the smallholder sector in SSA is an integral component of most breeding programs in the region. The aim of this review is to document the challenges posed by MSV, management options, breeding approaches, and progress, as well as provide recommendations and future directions. To gain insight into the host-pathogen interaction for parental selection and breeding, the first section of the paper discusses the impact, biology, host range, symptoms and epidemiology of MSV. The second section reviews breeding progress and research gaps in new variety design with MSV resistance as part of the product profiles. The paper reveals the breeding sources of genetic variation, quantitative trait loci, major-and minor-effect genes for MSV resistance and the disease control in maize. Finally, the review highlights the conventional and modern breeding methods, innovations and prospects for MSV resistance breeding. The review would guide scientists and maize breeders in developing and deploying MSV-resistant maize varieties.
Keywords: Maize streak virus, Plant Diseases, Quantitative Trait Loci, Resistance breeding, sub-Saharan Africa
Received: 10 Mar 2025; Accepted: 07 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mushayi, Shimelis, Derera and Tesfamariam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Malven Mushayi, Seed Co Limited, Harare, Zimbabwe
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.