Progress and prospects for interspecific hybridization in buckwheat and the genus Fagopyrum

Cultivated buckwheat, such as common (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.) and tartary (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.) buckwheat, is one of the most versatile crops for forage and food and has several benefits for human health. Interspecific hybridization between Fagopyrum species is of great importance to improvement of buckwheat. Hybridization would allow the transfer of agronomical beneficial characteristics from wild Fagopyrum species, including self-pollination and increased fertility, frost tolerance, and higher content of beneficial compounds. However, conventional breeding methods are only partially applicable because of the self-incompatibility and incompatibility barriers between different species. Present review summarizes the morphology of self-incompatibility, the genetic and cellular basis of incompatibility between different Fagopyrum species. In many interspecific crosses hybrid embryos are aborted after successful pollination due to post-zygotic incompatibility. The use of in vitro embryo rescue after interspecific hybridization has been successful in circumventing breeding barriers between Fagopyrum species. Methods applied successfully for the construction of interspecific hybrids are discussed in detail.