Principles and Applications of Genome Editing in Field, Horticultural and Forest Crops

The accelerating pace of climate change, population growth, and increasing pressure on natural resources demand innovative, precise, and sustainable strategies to enhance crop productivity, nutritional quality, and resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. Genome editing has emerged as a transformative tool in modern plant science, enabling the targeted and heritable modification of genes with unprecedented accuracy. Among the various platforms, the CRISPR-Cas system has revolutionized crop improvement by offering a simple and cost-effective approach to reengineer plant genomes across a wide range of species, including cereals, vegetables, fruits, and forest trees. This book, Principles and Applications of Genome Editing in Field, Horticultural, and Forest Crops, has been conceived to serve as a comprehensive application-oriented resource for students, researchers, academicians, and plant breeders. It systematically covers the conceptual foundations, technical workflows, and emerging applications of genome editing technologies in crop plants, integrating core molecular biology with practical breeding perspectives. The contents address genome editing platforms and their evolution, molecular architecture of the CRISPR-Cas system and its expanding variants, and their targeting efficiency and adaptability in diverse crops. Critical prerequisites such as target gene selection, genomic resource availability, and transformation capabilities have been discussed alongside detailed methodologies for designing and synthesizing guide RNAs, cloning strategies, transformation protocols, and approaches for molecular and phenotypic characterization of edited plants. Significant attention has also been given to biosafety considerations, ethical concerns, and the dynamic regulatory frameworks governing genome-edited crops, which are crucial for societal acceptance and policy support. The book further presents a rich compilation of case studies and applications in field crops like rice and wheat, as well as in vegetable crops, fruit crops, and long-generation forest trees, highlighting the versatility and translational potential of genome editing across varied agricultural and ecological systems. This book is the result of collaborations and contributions from experts actively working in the field, and every effort has been made to uphold scientific precision, clarity, and practical relevance. It is our earnest hope that this book will deepen understanding, support guided experimentation, and inspire innovative applications of genome editing for the development of climate-resilient and nutritionally enriched crop varieties for the future. We sincerely thank all contributors, reviewers, and institutions whose commitment and expertise have ensured the academic quality and integrity of this publication.