No products in the basket.
Speed breeding is a technique used to accelerate plant breeding cycles, allowing researchers and growers to develop new varieties faster than traditional field methods. By using controlled environment hydroponics, you can potentially grow up to six generations of crops per year instead of just one or two.
Traditional crop breeding is slow. Producing a new wheat variety, for example, can take 15–20 years. But with speed breeding — especially when combined with genetic selection — that timeline can shrink to 6–7 years.
Speed breeding helps:
NASA was among the first to experiment with hydroponically grown wheat. In the 1980s, they developed a variety called USU Apogee, a dwarf wheat bred to grow faster and flower earlier — ideal for controlled environments, and possibly space missions.
NASA’s research used typical hydroponic parameters:
These are standard values for hydroponic setups and form the basis for modern speed breeding protocols.
Before speed breeding, breeders would grow crops in the northern hemisphere, collect seeds, then plant them again in the southern hemisphere — doubling annual breeding cycles.
But with hydroponics and indoor controlled environments, that time-saving trick becomes redundant, and breeding can happen continuously without geographic limitations.
Not all traits are suited for speed breeding in hydroponics. Traits affected by outdoor conditions — like plant architecture or drought resistance — won’t behave the same indoors.
Instead, focus on:
Breeding under artificial conditions is most useful when the trait is stable across environments.
Speed breeding can be supercharged using marker-assisted selection — where you look for specific genes, not just physical traits. For example, if a tomato contains a gene for long shelf-life or high antioxidant content, breeders can screen seedlings genetically rather than waiting for fruit to grow.
This saves time, space, and resources, making it a powerful tool in the breeder’s toolkit.
Yes, but not commercially — yet. While experimental setups exist, hydroponic wheat isn’t cost-effective for bulk grain production. But for breeding and research, hydroponics is an invaluable tool.
Hydroponics may not replace field-grown wheat anytime soon, but it’s changing how we create the next generation of crops. Speed breeding opens the door to:
Article by Dr Russell Sharp
If you would like to keep up to date with subjects just like this, you can listen to both our podcasts! Links can be found bellow:
Hydroponics Daily Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/207T7p7fw9sPjINfSjVXW2
Cereal Killers Podcast: https://t.co/eSEbBkTVHl