Emel Ozer, Mehmet Karaman, Mozaffar Roustaii, Jalal Kamali
Erratic weather patterns associated with climate change pose unique challenges for wheat breeders playing a key part in the fight to ensure global food security. Within the rainfed winter wheat areas of Turkey and Iran this erratic weather patterns may prevent attaining maximum potential increases in winter wheat genetic gains. This is primarily related with the fact that the ranking of tested varieties may greatly change from one year to the other. Erratic weather patterns may interfere with breeders decision on the ideotype(s) they should aim for during selection. To support breeding decisions, this study aimed at optimizing major traits through modelling different combinations of environments and defining probabilities of the range of variation of traits (phenology and pant height) that maximized grain yields. Optimal phenology was found to be highly related with the temperatures at which the winter wheat varieties were exposed at around heading time (20 days before and after heading). Specifically later winter wheat varieties were exposed to higher temperature both before and after heading and this exposure had a negative effect on grain filling duration and final grain yield. Finally, the use of at least five different wheat varieties in one production field (with different phenology and plant height) was compared to a field with monoculture to test for improved resilience. It was concluded that by selecting one best wheat variety in a wide range of environments it was possible to maximize grain yield and that using a set of diverse varieties was not beneficial.
University of Bologna, Italy/ International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Morocco
Hafssa Kabbaj, khaoula El hassouni, Elisabetta Frascaroli, Angelo Petrozza, Stephan Summerer, Marco Maccaferri, Miguel Sanchez-Garcia, Roberto Tuberosa, Filippo M. Bassi
Global food security is faced with many threats including population growth and changing climate. To cope with these threats a new paradigm shift is required to ensure sufficient and sustainable crop production. Hybrid technology could represent a partly strategic solution for durum wheat, but the understanding of its heterotic behavior is very limited. In this study, 53 F1 plants were produced via half diallel scheme and North Carolina design II, using as parental elite lines selected on the basis of their genetic distance. These hybrids along with their parents were evaluated for different physiological and root traits on a precision phenotyping platform (Lemnatec) at different levels of water stress. Additionally, a second root test was conducted in near field condition via a basket method to determine shallow or deep rooting behavior. Hybrids with the most heterotic combinations in terms of above and below ground biomass were identified. However, in order to ensure adequate pollination between heterotic parents, their flowering time must overlap. To identify good matching partners, a GWAS study was conducted to identify genomic regions associated with the control of flowering time in durum wheat. A total of 384 landraces and modern germplasm were assessed at 13 environments with different temperatures and day length throughout the season. Genotyping was conducted by 35K Axiom array to generate 8,173 polymorphic SNPs. In total, 12 significant QTLS for landraces and 17 QTLs for modern germplasm were identified consistently across environments. These two results when combined will allow to predict the best parental partners for hybrid production via markers screening on the basis of their genetic similarity to the most heterotic groups, and with matching flowering times.
ICAR NRC Plant Biotechnology
The present challenge in wheat breeding is to decipher the molecular mechanisms of heat stress response and thermotolerance in detail for future applications. Several reports indicate the ability of plants to maintain a memory of stress exposure throughout their ontogenesis and even transmit it faithfully to the following generation. Here, three diverse genotypes of wheat viz., HD2967, WR544 and C306 were used for thermotolerance assays. The genotype HD2967 was able to withstand heat stress regimes (37?C and 42?C, 2 hours). Harvested seeds were sown and further raised for two consecutive years and phonotypical data evaluated in natural field condition by exposing to heat stress during generative stages in a heat trap chamber. Maximum tiller numbers and flag leaf length were noticed in second generation plant of 37?C heat exposure whereas flag leaf width in second generation 42?C heat exposure relative to the untreated plant. Auricle length showed no difference but plant height was notably increased in the second year in all the heat exposed plants. In grain yield index, ear head length was greater in the second year and fluctuations in grain number was noticed among the heat treated plant with more yields in 42?C and 42?C HTHT in the second year. IRGA and SPAD recording showed high photosynthesis and chlorophyll content in 37?C HTHT. High modulation of transcripts of several genes involved in DNA methylation and heat stress were also observed. The domino effect of heat stress in earlier generation, in this transgenerational analysis, points towards a probable epigenetic effect. Further studies are in progress to confirm and clarify the mechanisms for future manipulation in breeding for thermotolerance.
ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal
Satish Kumar, Ratan Tiwari, Gyanendra Pratap Singh
Stripe rust, is a major constraint to wheat production in the more than 12.8 m ha region of the Northern Hills and North Western Plains zones in India. The previously deployed resistance genes Yr9 and Yr27 are no longer effective. New sources of resistance (Yr5, Yr10, Yr15, Yr24) became available under the umbrella of an Indo-Australian collaborative project. A set of advanced backcross derivative lines out yielded the checks in preliminary evaluations and were promoted to station-level (16 lines) and national (5 lines) trials. A new cohort of resistance genes (Yr47, Yr51, Yr57) are now available and are being used in the breeding program. Resistance genes Yr17, Yr18, Yr31, Yr36, Yr40, Yr53, YrC591, and Yr70 are also being used. The recent progress in development of high yielding, stripe rust resistant lines will help to address future threats from stripe rust.
The Ohio State University
Nelly Arguello-Blanco, Mao Huang
Genomic selection facilitates rapid cycling through a breeding cycle by eliminating the need to phenotype prior to selecting superior parents and crossing among them. In winter wheat we can now complete a cycle of GS in about 12 months and two greenhouse seasons. Season consists of planting F1s from the previous cycle and selfing to obtain F2 seed. The second season involves planting and genotyping the F2s, predicting their value with GS, selecting and crossing the best, and harvesting the F1 seed. Our breeding program has completed five cycles of GS in one population primarily for grain yield, over the past five years. We have completed three cycles of GS for resistance to Fusarium Head Blight in a second population. Genotyping was done using genotyping-by-sequencing. This provides an opportunity to assess the changes in the population that have occurred as a result of this rapid cycling. These include 1) changes in genomic estimated breeding values for grain yield and FHB resistance, 2) effect of selection and drift on allele frequencies including fixation, 3) effect of selection on diversity and genetic relationships, and 4) changes in linkage disequilibrium. We are conducting these analyses and will present the results.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta
Gurcharn Brar, Randy Kutcher, Raman Dhariwal
Stripe rust of wheat, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most important diseases of wheat in western Canada. Although stripe rust was an issue in southern Alberta for many years, it became important in other parts of the country after a dramatic population shift in 2000, resulting from an invasive race. Sporadic epidemics of the disease are common and cause considerable loss, due to which, an intermediate level of resistance to stripe rust was required for new varietal registrations beginning 2017. Virulence surveys are of key importance in germplasm and cultivar development as they provide breeders and pathologists the information needed to better understand host-pathogen interactions and the effectiveness of Yr genes. Virulence characterization revealed a wide range of virulence phenotypes exhibited by 33 Pst races in western Canada, although only 2-3 races were predominant. The expression of Yr genes may differ between controlled conditions and natural field conditions as previously reported. Thus, stripe rust differentials and wheat cultivars grown in western Canada are also screened at multiple locations in every year. At present, all stage resistance genes Yr1, Yr4, Yr5, Yr15, Yr76, and YrSP are effective against the predominant Pst races, whereas at the adult stage under field conditions, Yr2, Yr17, Yr28, or those carried by Yamhill are also effective. Seedling resistance genes Yr7, Yr10, Yr17, or Yr27 were the most common in Canadian wheat cultivars. Of these, only Yr17 is effective under field conditions. Adult plant resistance genes Yr18 and Yr29 are carried by many cultivars, but are not effective under high disease pressure. The effectiveness of each resistance gene may vary between the eastern and western prairies of western Canada due to differences in virulence. Regular virulence surveys using contemporary and regional cultivars facilitate the development of rust resistant cultivars.
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
Ruth Wanyera, Bernard Otukho, Bernice Waweru, Hellen Wairimu, Sridhar Bhavani
Emergence of Pgt race Ug99 and rapid proliferation of lineal highly virulent races imminently threaten Kenyan wheat. Devastating epidemics have led to huge losses among smallholder farmers who invariably are unable to spray appropriately and in situations where susceptible varieties are grown. To combat stem rust, the Kenya wheat improvement program seeks to release high yielding stable genotypes with suitable levels of disease resistance. Moreover, detection of genotypes that are adapted to rain-fed environments is an overarching objective. Six hundred and seventeen genotypes from various CIMMYT nurseries (PCBW, EPCBW, PCHPLUS, and 9th SRRSN) were selected based on plant type and reaction to stem rust at Njoro. The reconstituted nursery-KSRON, was sown in the main season of 2016 at Njoro and Timau for further evaluation. Forty red grained lines depicting R-MR infection types, severity of 30% or less, and average Thousand Kernel Weight of >40g were then selected to constitute a yield trial. At each of eight diverse environments, trials also comprising four commercial varieties as checks, were designed in RCBD, three replicates laid out in contiguous array of 8 rows x 10 m plots. Genotype (G), Environment (E) and GE interactions effects were estimated by fitting the AMMI model to yield data, supported by a biplot visualization of the results. Analysis revealed significant (P ?0.01) genotype (G), environment (E), and GE interactions. The first three principal components (PC) explained ~78% of the observed variation. Environment was the predominant source contributing over 85% to total sum of squares. The biplot pointed to at least four environments that were highly correlated. By classifying genotypes based on Shukla's stability variance and Kang's stability rating, six genotypes (R1402, R1411, R1424, R1481, R1484, and R1486) were deemed high yielding and stable, and thus suitable candidates for further testing through the release pipeline.
National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia, INAT
Maroua Ouaja, Hanen Sbei, Bochra Bahri
Septoria tritici blotch (STB) caused by the fungal pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola (anamorph: Zymoseptoria tritici) is one of the most important foliar diseases of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) in Tunisia. It attacks plants from seedling stages to maturity causing serious yield losses. Breeding for resistance to STB in durum wheat can provide an effective, economic and environmentally-safe strategy to reduce yield losses. However, this is hampered by lack of sources of resistance. In this context, a collection of 420 accessions of durum wheat from the National Bank of Gene (BNG) were evaluated for resistance to two virulent isolates of Z. tritici, namely TunBz-1 (across two environments) and TM220 (across one environment) under field conditions at three different development stages. The evaluation scale was ranged from 0% (immune plant) to 100% (100% of leave covered with symptoms). Three effects were studied on the collection: environmental effect E1-E2 (years 2016-2017), isolate effect I1-I2 (TunBz-1 and TM220) and physiological stage effect S1-S2 (seedling and adult). Results highlighted different sources of resistance between both seedling and adult stages. Moreover, 51 and 67 accessions have differential response to the two studied isolates respectively in seedling and adult stage. Furthermore, the Venn diagram has identified 23 accessions in the collection that are resistant to both isolates at both stages and that resistance was stable across environments. These accessions are located mainly in the center of Tunisia. Resistance to isolate TunBz-1 is expressed since seedling stage and there is stability of this resistance throughout the environments. The center of Tunisia seems to be a diversity center that includes different sources of resistance to STB. This collection could be the subject of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) as it presents different types of STB resistance categories that can be targeted via SNPs.
National Agronomic Research Institute of Algeria
Among the many biotic constraints to wheat production in Algeria, rusts and in particular yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis), are among the most prevalent diseases that occur mostly all over the northern part of the country. Yellow rust has become now sporadic due to the exploitation of effective resistant genes in different forms and combinations (from CIMMYT and ICARDA). Earlier, durable resistance was probably due to many genes, such Yr18, Yr9, Yr27 and Yr1.
Yellow rust appeared as epidemic in 2004, over 600 000 ha of bread wheat ; severity exceeded 70%. Yields from affected fields of Hidhab a susceptible variety did not exceed 5.2 q/ha, while resistant cultivars yielded up to 48 q/ha. Monitoring of the pathogen virulence factors and their changes provides basic information for the development of an early warning system. This experiment was carried out in 5 Eastern Algeria locations. 30 lines of a standard set of yellow rust and 14 near-isogenic lines from ICARDA were sown in 2-m rows in 2014 and 2015. According to the results, virulence on Heines Kolben (Yr2), Kalyansona (Yr2), Lee (Yr7), Avocet R (YrA), Federation*4/Kavkaz (Yr9), Yr6/6*Avocet ?S?, Yr7/6*Avocet ?S?, Yr9/6*Avocet "S", Yr17/6*Avocet "S", TP1295 (Yr25) and YrSU was common during those two seasons. The frequency of virulence on plants with Yr2, Yr6, Yr7, Yr9 or YrA and Yr27 was up to 80%. No virulence was observed on plants with Yr1, Yr3, Yr4, Yr5, Yr8, Yr10, Yr15 and Yr18 genes. This material was extensively used in our breeding programs and several new cultivars are in the on farm trials where a participatory selection approach is used. All resistant and performing new varieties are being spread for replacement of most old susceptible ones.
Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi South Campus
The flag leaf and spike are the prime organs in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) which contribute majorly for spike photosynthesis and eventually aid in grain filling. In this study we have tried to elucidate the effect of abiotic stress on the grain filling and spike photosynthesis. In order to unravel the role of flag leaf, awn, and spike in wheat grain filling and spike photosynthesis, 1000-kernel weight were calculated after removing flag leaves, awns, and by shading the spike in four wheat genotypes (PBW343, C306, K7903, HD2329) for two seasons (2014-2015, 2015-2016). A significant decrease in the grain filling was observed for all the genotypes. These results indicate the role of these organs in spike photosynthesis. The role of the awn tissue was investigated in PBW343 for its role in spike photosynthesis during heat stress. Deep transcriptome sequencing of the awn tissue (PBW343) was performed and it revealed 147573 unigenes. Out of these, 394 genes were differentially expressed genes (DEGs). These DEGs constitutes 201 upregulated and 193 downregulated genes. Genes involved in photosynthesis (Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activase B, NADH dehydrogenase, Fe-S protein2), membrane integrity (ATP-dependent zinc metalloprotease FTSH6), and ion channel transporters (two-pore potassium channel3) were prominently expressed. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis represents PSII associated light-harvesting complex II catabolism, chloroplast organization, photosynthesis light harvesting in photosystemI, ethylene biosynthesis, regulation of oxidoreductase activity, stomatal closure, chlorophyll biosynthesis categories, which are highly overrepresented under heat stress conditions. Therefore, utilizing the awn transcriptome information, Rubisco activase (RCA) gene was chosen for overexpression studies in wheat and rice with the aim to enhance the photosynthetic efficiency of the spike tissue leading to higher grain filling.