Heat and drought adaptive QTL in a wheat population designed to minimize confounding agronomic effects

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Abstract

A restricted range in height and phenology of the elite Seri/Babax recombinant inbred line (RIL) population makes it ideal for physiological and genetic studies. Previous research has shown differential expression for yield under water deficit associated with canopy temperature (CT). In the current study, 167 RILs plus parents were phenotyped under drought (DRT), hot irrigated (HOT), and temperate irrigated (IRR) environments to identify the genomic regions associated with stress-adaptive traits. In total, 104 QTL were identified across a combination of 115 traits × 3 environments × 2 years, of which 14, 16, and 10 QTL were associated exclusively with DRT, HOT, and IRR, respectively. Six genomic regions were related to a large number of traits, namely 1B-a, 2B-a, 3B-b, 4A-a, 4A-b, and 5A-a. A yield QTL located on 4A-a explained 27 and 17% of variation under drought and heat stress, respectively. At the same location, a QTL explained 28% of the variation in CT under heat, while 14% of CT variation under drought was explained by a QTL on 3B-b. The T1BL.1RS (rye) translocation donated by the Seri parent was associated with decreased yield in this population. There was no co-location of consistent yield and phenology or height-related QTL, highlighting the utility of using a population with a restricted range in anthesis to facilitate QTL studies. Common QTL for drought and heat stress traits were identified on 1B-a, 2B-a, 3B-b, 4A-a, 4B-b, and 7A-a confirming their generic value across stresses. Yield QTL were shown to be associated with components of other traits, supporting the prospects for dissecting crop performance into its physiological and genetic components in order to facilitate a more strategic approach to breeding.

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Breeding for high water-use efficiency.

A. G. Condon, R. Richards, G. J. Rebetzke … (2004)

There is a pressing need to improve the water-use efficiency of rain-fed and irrigated crop production. Breeding crop varieties with higher water-use efficiency is seen as providing part of the solution. Three key processes can be exploited in breeding for high water-use efficiency: (i) moving more of the available water through the crop rather than it being wasted as evaporation from the soil surface or drainage beyond the root zone or being left behind in the root zone at harvest; (ii) acquiring more carbon (biomass) in exchange for the water transpired by the crop, i.e. improving crop transpiration efficiency; (iii) partitioning more of the achieved biomass into the harvested product. The relative importance of any one of these processes will vary depending on how water availability varies during the crop cycle. However, these three processes are not independent. Targeting specific traits to improve one process may have detrimental effects on the other two, but there may also be positive interactions. Progress in breeding for improved water-use efficiency of rain-fed wheat is reviewed to illustrate the nature of some of these interactions and to highlight opportunities that may be exploited in other crops as well as potential pitfalls. For C3 species, measuring carbon isotope discrimination provides a powerful means of improving water-use efficiency of leaf gas exchange, but experience has shown that improvements in leaf-level water-use efficiency may not always translate into higher crop water-use efficiency or yield. In fact, the reverse has frequently been observed. Reasons for this are explored in some detail. Crop simulation modelling can be used to assess the likely impact on water-use efficiency and yield of changing the expression of traits of interest. Results of such simulations indicate that greater progress may be achieved by pyramiding traits so that potential negative effects of individual traits are neutralized. DNA-based selection techniques may assist in such a strategy.