Background: Root hairs are single-celled projections on root surfaces, critical for water and nutrient uptake. Here, we describe the first short root hair mutant in wheat ( L.), identified in a mutagenized population and termed here short root hair 1 ().
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomic selection has recently become an established part of breeding strategies in cereals. However, a limitation of linear genomic prediction models for complex traits such as yield is that these are unable to accommodate Genotype by Environment effects, which are commonly observed over trials on multiple locations. In this study, we investigated how this environmental variation can be captured by the collection of a large number of phenomic markers using high-throughput field phenotyping and whether it can increase GS prediction accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe wheat flag leaf is the main contributor of photosynthetic assimilates to developing grains. Understanding how canopy architecture strategies affect source strength and yield will aid improved crop design. We used an eight-founder population to investigate the genetic architecture of flag leaf area, length, width and angle in European wheat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants (Basel)
October 2022
Uncovering the mechanism that underlies the relationship between crop height and grain yield would potentially inform the strategies for improving wheat with optimal height. The aim of the research reported here was to identify the attributes able to produce wheat yield increases in genotypes without further straw-shortening. Attention was given to examination in a controlled environment the question of the mechanistic foundation that determined the relationship between wheat height and yield in lines (, , , ) compared to wild types in Mercia background.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The incorporation of root traits into elite germplasm is typically a slow process. Thus, innovative approaches are required to accelerate research and pre-breeding programs targeting root traits to improve yield stability in different environments and soil types. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) can help to speed up the process by selecting key genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with root traits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant phenomics bridges the gap between traits of agricultural importance and genomic information. Limitations of current field-based phenotyping solutions include mobility, affordability, throughput, accuracy, scalability, and the ability to analyze big data collected. Here, we present a large-scale phenotyping solution that combines a commercial backpack Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) device and our analytic software, CropQuant-3D, which have been applied jointly to phenotype wheat (Triticum aestivum) and associated 3D trait analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the coming decades, larger genetic gains in yield will be necessary to meet projected demand, and this must be achieved despite the destabilizing impacts of climate change on crop production. The root systems of crops capture the water and nutrients needed to support crop growth, and improved root systems tailored to the challenges of specific agricultural environments could improve climate resiliency. Each component of root initiation, growth and development is controlled genetically and responds to the environment, which translates to a complex quantitative system to navigate for the breeder, but also a world of opportunity given the right tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article comments on: 2020. Accurate staging of reproduction development in Cadenza wheat by non-destructive spike analysis. , 3475–3484.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAt the 4th International Plant Phenotyping Symposium meeting of the International Plant Phenotyping Network (IPPN) in 2016 at CIMMYT in Mexico, a workshop was convened to consider ways forward with sensors for phenotyping. The increasing number of field applications provides new challenges and requires specialised solutions. There are many traits vital to plant growth and development that demand phenotyping approaches that are still at early stages of development or elude current capabilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability of roots to extract soil moisture is critical for maintaining yields during drought. However, the extent of genotypic variation for rooting depth and drought tolerance in Northern European wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFaced with the challenge of increasing global food production, there is the need to exploit all approaches to increasing crop yields. A major obstacle to boosting yields of wheat (an important staple in many parts of the world) is the availability and efficient use of water, since there is increasing stress on water resources used for agriculture globally, and also in parts of the UK. Improved soil and crop management and the development of new genotypes may increase wheat yields when water is limiting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBy 2050, the world population is likely to be 9.1 billion, the CO(2) concentration 550 ppm, the ozone concentration 60 ppb and the climate warmer by ca 2 degrees C. In these conditions, what contribution can increased crop yield make to feeding the world? CO(2) enrichment is likely to increase yields of most crops by approximately 13 per cent but leave yields of C4 crops unchanged.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, four sugar beet genotypes of differing responses to drought were selected from a field experiment conducted under well-watered and water-limited conditions in 2004. In addition, two candidate genes: 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-cys prx) and Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase (NDPK), thought to be associated with drought tolerance, were chosen from a previous proteomics study in sugar beet. An expression analysis of the two drought-regulated genes using semi-quantitative reverse transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) indicated that there were genotypic differences in the transcript abundance of the candidate genes with the differences in the expression level of 2-cys prx being likely associated with the drought responses of the genotypes in a two-year field study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrought is one of the major factors limiting the yield of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.). The identification of candidate genes for marker-assisted selection (MAS) could greatly improve the efficiency of breeding for increased drought tolerance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe maintenance of root elongation is an important adaptive response to low water potentials (psi(w)), but little is known about its regulation. An important component may be changes in root cell electrophysiology, which both signal and maintain growth maintenance processes. As a first test of this hypothesis, membrane potentials (E(m)) were measured within the cell elongation zone of maize (Zea mays L.
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