GWAS for Drought Resilience Traits in Red Clover ( L.).

Red clover ( L.) is a well-appreciated grassland crop in temperate climates but suffers from increasingly frequent and severe drought periods. Molecular markers for drought resilience (DR) would benefit breeding initiatives for red clover, as would a better understanding of the genes involved in DR.

Quantification of species composition in grass-clover swards using RGB and multispectral UAV imagery and machine learning.

Introduction: Growing grass-legume mixtures for forage production improves both yield productivity and nutritional quality, while also benefiting the environment by promoting species biodiversity and enhancing soil fertility (through nitrogen fixation). Consequently, assessing legume proportions in grass-legume mixed swards is essential for breeding and cultivation. This study introduces an approach for automated classification and mapping of species in mixed grass-clover swards using object-based image analysis (OBIA).

Genome-wide association study for in vitro digestibility and related traits in triticale forage.

Background: Triticale is making its way on dairy farms as an alternative forage crop. This requires the availability of high-yielding triticale varieties with good digestibility. Triticale forage breeding mainly focussed on biomass yield, but efforts to improve digestibility are increasing.

Phenotypic characterization of drought responses in red clover ( L.).

Introduction: Red clover () is a protein-rich, short-lived perennial forage crop that can achieve high yields, but suffers increasingly from drought in different cultivation areas. Breeding for increased adaptation to drought is becoming essential, but at this stage it is unclear which traits breeders should target to phenotype responses to drought that allow them to identify the most promising red clover genotypes. In this study, we assessed how prolonged periods of drought affected plant growth in field conditions, and which traits could be used to distinguish better adapted plant material.

Predicting yield of individual field-grown rapeseed plants from rosette-stage leaf gene expression.

In the plant sciences, results of laboratory studies often do not translate well to the field. To help close this lab-field gap, we developed a strategy for studying the wiring of plant traits directly in the field, based on molecular profiling and phenotyping of individual plants. Here, we use this single-plant omics strategy on winter-type Brassica napus (rapeseed).

Variation in potential feeding value of triticale forage among plant fraction, maturity stage, growing season and genotype.

Cereal forages, such as triticale forage, progressively gain interest as alternative crop for maize. The main study objective was to investigate the variation in potential feeding value of triticale forage among maturity stage, growing season and genotype, using total plant and stem fractions. Therefore, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was evaluated as fast screening tool.

Genetic control of tolerance to drought stress in soybean.

Background: Drought stress limits the production of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], which is the most grown high-value legume crop worldwide.

Phenotypic variation and quantitative trait loci for resistance to southern anthracnose and clover rot in red clover.

High variability for and candidate loci associated with resistance to southern anthracnose and clover rot in a worldwide collection of red clover provide a first basis for genomics-assisted breeding. Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is an important forage legume of temperate regions, particularly valued for its high yield potential and its high forage quality.

Genomic Prediction of Complex Traits in Forage Plants Species: Perennial Grasses Case.

The majority of forage grass species are obligate outbreeders. Their breeding classically consists of an initial selection on spaced plants for highly heritable traits such as disease resistances and heading date, followed by familial selection on swards for forage yield and quality traits. The high level of diversity and heterozygosity, and associated decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD) over very short genomic distances, has hampered the implementation of genomic selection (GS) in these species.

Genetic composition and diversity of Arabica coffee in the crop's centre of origin and its impact on four major fungal diseases.

Conventional wisdom states that genetic variation reduces disease levels in plant populations. Nevertheless, crop species have been subject to a gradual loss of genetic variation through selection for specific traits during breeding, thereby increasing their vulnerability to biotic stresses such as pathogens. We explored how genetic variation in Arabica coffee sites in southwestern Ethiopia was related to the incidence of four major fungal diseases.

Response of a Diverse European Soybean Collection to "Short Duration" and "Long Duration" Drought Stress.

Drought causes significant damage to a high value crop of soybean. Europe has an increasing demand for soybean and its own production is insufficient. Selection and breeding of cultivars adapted to European growth conditions is therefore urgently needed.

Flemish soils contain rhizobia partners for Northwestern Europe-adapted soybean cultivars.

In Europe, soybean (Glycine max) used for food and feed has to be imported, causing negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts. To increase the local production, breeding generated varieties that grow in colder climates, but the yield using the commercial inoculants is not satisfactory in Belgium because of variable nodulation efficiencies. To look for indigenous nodulating strains possibly adapted to the local environment, we initiated a nodulation trap by growing early-maturing cultivars under natural and greenhouse conditions in 107 garden soils in Flanders.

Seasonal Differences in Structural and Genetic Control of Digestibility in Perennial Ryegrass.

Perennial ryegrass is an important forage crop in dairy farming, either for grazing or haying purposes. To further optimise the forage use, this study focused on understanding forage digestibility in the two most important cuts of perennial ryegrass, the spring cut at heading and the autumn cut. In a highly diverse collection of 592 genotypes, the organic matter digestibility (OMD) and underlying traits such as cell wall digestibility (NDFD) and cell wall components (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) were investigated for 2 years.

A Genome-Wide Genetic Diversity Scan Reveals Multiple Signatures of Selection in a European Soybean Collection Compared to Chinese Collections of Wild and Cultivated Soybean Accessions.

Targeted and untargeted selections including domestication and breeding efforts can reduce genetic diversity in breeding germplasm and create selective sweeps in crop genomes. The genomic regions at which selective sweeps are detected can reveal important information about signatures of selection. We have analyzed the genetic diversity within a soybean germplasm collection relevant for breeding in Europe (the EUCLEG collection), and have identified selective sweeps through a genome-wide scan comparing that collection to Chinese soybean collections.

Canonical correlations reveal adaptive loci and phenotypic responses to climate in perennial ryegrass.

Germplasm from perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) natural populations is useful for breeding because of its adaptation to a wide range of climates. Climate-adaptive genes can be detected from associations between genotype, phenotype and climate but an integrated framework for the analysis of these three sources of information is lacking.

High-Throughput Genome-Wide Genotyping To Optimize the Use of Natural Genetic Resources in the Grassland Species Perennial Ryegrass ( L.).

The natural genetic diversity of agricultural species is an essential genetic resource for breeding programs aiming to improve their ecosystem and production services. A large natural ecotype diversity is usually available for most grassland species. This could be used to recombine natural climatic adaptations and agronomic value to create improved populations of grassland species adapted to future regional climates.

Gloxinia-An Open-Source Sensing Platform to Monitor the Dynamic Responses of Plants.

The study of the dynamic responses of plants to short-term environmental changes is becoming increasingly important in basic plant science, phenotyping, breeding, crop management, and modelling. These short-term variations are crucial in plant adaptation to new environments and, consequently, in plant fitness and productivity. Scalable, versatile, accurate, and low-cost data-logging solutions are necessary to advance these fields and complement existing sensing platforms such as high-throughput phenotyping.

Automatic wheat ear counting using machine learning based on RGB UAV imagery.

In wheat (Triticum aestivum L) and other cereals, the number of ears per unit area is one of the main yield-determining components. An automatic evaluation of this parameter may contribute to the advance of wheat phenotyping and monitoring. There is no standard protocol for wheat ear counting in the field, and moreover it is time consuming.

Population genomic structure of the gelatinous zooplankton species in its nonindigenous range in the North Sea.

Unlabelled: Nonindigenous species pose a major threat for coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Risk management requires genetic information to establish appropriate management units and infer introduction and dispersal routes. We investigated one of the most successful marine invaders, the ctenophore , and used genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to explore the spatial population structure in its nonindigenous range in the North Sea.

Environmental sustainability of conventional and organic farming: Accounting for ecosystem services in life cycle assessment.

Today, there is an ongoing debate about the environmental sustainability of the products of organic farming. To compare the performance of conventional and organic farming systems regarding environmental impact and productivity, the comprehensive environmental assessment tool 'life cycle assessment' can be used. The lower crop yields attained by organic systems compared to conventional farming systems might, however, outweigh the benefits of the use of more environmental-friendly practices when evaluating the environmental impact per product unit.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Biochemical Markers As Complementary Tools To Characterize Hops ( Humulus lupulus L.) in Brewing Practice.

In brewing practice, the use of the appropriate hop variety is essential to produce consistent and high-quality beers. Yet, hop batches of the same variety cultivated in different geographical regions can display significant biochemical differences, resulting in specific taste- and aroma-related characteristics in beer. In this study, we illustrate the complementarity of genetic and biochemical fingerprinting methods to fully characterize hop batches.

Use of identifiability analysis in designing phenotyping experiments for modelling forage production and quality.

Agricultural systems models are complex and tend to be over-parameterized with respect to observational datasets. Practical identifiability analysis based on local sensitivity analysis has proved effective in investigating identifiable parameter sets in environmental models, but has not been applied to agricultural systems models. Here, we demonstrate that identifiability analysis improves experimental design to ensure independent parameter estimation for yield and quality outputs of a complex grassland model.

Temporal changes in genetic diversity and forage yield of perennial ryegrass in monoculture and in combination with red clover in swards.

Agricultural grasslands are often cultivated as mixtures of grasses and legumes, and an extensive body of literature is available regarding interspecific interactions, and how these relate to yield and agronomic performance. However, knowledge of the impact of intraspecific diversity on grassland functioning is scarce. We investigated these effects during a 4-year field trial established with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and red clover (Trifolium pratense).

Overcoming challenges in variant calling: exploring sequence diversity in candidate genes for plant development in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne).

Revealing DNA sequence variation within the Lolium perenne genepool is important for genetic analysis and development of breeding applications. We reviewed current literature on plant development to select candidate genes in pathways that control agronomic traits, and identified 503 orthologues in L. perenne.