Experimental assessment of the accuracy of genomic selection in sugarcane.

Sugarcane cultivars are interspecific hybrids with an aneuploid, highly heterozygous polyploid genome. The complexity of the sugarcane genome is the main obstacle to the use of marker-assisted selection in sugarcane breeding. Given the promising results of recent studies of plant genomic selection, we explored the feasibility of genomic selection in this complex polyploid crop.

Haplotype structure around Bru1 reveals a narrow genetic basis for brown rust resistance in modern sugarcane cultivars.

Modern sugarcane cultivars (Saccharum spp., 2n = 100-130) are high polyploid, aneuploid and of interspecific origin. A major gene (Bru1) conferring resistance to brown rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia melanocephala, has been identified in cultivar R570.

Dynamic management of crop diversity: From an experimental approach to on-farm conservation.

In agricultural systems, biodiversity includes diversity within species and among species and provides many benefits for production, resilience and conservation. This article addresses the effects of a strategy of in situ conservation called dynamic management (DM) on population evolution, adaptation and diversity. Two French DM initiatives are considered, the first one corresponding to an experimental context, the second to an on-farm management.

Inbreeding depression and low between-population heterosis in recently diverged experimental populations of a selfing species.

In fragmented populations, genetic drift and selection reduce genetic diversity, which in turn results in a loss of fitness or in a loss of evolvability. Genetic rescue, that is, controlled input of diversity from distant populations, may restore evolutionary potential, whereas outbreeding depression might counteract the positive effect of this strategy. We carried out self-pollination and crosses within and between populations in an experimental subdivided population of a selfing species, Triticum aestivum L.

Using linked markers to estimate the genetic age of a volunteer population: a theoretical and empirical approach.

Volunteers deriving from unharvested seeds of a crop can lead to persistent feral populations and participate in genetic exchanges across the agro-ecosystem, both between crop varieties and between crops and their wild relatives. A first step to understand the importance of volunteers is to characterize their capacity to reproduce autonomously for several generations. For that purpose, we constructed and evaluated a maximum-likelihood method to estimate the genetic age of a population deriving from one of the most common field crop type: an F1-hybrid variety.