Introduction—23rd North American Prairie Conference

Building upon the tradition started in Illinois by Peter Schramm in 1970, with the first conference on prairies and prairie restoration, the North American Prairie Conference (NAPC) has developed a tradition of excellence in native prairie research, conservation, education and restoration of one of the worlds’ most productive, yet most endangered, ecosystems. It has spawned great interest, enthusiasm and efforts to better understand, appreciate, manage and conserve this vital part of North America’s natural and cultural history. In early August 2012, the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg hosted the 23rd NAPC. The theme of the 2012 conference was “Celebrating Our Prairie Heritage.” It explored where we have been and where we should be heading. Over 230 people from 12 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces helped celebrate in outstanding style. This was only the second time this major international conference had been hosted in Canada. Manitoba is Canada’s easternmost prairie province, and traditionally has been the gateway to the vast Canadian prairies further west. Historically, aboriginal peoples and European settlers alike marveled at the open country revealed by lush shoulder-high grasses and wildflowers of the Red River Valley. The tall-grass prairie gradually gave way to the mixed grass and rough fescue prairies that stretched from western Manitoba right through to the Rockies

Expansion of Agriculture in Northern Cold-Climate Regions: A Cross-Sectoral Perspective on Opportunities and Challenges

Agriculture in the boreal and Arctic regions is perceived as marginal, low intensity and inadequate to satisfy the needs of local communities, but another perspective is that northern agriculture has untapped potential to increase the local supply of food and even contribute to the global food system. Policies across northern jurisdictions target the expansion and intensification of agriculture, contextualized for the diverse social settings and market foci in the north. However, the rapid pace of climate change means that traditional methods of adapting cropping systems and developing infrastructure and regulations for this region cannot keep up with climate change impacts. Moreover, the anticipated conversion of northern cold-climate natural lands to agriculture risks a loss of up to 76% of the carbon stored in vegetation and soils, leading to further environmental impacts. The sustainable development of northern agriculture requires local solutions supported by locally relevant policies. There is an obvious need for the rapid development of a transdisciplinary, cross-jurisdictional, long-term knowledge development, and dissemination program to best serve food needs and an agricultural economy in the boreal and Arctic regions while minimizing the risks to global climate, northern ecosystems and communities

A Pipeline Strategy for Grain Crop Domestication

In the interest of diversifying the global food system, improving human nutrition, and making agriculture more sustainable, there have been many proposals to domesticate wild plants or complete the domestication of semidomesticated orphan crops. However, very few new crops have recently been fully domesticated. Many wild plants have traits limiting their production or consumption that could be costly and slow to change. Others may have fortuitous preadaptations that make them easier to develop or feasible as high-value, albeit low-yielding, crops. To increase success in contemporary domestication of new crops, we propose a pipeline approach, with attrition expected as species advance through the pipeline. We list criteria for ranking domestication candidates to help enrich the starting pool with more preadapted, promising species. We also discuss strategies for prioritizing initial research efforts once the candidates have been selected: developing higher value products and services from the crop, increasing yield potential, and focusing on overcoming undesirable traits. Finally, we present new-crop case studies that demonstrate that wild species’ limitations and potential (in agronomic culture, shattering, seed size, harvest, cleaning, hybridization, etc.) are often only revealed during the early phases of domestication. When nearly insurmountable barriers were reached in some species, they have been (at least temporarily) eliminated from the pipeline. Conversely, a few species have moved quickly through the pipeline as hurdles, such as low seed weight or low seed number per head, were rapidly overcome, leading to increased confidence, farmer collaboration, and program expansion.Fil: DeHaan, Lee R.. The Land Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Van Tassel, David L.. The Land Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Anderson, James A.. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Asselin, Sean R.. University of Manitoba; CanadáFil: Barnes, Richard. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Baute, Gregory J.. University of British Columbia; CanadáFil: Cattani, Douglas J.. University of Manitoba; CanadáFil: Culman, Steve W.. Ohio State University; Estados UnidosFil: Dorn, Kevin M.. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Hulke, Brent S.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Kantar, Michael. University of British Columbia; CanadáFil: Larson, Steve. Forage and Range Research Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: David Marks, M.. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Miller, Allison J.. Saint Louis University; Estados UnidosFil: Poland, Jesse. Kansas State University; Estados UnidosFil: Ravetta, Damián Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; ArgentinaFil: Rude, Emily. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Ryan, Matthew R.. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Wyse, Don. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Zhang, Xiaofei. University of Minnesota; Estados Unido

Potential of perennial cereal rye for perennial grain production in Manitoba

Perennial cereal rye (Secale cereale L. × Secale montanum Guss.) has been utilized for forage production and this study investigated its perennial grain production potential in Manitoba. Two seeding years at Carman, MB, showed poor winter survival and high ergot occurrence. Therefore, this species is not recommended for grain production in Manitoba.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Strategies, Advances, and Challenges in Breeding Perennial Grain Crops

The development of new perennial crop species is gaining momentum as a promising approach to change the fundamental nature of ecosystem processes in agriculture. The ecological argument for perennial crops grown in polycultures is strong, but until recently, perennial herbaceous grain crops have been absent from agricultural landscape. This is not because perennial herbaceous species do not exist in nature—there are thousands of perennial grasses, legumes, and other broad leaf plants. Rather, for a variety of reasons, early farmers focused on cultivating and domesticating annuals, and the perennial herbs were largely ignored. Today, we have a tremendous opportunity to explore another agricultural path. Building on contemporary knowledge of plant biology and genetics that early farmers lacked, and using a rapidly expanding toolbox that includes sophisticated genomic and analytical approaches, we can develop viable perennial grain crops. These crops can then be used to assemble diverse agroecosystems that regenerate soils and capture other important ecosystem functions

Has Selection for Grain Yield Altered Intermediate Wheatgrass?

Perennial grains are demonstrating a greater probability of occupying land currently dedicated to other agricultural production. Arable land that is currently in use for forage or annual crop production becomes utilized. Breeding materials for the introduction of perennial grains directly into the human food chain has required utilizing existing plant materials in the domestication of species or manufacturing diverse crosses to introduce perenniality into existing crops. In the domestication of intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium (Host), Barkworth and Dewey), existing forage cultivars or plant accessions were used to develop populations selected for grain production. A comparison of Cycle 3 materials from The Land Institute (TLI), Salina, KS, USA to USDA-Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) accessions took place under space-planted field conditions at Carman, MB, Canada from 2011 to 2014. One hundred plants (75 TLI and 25 GRIN identified in May 2012) were followed through three seed harvests cycles with phenological, morphological and agronomic traits measured throughout. Selection for seed productivity (TLI materials) reduced the importance of biomass plant−1 on seed yield plant−1, leading to an increase in harvest index. Principal component analysis demonstrated the separation of the germplasm sources and the differential impact of years on the performance of all accessions. Path coefficient analysis also indicated that plant biomass production was of less importance on seed yield plant−1 in the TLI materials. Analysis removing area plant−1 as a factor increased both the importance of biomass and heads on seed yield cm−2 in the TLI materials, especially in the first two seed production years. Plant differences due to selection appear to have reduced overall plant area and increased harvest index in the TLI materials, indicating progress for grain yield under selection. However, a greater understanding of the dynamics within a seed production field is needed to provide insight into the development of more effective selection criteria for long-term field level production

Introduction—23rd North American Prairie Conference

Building upon the tradition started in Illinois by Peter Schramm in 1970, with the first conference on prairies and prairie restoration, the North American Prairie Conference (NAPC) has developed a tradition of excellence in native prairie research, conservation, education and restoration of one of the worlds’ most productive, yet most endangered, ecosystems. It has spawned great interest, enthusiasm and efforts to better understand, appreciate, manage and conserve this vital part of North America’s natural and cultural history. In early August 2012, the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg hosted the 23rd NAPC. The theme of the 2012 conference was “Celebrating Our Prairie Heritage.” It explored where we have been and where we should be heading. Over 230 people from 12 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces helped celebrate in outstanding style. This was only the second time this major international conference had been hosted in Canada. Manitoba is Canada’s easternmost prairie province, and traditionally has been the gateway to the vast Canadian prairies further west. Historically, aboriginal peoples and European settlers alike marveled at the open country revealed by lush shoulder-high grasses and wildflowers of the Red River Valley. The tall-grass prairie gradually gave way to the mixed grass and rough fescue prairies that stretched from western Manitoba right through to the Rockies

Pollen-mediated gene flow from Kentucky bluegrass under cultivated field conditions

Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), one of the most commonly grown turfgrasses in temperate regions, is being developed for possible commercial release with transgenic traits. The use of this technology raises risk assessment questions because P. pratensis is perennial, often apomictic, competitive in many habitats, and hybridizes with other Poa To further understand the potential environmental impact of a transgenic P. pratensis, we measured intra- and interspecific pollen-mediated gene flow in field conditions from P. pratensis to other Poa We used a wagon-wheel design with a glyphosate (N-phosphono methyl-glycine) resistant P. pratensis as a pollen donor and a pollen receptor plot at 0 m and plots at 13 and 53 m along six equally spaced vectors. Each receptor plot included accessions from 25 Poa species. Seedlings from the receptor plants were screened for resistance to glyphosate and potential hybrids verified by PCR and genomic fingerprinting. Hybrids were found with P. arachnifera Torrey, P. interior Rydb., P. pratensis × P. secunda J. Presl, and three other P. pratensis entries, but did not occur with P. annua L., P. palustris L., P. trivialis L., or P. compressa L., among other species. Overall hybrid frequency was 0.048% and hybrid frequency at the 0-m distance was 0.53%. While apomixis in receptor plants and pollen competition likely reduced the number of hybrids, gene flow did occur but at low frequency and over short distances

Process-based analysis of Thinopyrum intermedium phenological development highlights the importance of dual induction for reproductive growth and agronomic performance

Intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium (Host) Barkworth & D.R. Dewey) is being developed for use as a new perennial grain crop through breeding and agronomic research. However, progress has been hampered by lack of understanding of environmental requirements for flowering and grain production. Therefore, we developed a phenology model for IWG adapted from the STICS soil-crop model. The model was compliant with experimental results (relative root mean square error = 0.03). The optimal vernalizing temperature was between 4 and 5°C, optimal daylength between 13 and 14h, while daylength below 11h slowed reproductive development. Vernalization requirement was found to be a constraining inductive process. Including a photoperiod limitation to the model with temperature improved its ability to predict induction at various latitudes. Therefore, timing and duration of vegetative vs. reproductive growth may differ between environments and change reproductive tiller elongation earliness, weed competitiveness, management timing, and stress conditions during phases critical to grain yield. Accurate phenology models will enable optimal field management and inform future breeding strategies. However, plasticity may lead to divergent ideotypes under various agroecosystems

The performance of early-generation perennial winter cereals at 21 sites across four continents

A network of 21 experiments was established across nine countries on four continents and spanning both hemispheres, to evaluate the relative performance of early generation perennial cereal material derived from wheat, rye, and barley and to inform future breeding strategies. The experimental lines were grown in replicated single rows, and first year production and phenology characteristics as well as yield and persistence for up to three years were monitored. The study showed that the existing experimental material is all relatively short-lived