Dissecting the effect of heat stress on durum wheat under field conditions

IntroductionHeat stress negatively affects wheat production in several ways, mainly by reducing growth rate, photosynthetic capacity and reducing spike fertility. Modeling stress response means analyzing simultaneous relationships among traits affecting the whole plant response and determinants of grain yield. The aim of this study was to dissect the diverse impacts of heat stress on key yield traits and to identify the most promising sources of alleles for heat tolerance.MethodsWe evaluated a diverse durum wheat panel of 183 cultivars and breeding lines from worldwide, for their response to long-term heat stress under field conditions (HS) with respect to non stress conditions (NS), considering phenological traits, grain yield (GY) and its components as a function of the timing of heat stress and climatic covariates. We investigated the relationships among plant and environmental variables by means of a structural equation model (SEM) and Genetic SEM (GSEM). ResultsOver two years of experiments at CENEB, CIMMYT, the effects of HS were particularly pronounced for the normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI (-51.3%), kernel weight per spike, KWS (-40.5%), grain filling period, GFP (-38.7%), and GY (-56.6%). Average temperatures around anthesis were negatively correlated with GY, thousand kernel weight TKW and test weight TWT, but also with spike density, a trait determined before heading/anthesis. Under HS, the correlation between the three major determinants of GY, i.e., fertile spike density, spike fertility and kernel size, were of noticeable magnitude. NDVI measured at medium milk-soft dough stage under HS was correlated with both spike fertility and grain weight while under NS it was less predictive of grain weight but still highly correlated with spike fertility. GSEM modeling suggested that the causal model of performance under HS directly involves genetic effects on GY, NDVI, KWS and HD.DiscussionWe identified consistently suitable sources of genetic resistance to heat stress to be used in different durum wheat pre-breeding programs. Among those, Desert Durums and CIMMYT’80 germplasm showed the highest degree of adaptation and capacity to yield under high temperatures and can be considered as a valuable source of alleles for adaptation to breed new HS resilient cultivars

Per se performance and genetic parameters of wheat lines expressing the “stay‑green” character

The objective of this work was to determine the per se performance and the genetic parameters of traits of interest in wheat inbred lines expressing or not the “stay‑green” character. The experiment was carried out in 2003, 2004, and 2005 in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Thirty‑two sister‑lines of wheat, 15 with and 17 without the stay‑green character, were evaluated. The lines carrying this character showed higher grain yield, higher average number of kernels per ear, and lower weight of a thousand grains. Moreover, grain yield and grain mass heritabilities were higher in these lines, which reveled lower influence of environmental variation on the expression of these characters. The “stay‑green” character contributes to increase productivity and productive stability of wheat.O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o desempenho per se e os parâmetros genéticos de caracteres de interesse, em linhagens de trigo que expressam ou não o caráter “stay‑green”. O experimento foi conduzido em 2003, 2004 e 2005, em delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, com três repetições. Foram avaliadas 32 linhagens irmãs de trigo, 15 com e 17 sem o caráter “stay‑green”. As linhagens portadoras desse caráter apresentaram maior produtividade de grãos, maior número de grãos por espiga e menor massa de mil grãos. Além disso, as herdabilidades da produtividade e da massa de grãos foram maiores nessas linhagens, o que revelou menor influência de variações ambientais sobre a expressão desses caracteres. O caráter “stay‑green” contribui para o aumento da produtividade e da estabilidade produtiva do trigo

Desempenho per se e parâmetros genéticos de linhagens de trigo com expressão do caráter "stay‑green"

O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o desempenho per se e os parâmetros genéticos de caracteres de interesse, em linhagens de trigo que expressam ou não o caráter "stay‑green". O experimento foi conduzido em 2003, 2004 e 2005, em delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, com três repetições. Foram avaliadas 32 linhagens irmãs de trigo, 15 com e 17 sem o caráter "stay‑green". As linhagens portadoras desse caráter apresentaram maior produtividade de grãos, maior número de grãos por espiga e menor massa de mil grãos. Além disso, as herdabilidades da produtividade e da massa de grãos foram maiores nessas linhagens, o que revelou menor influência de variações ambientais sobre a expressão desses caracteres. O caráter "stay‑green" contribui para o aumento da produtividade e da estabilidade produtiva do trigo

Dissecting the Heat-Stress Tolerance QTLome in Durum Wheat

Heat stress negatively affects wheat performance during its entire cycle, particularly during the reproductive stage. In view of the climate change and the prediction of a continued increase in temperature in the new future, it is urgent to concentrate efforts to discover novel genetic sources able to improve the resilience of wheat to heat stress. In this direction, this study addressed two different experiments in durum wheat to identify novel QTLs suitable to be applied in marker-assisted selection for heat tolerance. Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) is a valuable indicator of plant response to environmental changes allowing a detailed assessment of PSII activity in view of its non-invasive measurement and high-throughput phenotyping. In the first study (Chapter 2), the Light-Induced Fluorescence Transient (LIFT) method was used to access ChlF data to map QTLs for ChlF-related traits during the vegetative growth stage in durum wheat under heat stress condition. Our results provide evidence that LIFT consistently measures ChlF at the level of high-throughput phenotyping combined with high accuracy which is required for Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) aimed at identifying genomic regions affecting PSII activity. The 50 QTLs identified for ChlF-related traits under heat stress mostly clustered into five chromosomes hotspots unrelated to phenology, a feature that makes these QTLs a valuable asset for marker-assisted breeding programs across different latitudes. In the second study (Chapter 3), a set of 183 accessions suitable for GWAS, was exposed to optimal and high temperature during two crop seasons under field conditions. Important agronomic traits were evaluated in order to identify valuable QTLs for GY and its components. The GWAS analysis identified several QTLs in the single years as well as in the joint analysis. From the total QTLs identified, 13 QTL clusters can be highlighted to be affecting heat tolerance across different years and/or different traits

High‐throughput field phenotyping reveals genetic variation in photosynthetic traits in durum wheat under drought

Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) is a powerful non-invasive technique for probing photosynthesis. Although proposed as a method for drought tolerance screening, ChlF has not yet been fully adopted in physiological breeding, mainly due to limitations in high-throughput field phenotyping capabilities. The light-induced fluorescence transient (LIFT) sensor has recently been shown to reliably provide active ChlF data for rapid and remote characterisation of plant photosynthetic performance. We used the LIFT sensor to quantify photosynthesis traits across time in a large panel of durum wheat genotypes subjected to a progressive drought in replicated field trials over two growing seasons. The photosynthetic performance was measured at the canopy level by means of the operating efficiency of Photosystem II (urn:x-wiley:01407791:media:pce14136:pce14136-math-0072) and the kinetics of electron transport measured by reoxidation rates (urn:x-wiley:01407791:media:pce14136:pce14136-math-0073 and urn:x-wiley:01407791:media:pce14136:pce14136-math-0074). Short- and long-term changes in ChlF traits were found in response to soil water availability and due to interactions with weather fluctuations. In mild drought, urn:x-wiley:01407791:media:pce14136:pce14136-math-0075 and urn:x-wiley:01407791:media:pce14136:pce14136-math-0076 were little affected, while urn:x-wiley:01407791:media:pce14136:pce14136-math-0077 was consistently accelerated in water-limited compared to well-watered plants, increasingly so with rising vapour pressure deficit. This high-throughput approach allowed assessment of the native genetic diversity in ChlF traits while considering the diurnal dynamics of photosynthesis

Análise de trilha em genótipos de trigo submetidos ao estresse por encharcamento

Indirect selection can be considered an interesting strategy for plant breeding, especially when an easily measurable/high heritability trait is highly correlated with a target trait which has a lower heritability in segregating populations. The objective of this study was to obtain estimates of phenotypic, genotypic and environmental correlations and to evaluate the partition of genotypic correlations in direct and indirect effects of agronomic variables on the GY variable, through the analysis of two cultivated environments in fifteen wheat segregating populations. The agronomic traits grain yield per plant (GY), number of grains per ear (NGE), grain weight per ear (GWE), thousand grain weight (TGW), number of fertile tillers (NFT), days from emergence to flowering (DEF), days from flowering to maturity (DFM), total development cycle (CYC), and percentage of lodging (LODG), were evaluated in F4 populations under two cropping systems (with and without flooding). In all populations, by means of simple correlations, the selection of more productive plants can be accomplished by indirect selection for NGE, GWE and NFT. Through path analysis, it was possible to identify an indirect effect on GY by NGE. Also, the effect of GWE, NFT, CYC and DEF on the correlation between other characters (NGE x GY, GY x WTG, DFM x GY, GY x CYC and GY x LODG), emphasizing that the NGE, GWE, NFT, DEF and CYC are the main characters to consider for increasing grain yield in wheat.A seleção indireta pode ser considerada uma estratégia interessante para o melhoramento de plantas, especialmente quando um caráter de fácil mensuração ou de maior herdabilidade estiver altamente correlacionado com um caráter de interesse, que apresente menor herdabilidade em populações segregantes. Os objetivos deste trabalho consistiram em obter estimativas de coeficientes de correlação fenotípica, genotípica e ambientais e avaliar os desdobramentos das correlações genotípicas em efeitos diretos e indiretos de variáveis agronômicas sobre o rendimento de grãos por meio da análise de dois ambientes de cultivo em quinze populações segregantes de trigo. Os caracteres agronômicos rendimento de grãos por planta (RG), número de grãos por espiga (NGE), peso dos grãos por espiga (PGE), massa de mil grãos (MMG), número de afilhos férteis (NAF), dias da emergência ao florescimento (DEF), dias do florescimento à maturação (DFM), ciclo total de desenvolvimento (CICLO), e acamamento (ACAM), foram avaliados em quinze populações segregantes F4 de trigo sob dois sistemas de cultivo (com e sem encharcamento). Em todas as populações avaliadas, por meio das correlações simples, a seleção de plantas mais produtivas pode ser realizada pela seleção indireta sobre NGE, PGE e NAF. Mediante a análise de trilha foi possível identificar o efeito indireto do caráter NGE sobre RG. Assim como o efeito do PGE, do NAF, do DEF e de CICLO como causadores da formação da correlação entre outros caracteres (NGE x RG, MMG x RG, de DFM x RG, de CICLO x RG e de ACAM x RG), enfatizando que o NGE, o PGE, o NAF, o DEF e que o CICLO são os principais caracteres a serem considerados para aumentar a produtividade de grãos em trigo

Desempenho per se e parâmetros genéticos de linhagens de trigo com expressão do caráter "stay‑green"

O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o desempenho per se e os parâmetros genéticos de caracteres de interesse, em linhagens de trigo que expressam ou não o caráter "stay‑green". O experimento foi conduzido em 2003, 2004 e 2005, em delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, com três repetições. Foram avaliadas 32 linhagens irmãs de trigo, 15 com e 17 sem o caráter "stay‑green". As linhagens portadoras desse caráter apresentaram maior produtividade de grãos, maior número de grãos por espiga e menor massa de mil grãos. Além disso, as herdabilidades da produtividade e da massa de grãos foram maiores nessas linhagens, o que revelou menor influência de variações ambientais sobre a expressão desses caracteres. O caráter "stay‑green" contribui para o aumento da produtividade e da estabilidade produtiva do trigo

Dissecting the QTLome for Osmotic Adjustment and Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Field Grown Durum Wheat

Among the proxy traits involved in the adaptive response of wheat to drought and other abiotic stresses, information on the QTLome governing osmotic adjustment (OA) and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging (CFI) is very limited, mainly due to the difficulty to measure these traits on a scale suitable for GWAS. In this study, OA and CFI were measured in plots of 248 elite accessions of durum wheat grown (two replicates) under a fully automated Lemnatec Field Scanalyzer (LFS) and exposed to a progressively severe drought treatment starting 5 days prior to flowering which lasted for two weeks. Leaf relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll content (SPAD) and leaf rolling (LR) were also measured. CFI was measured (i) in the dark in four time series using the LFS camera and (ii) during daytime using a light-induced fluorescence transient (LIFT) sensor mounted on a manually pushed cart. The high variability in OA and CFI among the durum accessions resulted in high to medium repeatability (h2 = 72.3 and 54.6%, respectively). At the end of the drought treatment (mean leaf RWC = 62.1%), OA and leaf RWC were positively correlated (r = 0.78). Association mapping using flowering time as covariate revealed 15 QTLs for OA (global R2 = 63.6%) as well as eight major QTL hotspots on chromosome arms 1BL, 2BL, 4AL, 5AL, 6AL, 6BL and 7BS where a higher OA capacity was always positively associated with leaf RWC, SPAD and negatively associated with LR, hence indicating a beneficial effect of OA on the water status of the plant. Additionally, the comparative analysis with previous field trials showed concurrent effects for five of these hotspots on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), thousand kernel weight (TKW) and/or grain yield (GY), hence supporting OA as a valuable proxy for marker-assisted selection aimed at enhancing drought resistance in wheat