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Analysis and Modelling of Genotype by Environment Interactions in Field Crops

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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 20194

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Folkard Asch

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Guest Editor

Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute for Tropical Agricultural Sciences, University of Hohenheim, Grabenstraße 13, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: plant physiology; ecophysiology; grasslands; skyfarming; root–shoot communication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Sabine Stürz

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Guest Editor

Universität Hohenheim, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: plant physiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rising temperatures and a higher frequency of weather extremes are challenging current food production systems and call for the use of adapted genotypes and modified cropping calendars to mitigate effects of Climate Change on crop yields and, thus, food security. While certain crops will become unsuitable in regions where they have been cultivated for centuries and alternatives need to be exploited, rising temperatures could also open opportunities for temperature-sensitive crops in currently unsuitable cropping regions at higher latitudes or altitudes.

To assess crop responses to changing environmental conditions and to exploit opportunities for nontraditional crops, robust models are needed that perform well outside their calibration range. Model validation in new environments and the continuous calibration of new genotypes carrying promising traits require field experiments to assure the transferability of modeling results into practice.

For this Special Issue, we invite research articles on innovative field studies broadening the current knowledge on genotypes by environment interactions and on novel modeling concepts that increase the predictive power of crop models for prospective environments. Consideration will be given to studies focusing on field crops and the exploitation of their intraspecific genetic diversity in order to prepare the current food production system for upcoming challenges.

Dr. Folkard Asch
Dr. Sabine Stürz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

climate change
cropping calendar
field experiment
phenology
temperature stress
vegetative growth
water deficit
yield components

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1311 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Capturing GEI Patterns for Quality Traits in Biparental Wheat Populations

by Ivana Plavšin, Jerko Gunjača, Ruđer Šimek and Dario Novoselović

Agronomy 2021, 11(6), 1022; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11061022 - 21 May 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2254

Abstract

Genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) is often a great challenge for breeders since it makes the selection of stable or superior genotypes more difficult. In order to reduce drawbacks caused by GEI and make the selection for wheat quality more effective, it is important to properly assess the effects of genotype, environment, and GEI on the trait of interest. In the present study, GEI patterns for the selected quality and mixograph traits were studied using the Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) model. Two biparental wheat populations consisting of 145 and 175 RILs were evaluated in six environments. The environment was the dominant source of variation for grain protein content (GPC), wet gluten content (WGC), and test weight (TW), accounting for approximately 40% to 85% of the total variation. The pattern was less consistent for mixograph traits for which the dominant source of variation has been shown to be trait and population-dependent. Overall, GEI has been shown to play a more important role for mixograph traits compared to other quality traits. Inspection of the AMMI2 biplot revealed some broadly adapted RILs, among which, MG124 is the most interesting, being the prevalent “winner” for GPC and WGC, but also the “winner” for non-correlated trait TW in environment SB10. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Modelling of Genotype by Environment Interactions in Field Crops)

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17 pages, 2237 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phenology-Adjusted Stress Severity Index to Assess Genotypic Responses to Terminal Drought in Field Grown Potato

by Julia Hoelle, Folkard Asch, Awais Khan and Merideth Bonierbale

Agronomy 2020, 10(9), 1298; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091298 - 1 Sep 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2704

Abstract

Potato is a drought susceptible, often rain-fed crop suffering strongly from even short periods of soil water deficit. With global environmental conditions changing, potato clones resistant to variable water supply are needed and identifying them is a major task. Many indices assessing potato tolerance to water deficit have been proposed, albeit none of them takes into account the severity of the stress or the sensitivity of the developmental stage during which the stress occurs. As a result, data obtained on genotypes in one location or season are normally not useful in another location or in a different season. We have developed an index evaluating yield response of potato to water deficit based on the soil tension the genotype was subjected to for the duration of the stress modified by the development stage of the genotype. The sum of the daily values was combined in a stress severity index (SSI). In total thirteen genotypes differing in duration and sensitivity to drought were subjected to four levels of deficit irrigation on two soil types at different development stages over two years. Early drought (early tuber filling) reduced yields up to 95% whereas late drought (late tuber bulking) reduced yields significantly less. SSI depended on the genotypic phenological development and on the soil tension values and ranges between 25 and 3500. The index differentiated genotypic responses well across treatments and soil types, even with these relatively advanced development stages, up to a value of 1000. Beyond 1000, yields were generally reduced by more than 60% and a differentiation between genotypes was not possible anymore. SSI constitutes a method that renders site, location, year, season, and soil type effects comparable for responses of potato clones to soil water deficit. Combining this measure of stress severity with other proposed indices may improve upon their current weaknesses in finding or identifying the underlying traits of drought tolerance in potato. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Modelling of Genotype by Environment Interactions in Field Crops)

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15 pages, 2608 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Yield and Yield Stability of Hevea Clones in the Southern and Central Regions of Malaysia

by Muhammad Fadzli Ali, Ammar Abdul Aziz and Alwyn Williams

Agronomy 2020, 10(5), 643; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10050643 - 1 May 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4037

Abstract

Increased volatility in global rubber prices has led to declining Malaysian rubber production and smallholder income. Identifying rubber clones that can produce a consistently high yield in various environments is one of the potential measures to alleviate the impact of price fluctuations and improve smallholder livelihoods. In this study, we assessed rubber yields and yield stability of 37 rubber tree clones at two major production regions in Malaysia: Kota Tinggi (Southern region) and Sungai Buloh (Central region). In addition, we assessed relationships between climate data with rubber yields. Rubber yield and stability differed widely by clone, but showed relatively consistent trends across regions. Clones RRIM 2007, PB 260, and RRIM 2012 were high yielding in both regions and had high stability. Conversely, clone RRII 308 had the lowest mean yield across both regions and low stability. Mean annual yields showed a negative relationship with rising minimum temperatures, declining by ~3 g per tapping per tree (g t⁻¹ t⁻¹) per 1 °C rise in minimum temperature. Our findings highlight clones capable of achieving stable high yields. This information may be useful for breeders and agronomists in identifying germplasm and traits for further development. Further, this information can be used to assist clone recommendations to smallholders in these regions to mitigate the dual impacts of climate change and market volatility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Modelling of Genotype by Environment Interactions in Field Crops)

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14 pages, 1595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Grain Yield Patterns of Triticale (×Triticosecale Wittmack) Cultivars in Six Regions of Poland

by Adriana Derejko, Marcin Studnicki, Elżbieta Wójcik-Gront and Edward Gacek

Agronomy 2020, 10(3), 415; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10030415 - 19 Mar 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2580

Abstract

The recommendation of cultivars for a larger number of locations relies on similar agricultural environment or similar crop yield obtained in these locations. There are many studies on the impact of environmental conditions on the yield of cultivars of agricultural crops and recommendation for their cultivation. However, there is little research on triticale in comparison to other cereals. We presented the influence of the cultivar, location nested in region, year, and their interactions on triticale grain yield separately for two levels of crop management intensity. In this work, we checked compatibility in the rankings of cultivars between six regions and compatibility in the rankings of cultivars between locations belonging to the same region. The results indicated a large variation in the rankings of cultivars between locations in the regions, i.e., the ranking of cultivars in locations belonging to the same region was different. We observed low compatibility in rankings between locations for both crop management intensities. The low compatibility of cultivar rankings in trial locations also translates into low precision when determining regions. This means that the process of recommending cultivars to environments should be constantly checked and improved. In addition, using GGE biplot and measure of yield superiority (Pi) we presented an adaptive response of 12 cultivars in six regions at two levels of crop management intensity and their stability during five growing seasons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Modelling of Genotype by Environment Interactions in Field Crops)

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Review

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28 pages, 2597 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Metabolomics: A Tool for Cultivar Phenotyping and Investigation of Grain Crops

by Claude Y. Hamany Djande, Chanel Pretorius, Fidele Tugizimana, Lizelle A. Piater and Ian A. Dubery

Agronomy 2020, 10(6), 831; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10060831 - 11 Jun 2020

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 7989

Abstract

The quality of plants is often enhanced for diverse purposes such as improved resistance to environmental pressures, better taste, and higher yields. Considering the world’s dependence on plants (nutrition, medicine, or biofuel), developing new cultivars with superior characteristics is of great importance. As part of the ‘omics’ approaches, metabolomics has been employed to investigate the large number of metabolites present in plant systems under well-defined environmental conditions. Recent advances in the metabolomics field have greatly expanded our understanding of plant metabolism, largely driven by potential application to agricultural systems. The current review presents the workflow for plant metabolome analyses, current knowledge, and future directions of such research as determinants of cultivar phenotypes. Furthermore, the value of metabolome analyses in contemporary crop science is illustrated. Here, metabolomics has provided valuable information in research on grain crops and identified significant biomarkers under different conditions and/or stressors. Moreover, the value of metabolomics has been redefined from simple biomarker identification to a tool for discovering active drivers involved in biological processes. We illustrate and conclude that the rapid advances in metabolomics are driving an explosion of information that will advance modern breeding approaches for grain crops and address problems associated with crop productivity and sustainable agriculture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Modelling of Genotype by Environment Interactions in Field Crops)

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