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Breeding Strategies for Improving Yield of Forage Crops and Energy Grasses

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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 (31 August 2019) | Viewed by 16249

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Michael D. Casler

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Guest Editor

USDA-ARS, U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, WI, USA
Interests: grasses; breeding; genetics; genomics; quantitative genetics; biometry; statistics; experimental design

Dr. E. Charles Brummer

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Guest Editor

University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Interests: alfalfa; breeding; genetics; genomics; quantitative genetics; sustainable agriculture; cropping systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forage crops have been undergoing genetic improvement efforts for over 100 years. During this time, little progress has been made to improve forage yield, except in a very few species. Most documented improvements in forage yield have been small and associated with improved persistence, pest resistance, or stress tolerance, i.e., longer lived forages that may have broader adaptation. During the past 10 years, more breeding efforts have been focused on developing methods and approaches to generate greater increases in forage yield. This Special Issue gathers forage breeders from around the world to publish several papers highlighting the current state of knowledge and developing novel concepts for future forage breeding efforts focused on genetic improvements in forage yield. The Special Issue will include both review papers and original research papers, covering both traditional breeding approaches and the use of modern genomics-assisted breeding methods that have been fully incorporated into several breeding programs. Articles will be largely focused on forage crops, including temperate grasses, tropical grasses, and legumes, but will also include efforts to increase the biomass yield of energy grasses. Articles that focus on either methodology or practical results are welcome, and the approaches to improve forage yield can be based on either direct selection for yield per se or on indirect selection for one or more surrogate traits.

Dr. Michael D. Casler
Dr. E. Charles Brummer
Guest Editor

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

forage yield
biomass yield
forage breeding
breeding methods
selection criteria
genomic prediction

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1098 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Divergent Genomic Selection for Herbage Accumulation and Days-To-Heading in Perennial Ryegrass

by Marty J. Faville, Mingshu Cao, Jana Schmidt, Douglas L. Ryan, Siva Ganesh, M. Z. Zulfi Jahufer, Soon Won Hong, Richard George and Brent A. Barrett

Agronomy 2020, 10(3), 340; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10030340 - 02 Mar 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2873

Abstract

Increasing the rate of genetic gain for dry matter (DM) yield in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), which is a key source of nutrition for ruminants in temperate environments, is an important goal for breeders. Genomic selection (GS) is a strategy used to improve genetic gain by using molecular marker information to predict breeding values in selection candidates. An empirical assessment of GS for herbage accumulation (HA; proxy for DM yield) and days-to-heading (DTH) was completed by using existing genomic prediction models to conduct one cycle of divergent GS in four selection populations (Pop I G1 and G3; Pop III G1 and G3), for each trait. G1 populations were the offspring of the training set and G3 populations were two generations further on from that. The HA of the High GEBV selection group (SG) progenies, averaged across all four populations, was 28% higher (p < 0.05) than Low GEBV SGs when assessed in the target environment, while it did not differ significantly in a second environment. Divergence was greater in Pop I (43%–65%) than Pop III (10%–16%) and the selection response was higher in G1 than in G3. Divergent GS for DTH also produced significant (p < 0.05) differences between High and Low GEBV SGs in G1 populations (+6.3 to 9.1 days; 31%–61%) and smaller, non-significant (p > 0.05) responses in G3. This study shows that genomic prediction models, trained from a small, composite reference set, can be used to improve traits with contrasting genetic architectures in perennial ryegrass. The results highlight the importance of target environment selection for training models, as well as the influence of relatedness between the training set and selection populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Strategies for Improving Yield of Forage Crops and Energy Grasses)

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17 pages, 3387 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Breeding Strategies to Improve Miscanthus as a Sustainable Source of Biomass for Bioenergy and Biorenewable Products

by John Clifton-Brown, Kai-Uwe Schwarz, Danny Awty-Carroll, Antonella Iurato, Heike Meyer, Jörg Greef, Jeff Gwyn, Michal Mos, Christopher Ashman, Charlotte Hayes, Lin Huang, John Norris, Charlie Rodgers, Danilo Scordia, Reza Shafiei, Michael Squance, Timothy Swaller, Sue Youell, Salvatore Cosentino, Richard Flavell, Iain Donnison and Paul Robson Show full author list Hide full author list

Agronomy 2019, 9(11), 673; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9110673 - 24 Oct 2019

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 4510

Abstract

Miscanthus, a C₄ perennial grass native to Eastern Asia, is being bred to provide biomass for bioenergy and biorenewable products. Commercial expansion with the clonal hybrid M. × giganteus is limited by low multiplication rates, high establishment costs and drought sensitivity. These limitations can be overcome by breeding more resilient Miscanthus hybrids propagated by seed. Naturally occurring fast growing indigenous Miscanthus species are found in diverse environments across Eastern Asia. The natural diversity provides for plant breeders, the genetic resources to improve yield, quality, and resilience for a wide range of climates and adverse abiotic stresses. The challenge for Miscanthus breeding is to harness the diversity through selections of outstanding wild types, parents, and progenies over a short time frame to deploy hybrids that make a significant contribution to a world less dependent on fossil resources. Here are described the strategies taken by the Miscanthus breeding programme at Aberystwyth, UK and its partners. The programme built up one of the largest Miscanthus germplasm collections outside Asia. We describe the initial strategies to exploit the available genetic diversity to develop varieties. We illustrate the success of combining diverse Miscanthus germplasm and the selection criteria applied across different environments to identify promising hybrids and to develop these into commercial varieties. We discuss the potential for molecular selections to streamline the breeding process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Strategies for Improving Yield of Forage Crops and Energy Grasses)

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22 pages, 5507 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for Forage Traits in Intermediate Wheatgrass When Grown as Spaced-Plants versus Monoculture and Polyculture Swards

by John S. Mortenson, Blair L. Waldron, Steve R. Larson, Kevin B. Jensen, Lee R. DeHaan, Michael D. Peel, Paul G. Johnson and J. Earl Creech

Agronomy 2019, 9(10), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9100580 - 25 Sep 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2476

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that the genetic control of forage traits, especially biomass, for grass plants growing as spaced-plants versus swards is different. Likewise, the genetic control of compatibility in grass–legume polyculture mixtures is assumed to be different than for forage production in a grass monoculture. However, these hypotheses are largely unvalidated, especially at the DNA level. This study used an intermediate wheatgrass mapping population to examine the effect of three competition environments (spaced-plants, polyculture, and monoculture) on classical quantitative genetic parameters and quantitative trait loci (QTL) identification for biomass, morphology, and forage nutritive value. Moderate to high heritable variation was observed for biomass, morphological traits, and nutritive value within all three environments (H ranged from 0.50 to 0.87). Genetic correlations (r_G) among environments for morphology and nutritive value were predominantly high, however, were moderately-low (0.30 to 0.48) for biomass. Six biomass QTL were identified, including three on linkage groups (LG) 1, 6, and 15 that were only expressed in the monoculture environment. Moreover, three biomass QTL on LG 10, 14, and 15 exhibited significant QTL by environment interactions. This study verified that the genetic control of grass biomass in a monoculture versus a grass–legume mixture is only partially the same, with additional genes expressed in monoculture, and that biomass in widely spaced-plants versus swards is predominantly under different genetic control. These results indicate that selection for improved grass biomass will be most successful when conducted within the targeted monoculture or polyculture sward environment per se. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Strategies for Improving Yield of Forage Crops and Energy Grasses)

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Review

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19 pages, 2892 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Prospects for Measurement of Dry Matter Yield in Forage Breeding Programs Using Sensor Technologies

by Alem Gebremedhin, Pieter E. Badenhorst, Junping Wang, German C. Spangenberg and Kevin F. Smith

Agronomy 2019, 9(2), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9020065 - 01 Feb 2019

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5794

Abstract

Increasing the yield of perennial forage crops remains a crucial factor underpinning the profitability of grazing industries, and therefore is a priority for breeding programs. Breeding for high dry matter yield (DMY) in forage crops is likely to be enhanced with the development of genomic selection (GS) strategies. However, realising the full potential of GS will require an increase in the amount of phenotypic data and the rate at which it is collected. Therefore, phenotyping remains a critical bottleneck in the implementation of GS in forage species. Assessments of DMY in forage crop breeding include visual scores, sample clipping and mowing of plots, which are often costly and time-consuming. New ground- and aerial-based platforms equipped with advanced sensors offer opportunities for fast, nondestructive and low-cost, high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of plant growth, development and yield in a field environment. The workflow of image acquisition, processing and analysis are reviewed. The “big data” challenges, proposed storage and management techniques, development of advanced statistical tools and methods for incorporating the HTP into forage breeding systems are also reviewed. Initial results where these techniques have been applied to forages have been promising but further research and development is required to adapt them to forage breeding situations, particularly with respect to the management of large data sets and the integration of information from spaced plants to sward plots. However, realizing the potential of sensor technologies combined with GS leads to greater rates of genetic gain in forages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding Strategies for Improving Yield of Forage Crops and Energy Grasses)

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