Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time

Abstract The seasonal timing of the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth has a major impact on biomass accumulation in switchgrass. Late‐flowering switchgrass cultivars produce greater biomass, a critical trait for sustainable bioenergy production. Genomic prediction (GP) may allow rapi...

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Main Authors: Neal W. Tilhou, Michael D. Casler
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-09-01
Series:GCB Bioenergy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12983
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author Neal W. Tilhou
Michael D. Casler
author_facet Neal W. Tilhou
Michael D. Casler
author_sort Neal W. Tilhou
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The seasonal timing of the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth has a major impact on biomass accumulation in switchgrass. Late‐flowering switchgrass cultivars produce greater biomass, a critical trait for sustainable bioenergy production. Genomic prediction (GP) may allow rapid selection of late‐flowering individuals with reduced time and expense for field evaluations. To evaluate GP, two flowering time traits (heading date and anthesis date) were collected on 1532 genotypes from four breeding populations: Midwest, Gulf, Atlantic, and Hybrid. These were sequenced using genotype‐by‐sequencing (530,792 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms). Predictive ability of single‐trait and multi‐trait models were evaluated by cross‐validation, by prediction of a progeny trial (n = 122), and through prediction of yield performance in a parallel experiment (n = 52). Predictive ability was not improved by sharing information among breeding groups. Overall, multi‐trait models provided an advantage during cross‐validation, but a smaller advantage during progeny prediction. Within populations, GP resulted in lower per‐cycle progress than previously reported field evaluations (3.1 vs. 5.0 day−1 cycle−1). However, GP cycles are potentially much faster than field evaluations. When directly predicting biomass yield, the Hybrid training population had a predictive ability of 0.54–0.63. This reinforces the strong linkage between biomass yields in swards and flowering time. These results highlight the value of GP for rapid yield improvement in switchgrass, particularly in a breeding program designed to share information between biomass yield trials and low‐cost flowering time evaluations.
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spelling doaj.art-9d4b31821893413aade0e5e8e35be7142022-12-22T02:44:38ZengWileyGCB Bioenergy1757-16931757-17072022-09-011491023103410.1111/gcbb.12983Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering timeNeal W. Tilhou0Michael D. Casler1Department of Agronomy University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin USADepartment of Agronomy University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin USAAbstract The seasonal timing of the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth has a major impact on biomass accumulation in switchgrass. Late‐flowering switchgrass cultivars produce greater biomass, a critical trait for sustainable bioenergy production. Genomic prediction (GP) may allow rapid selection of late‐flowering individuals with reduced time and expense for field evaluations. To evaluate GP, two flowering time traits (heading date and anthesis date) were collected on 1532 genotypes from four breeding populations: Midwest, Gulf, Atlantic, and Hybrid. These were sequenced using genotype‐by‐sequencing (530,792 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms). Predictive ability of single‐trait and multi‐trait models were evaluated by cross‐validation, by prediction of a progeny trial (n = 122), and through prediction of yield performance in a parallel experiment (n = 52). Predictive ability was not improved by sharing information among breeding groups. Overall, multi‐trait models provided an advantage during cross‐validation, but a smaller advantage during progeny prediction. Within populations, GP resulted in lower per‐cycle progress than previously reported field evaluations (3.1 vs. 5.0 day−1 cycle−1). However, GP cycles are potentially much faster than field evaluations. When directly predicting biomass yield, the Hybrid training population had a predictive ability of 0.54–0.63. This reinforces the strong linkage between biomass yields in swards and flowering time. These results highlight the value of GP for rapid yield improvement in switchgrass, particularly in a breeding program designed to share information between biomass yield trials and low‐cost flowering time evaluations.https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12983climate changecrop yieldflowering timegenomic predictiongrass breedingswitchgrass
spellingShingle Neal W. Tilhou
Michael D. Casler
Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
GCB Bioenergy
climate change
crop yield
flowering time
genomic prediction
grass breeding
switchgrass
title Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
title_full Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
title_fullStr Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
title_full_unstemmed Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
title_short Biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
title_sort biomass yield improvement in switchgrass through genomic prediction of flowering time
topic climate change
crop yield
flowering time
genomic prediction
grass breeding
switchgrass
url https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12983
work_keys_str_mv AT nealwtilhou biomassyieldimprovementinswitchgrassthroughgenomicpredictionoffloweringtime
AT michaeldcasler biomassyieldimprovementinswitchgrassthroughgenomicpredictionoffloweringtime