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Australian Lentil Breeding Between 1988 and 2019 Has Delivered Greater Yield Gain Under Stress Than Under High-Yield Conditions.

ABSTRACT: The contemporary lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris) industry in Australia started in the late 1980s. Yield in farmers' fields averages 1.2 t ha^-1 nationally and has not increased over three decades. Lack of yield progress can be related to a number of non-mutually exclusive reasons: expansion of lentil to low-yielding environments, lack of genetic gain in yield, lack of progress in agronomic practices, and lack of adoption of superior technologies. The aims of this study were to (i) quantify the genetic gain in lentil yield since 1988, (ii) explore the variation in the expression of genetic gain with the environment, and (iii) identify shifts in crop phenotype associated with selection for yield and agronomic adaptation. We grew a historic collection of 19 varieties released between 1988 and 2019 in eight environments resulting from the factorial combination of two sowing dates, two water regimes, and two seasons. Across environments, yield varied 11-fold from 0.2 to 2.2 t ha^-1. The rate of genetic gain averaged 20 kg ha^-1 year^-1 or 1.23% year^-1 across environments and was higher in low-yield environments. The yield increase was associated with substantial shifts in phenology. Newer varieties had a shorter time to flowering and pod emergence, and the rate of change in these traits was more pronounced in slow-developing environments (e.g., earlier sowing). Thermal time from sowing to end of flowering and maturity were shorter in newer varieties, and thermal time from pod emergence to maturity was longer in newer varieties; the rate of change in these traits was unrelated to developmental drivers and correlated with environmental mean yield. Genetic gain in yield was associated with increased grain number and increased harvest index. Despite their shorter time to maturity, newer varieties had similar or higher biomass than their older counterparts because crop growth rate during the critical period increased with the year of release. Genotype-dependent yield increased over three decades in low-yield environments, whereas actual farm yield has been stagnant; this suggests an increasing yield gap requiring agronomic solutions. Genetic improvement in high-yield environments requires improved coupling of growth and reproduction.

SUBMITTER: Sadras VO

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8207196 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundImproving yield prediction and selection efficiency is critical for tree breeding. This is vital for macadamia trees with the time from crossing to production of new cultivars being almost a quarter of a century. Genomic selection (GS) is a useful tool in plant breeding, particularly with perennial trees, contributing to an increased rate of genetic gain and reducing the length of the breeding cycle. We investigated the potential of using GS methods to increase genetic gain and accelerate selection efficiency in the Australian macadamia breeding program with comparison to traditional breeding methods. This study evaluated the prediction accuracy of GS in a macadamia breeding population of 295 full-sib progeny from 32 families (29 parents, reciprocals combined), along with a subset of parents. Historical yield data for tree ages 5 to 8 years were used in the study, along with a set of 4113 SNP markers. The traits of focus were average nut yield from tree ages 5 to 8 years and yield stability, measured as the standard deviation of yield over these 4 years. GBLUP GS models were used to obtain genomic estimated breeding values for each genotype, with a five-fold cross-validation method and two techniques: prediction across related populations and prediction across unrelated populations.ResultsNarrow-sense heritability of yield and yield stability was low (h2 = 0.30 and 0.04, respectively). Prediction accuracy for yield was 0.57 for predictions across related populations and 0.14 when predicted across unrelated populations. Accuracy of prediction of yield stability was high (r = 0.79) for predictions across related populations. Predicted genetic gain of yield using GS in related populations was 474 g/year, more than double that of traditional breeding methods (226 g/year), due to the halving of generation length from 8 to 4 years.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that the incorporation of GS for yield into the Australian macadamia breeding program may accelerate genetic gain due to reduction in generation length, though the cost of genotyping appears to be a constraint at present.

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Australian Lentil Breeding Between 1988 and 2019 Has Delivered Greater Yield Gain Under Stress Than Under High-Yield Conditions.

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