109-21 Variation and Phenotypic Plasticity of Heading Date and Yield Across Multiple U.S. Great Plains Environments.
Poster Number 526
See more from this Division: C01 Crop Breeding & GeneticsSee more from this Session: Crop Breeding and Genetics: II (includes student competition)
Phenotypic plasticity is described as the ability of a single genotype to produce a variable phenotype under different environmental conditions (Nicotra, 2010). The extent of plasticity, as well as whether it is beneficial or detrimental varies among traits and when evaluated on different germplasm or environments (Bradshaw, 1965). Fine-tuning and optimizing reproductive development in wheat is complex, and involves many quantitative genes that are not well characterized or necessarily stable across environments. A more complete understanding of phenotypic plasticity of heading date could allow deeper understanding of crop adaptation.
We assessed variation and phenotypic plasticity of heading date and yield within a panel of 299 hard winter wheat varieties at ten environments across the U.S. Great Plains in 2012 and 2013. There was significant variation for both traits across environments, and there was a significant negative correlation between heading date and yield. Heading date plasticity was driven by earliest heading date, and had a significant positive correlation with yield. Thus, heading date plasticity was a favorable trait in our germplasm and environments. Yield plasticity was driven by minimum yield, and also had a significant positive correlation with yield. There was also a significant positive relationship between heading date plasticity and yield plasticity, which suggests both plasticity traits could be targeted for improvement at the same time. Future work might involve investigating the genetic basis of trait plasticity through GWAS, and identifying plasticity QTL that co-localize with, or are independent of the trait per se.
See more from this Session: Crop Breeding and Genetics: II (includes student competition)