Breeding progress, environmental variation and correlation of winter wheat yield and quality traits in German official variety trials and on-farm during 1983–2014

Abstract

Key message Over the last 32 years, a large gain in grain yield (24 %) was achieved in official German variety trials, and despite considerable loss in protein concentration (−7.9 %), winter wheat baking quality was partially improved over the last 32 years. On-farm gain in grain yield (32 %) exceeded gain in trials, but at yield level about 25 dt ha −1 lower. Breeding progress was very successfully transferred into both progress in grain yield and on-farm baking quality. AbstractLong-term gains in grain yield and baking quality of 316 winter wheat varieties from German official trials were evaluated. We dissected progress into a genetic and a non-genetic part to quantify the contribution of genetic improvement. We further investigated the influence of genotype and environment on total variation by estimating variance components. We also estimated genetic and phenotypic correlation between quality traits. For trial data, we found a large gain in grain yield (24%), but a strong decline in protein concentration (−8.0%) and loaf volume (−8.5%) relative to 1983. Improvement of baking quality could be achieved for falling number (5.8%), sedimentation value (7.9%), hardness (13.4%), water absorption (1.2%) and milling yield (2.4%). Grain yield, falling number and protein concentration were highly influenced by environment, whereas for sedimentation value, hardness, water absorption and loaf volume genotypes accounted for more than 60% of total variation. Strong to very strong relations exist among protein concentration, sedimentation value, and loaf volume. On-farm yields were obtained from national statistics, and grain quality data from samples collected by national harvest survey. These on-farm data were compared with trial results. On-farm gain in grain yield was 31.6%, but at a mean level about 25 dt ha−1 lower. Improvement of on-farm quality exceeded trial results considerably. A shift to varieties with improved baking quality can be considered as the main reason for this remarkable improvement of on-farm baking quality.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00122-016-2810-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Yield Stability in Winter Wheat Production: A Survey on German Farmers’ and Advisors’ Views

“…For the period 1983-2014, a large gain in grain yield of winter wheat in official variety trials (24%) and on farms (32%) was achieved in Germany [34]. Additionally, a slight increase in better yield stability of newer wheat cultivars has been found retrospectively based on the analysis of German official variety trials from 1983-2014 [34]. This effect was also mentioned by nearly half of the respondents in this study (Table 10).…”

“…Based on the re-analysis of official variety trials of the United Kingdom over the period 1948-2007 for winter wheat, at least 88% of the improvement in grain yield can be attributed to genetic improvement, with only 12% ascribed to changes in agronomy [33]. For the period 1983-2014, a large gain in grain yield of winter wheat in official variety trials (24%) and on farms (32%) was achieved in Germany [34]. Additionally, a slight increase in better yield stability of newer wheat cultivars has been found retrospectively based on the analysis of German official variety trials from 1983-2014 [34].…”

Wheat Yield Improvements in Brazil: Roles of Genetics and Environment

“…Because of the high cost of the multienvironment trials, it is extremely important to obtain high‐quality information. Many authors demonstrate that it is possible to use these data to perform meta‐analyses and measure the genetic gains in a variety of crop species (Oury et al, 2012; Qin et al, 2015; Balota et al, 2017; Laidig et al, 2017).…”

Environmental effect on genetic gains and its impact on bread-making quality traits in Brazilian spring wheat

“…The absence of this condition will result in high FN values, even in susceptible genotypes. Laidig et al (2017) analyzing data from VCU trials in Germany also observed that FN was highly influenced by environment.…”

“…In Triticum durum L. there are genetic gain reports of bread-making quality (De Vita et al, 2007;Subira et al, 2014). In T. aestivum there are evidences of high bread-making quality parameters in modern genotypes (Hucl et al, 2015;Ormoli et al, 2015;Sanchez-Garcia et al, 2015, Laidig et al, 2017. Nonetheless, genetic gain references for bread-making quality are insufficient.…”