Evaluation of Lines from a Farmer Participatory Organic Wheat Breeding Program

Abstract

Involving farmers directly in early‐generation selection may contribute to the development of well‐adapted organic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm. This project involved a partnership between a professional breeder and farmers. Progeny from 19 spring wheat crosses were distributed to eight organic farmers (three populations per farmer) in southern Manitoba, Canada. Each farmer selected for three consecutive years, resulting in 23 unique advanced lines. The farmer‐selected lines were compared with eight registered cultivars and one landrace cultivar in replicated field experiments at a total of three site years in 2014 and 2015. Although there was significant variation in agronomic performance of different farmer‐selected lines, the farmer selections were generally taller, later maturing, more susceptible to lodging; farmer selections were higher yielding than the check cultivars at one site‐year. When selecting from the same population, farmers produced distinctively different lines; differences were observed in disease response, days to maturity, height, lodging, and yield. The highest yielding wheats included farmer‐selected lines, a heritage cultivar, and two modern checks, one bred for organic conditions and one with a unique insect resistance trait. This preliminary study shows the potential of farmers working together with a professional breeder to produce wheat germplasm for organic production. Results also confirm the value of certain conventional cultivars to organic production.

Durum Wheat Breeding in the Mediterranean Region: Current Status and Future Prospects

“…In Syria, decentralized participatory selection by farmers is significantly more efficient in identifying the highest yielding entries in farmers' fields than any other selection strategy [124]. Farmer-selected populations are not genetically homogenous, which may lead to higher yield stability in varying environments [125]. PPB projects including farmers have resulted in the wider and simpler adoption of new varieties [114,126,127].…”

Crop Domestication, Root Trait Syndromes, and Soil Nutrient Acquisition in Organic Agroecosystems: A Systematic Review

“…Cultivar selection is a critical aspect for organic farmers to consider in relation to soil fertility, as well as pest and weed management (Bond and Grundy, 2001;Watson et al, 2002;Zehnder et al, 2007;Lammerts van Bueren and Myers, 2012;Entz et al, 2018). Building on approaches suggested by Crespo-Herrera and Ortiz (2015) for developing new cultivars for organic systems, such as (i) multi-location testing to exploit Genotype × Environment interactions, (ii) shuttle breeding between organic and conventional production systems to develop cultivars adapted to both conditions, and (iii) comprehensive screening of plant materials deposited in gene-banks to identify promising genetic resources for organic plant breeding, we highlight the need for increased understanding of the variation and genetic architecture of root traits important for crop success under organic conditions.…”

“…Relationships between domestication syndromes in root traits, and the subsequent impact on acquisition strategies in low input systems, underscores the need for a shift in breeding paradigms for organic agriculture. Such efforts are under way in many different field and horticultural crops, for instance in Canada for wheat (Wiebe et al, 2016;Entz et al, 2018), oats (Mitchell Fetch et al, 2021) and soybean (Boyle, 2016). As the call for transformations in agricultural management reaches a watershed moment, in order to achieve SDG targets of Zero Hunger via resilient agriculture practices, these efforts will not only enhance multiple ecosystem services in organic agriculture, but also amplify the success of ecological nutrient management.…”

Exploring the emergence of participatory plant breeding in countries of the Global North – a review

“…Bread wheat (T. aestivum) has a large number of published projects ranging from conference proceedings to peer-reviewed journal articles. Projects exist in Europe (Dawson et al, 2010(Dawson et al, , 2011Enjalbert et al, 2011;Goldringer et al, 2012Goldringer et al, , 2019Malandrin and Dvortsin, 2013;Rivière et al, 2013aRivière et al, , 2013bRivière et al, , 2014Rivière et al, , 2015Rivière, 2014;Da Via, 2015;Vindras-Fouillet et al, 2016;Petitti et al, 2018;van Frank, 2018;Berthet et al, 2020;, CA (Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, 2013; Entz et al, 2015Entz et al, , 2016Entz et al, , 2018Kirk et al, 2015), and the US (Murphy et al, 2005(Murphy et al, , 2013Lazor, 2008;Darby et al, 2013;Kissing Kucek et al, 2015;Kissing Kucek and Sorrells, 2016;Kissing Kucek, 2017) (Table 6). The large number of examples for bread wheat may be due to the existence of public plant breeding programmes at many universities and research institutions.…”