Genetic Diversity of Great Plains Hard Winter Wheat Germplasm for Forage

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has been widely grown for winter forage production across the world. However, improvement of forage yield and nutritive characteristics has not been a major goal of wheat breeding programs, and little is known about genetic diversity in the traits of winter wheat germplasm. A set of 299 hard winter wheat germplasm from the Great Plains was evaluated during two growing seasons in Oklahoma and 15 forage‐related traits were evaluated. There were significant (P < 0.0001) genetic variations in all the traits but effects of environment and germplasm × environment interaction were significant for seven and eight traits, respectively. A significant portion of the variation for forage traits was due to genetics, indicating an ability to breed for improved forage traits. Dry matter yield (DMY, kg ha−1) of the germplasm ranged from 1260 for Cheyenne to 4158 for Sturdy2K. Crude protein (CP, g kg−1) ranged from 161 for OK05108 to 268 for Nuplains. When crude protein yield (kg ha−1) was considered, Sturdy2K was the best germplasm, followed by 2180 and OK1068009. State of origin of the germplasm was also a significant source of variation for most of the traits. Heading date was positively and negatively associated with CP and DMY, respectively. This study identified significant genetic variations of the hard winter wheat germplasm for forage traits and the results of this study could provide useful guidelines for winter forage wheat breeding programs.

Genomic selection of forage agronomic traits in winter wheat

“…We used this panel because about 150 lines of the panel are founders of our existing breeding populations. Forage agronomic data of the panel was reported previously (Kim et al, 2016).…”

“…Phenotypic data used in this study include forage yield (FY) on dry matter basis, plant height (PH) and heading date (HD). Briefly, forage samples were collected during Feekes stage 4-5 or Zadoks 30 as reported previously (Kim et al, 2016 Broad-sense heritability (H 2 ) and narrow-sense heritability (h 2 ) for each trait was estimated on an entry-mean basis across the two environments (Hallauer et al, 2010) using the following formulas: H 2 = σ 2 g / (σ 2 g + σ 2 ge /e + σ 2 e /er) and h 2 = σ A 2 /(σ 2 g + σ 2 ge /e + σ 2 e /er);…”

Two Wheat Cultivars with Contrasting Post-Embryonic Root Biomass Differ in Shoot Re-Growth after Defoliation: Implications for Breeding Grazing Resilient Forages

“…For this study, we selected two hard red winter wheat cultivars that differed in field forage productivity as inferred from historical data gathered during the grazing season [22]. In the USA Southern Plains, the grazing season occurs in late fall until late winter, which typically span the months of November to the end of February [22,23]. The first cultivar used in this study, Duster, is broadly grown in the Southern Great Plains.…”

Improving Dual-Purpose Winter Wheat in the Southern Great Plains of the United States

“…The best cultivars for grain-only production may not be the best for dualpurpose production; therefore, it is crucial to select cultivars that are suitable for a grazing and grain system. Winter wheat cultivars planted in the Southern Great Plains of the United States show significant variation in forage yield [6]. Wheat cultivars that are suitable for grazing and grain should demonstrate both high forage yield and grain yield with tolerance to grazing stress and various other seedling stresses, such as heat, drought, disease, and insect stresses.…”