Reducing the generation time in winter wheat cultivars using speed breeding

Abstract

Reducing generation time is critical to achieving the goals of genetic gain in important crops like wheat (Triticum aestivum). Speed breeding (SB) has been shown to considerably reduce generation times in crop plants. Unlike spring wheat cultivars, winter wheat varieties require typically 6-9 weeks of cold treatment, called vernalization, for flowering which extends the generation time for the development of improved winter wheat cultivars. Here, we optimized the SB method using a set of 48 diverse soft red winter wheat (SRWW) cultivars by testing vernalization duration, light and temperature requirements, and the viability of seeds harvested after different durations post-anthesis under extended daylight conditions. We have found that using a 22-h setting (22 h day/2 h night, 25˚C/22˚C) in high-density 50-cell trays results in rapid generation advancement. We used genotypic data for a panel of soft red winter wheat varieties from the regional programs to determine the impact of photoperiod and vernalization alleles on the efficiency of the SB approach. Using a set of 48 SRWW cultivars and germplasm from Maryland and four other public breeding programs, we establish that this protocol can allow for the advancement of four generations per year in controlled conditions for winter wheat varieties, experimental lines, or emerging cultivars. Our work shows the potential to reduce generation time Abbreviations: DH, doubled haploids; DPF, days post flowering; HID, high intensity discharge; SB, speed breeding; SSD, single seed descent.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Acceleration of wheat breeding: enhancing efficiency and practical application of the speed breeding system

“…1 f). Although this light intensity was lower than that of SB rooms in previous studies, which ranged from 350 to 500 µmol/m²/s [ 8 , 9 , 19 , 20 ], no significant differences in days to heading (DTH) or grain number per spike (GN) were observed between the SV + mSB and SV + SB conditions (Fig. S1 a and b).…”

A comprehensive review on Gossypium hirsutum resistance against cotton leaf curl virus

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Evaluation of speed breeding conditions for accelerating Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol screening in wheat

“…Ten seeds of each genotype were sown in 4.5-inch pots with one plant per pot in a randomized complete block design. Plants were then moved into speed breeding conditions (22 hours light/2 hours dark with temperatures of 25˚C in the day and 22˚C at night) as described by Schoen et al (2023). This was done so that plants in each treatment would come to heading at the same time, reducing variables in the experiment.…”