Yield Data from the Uniform Southern Soft Red Winter Wheat Nursery Emphasize Importance of Selection Location and Environment for Cultivar Development

Abstract

Yield and agronomic data from a regional soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) nursery—consisting of 604 advanced breeding lines (ABLs) and 36 testing locations over a 21‐yr period—were evaluated to understand recent genetic gains in wheat and determine the impact of selection location and environment on cultivar performance and adaptation. Relative mean yield improvement of ABLs with respect to historical cultivar AGS 2000 was 106 kg ha−1 yr−1 (1.58 bu acre−1 yr−1), equating to an annual genetic gain of 1.6%. Yield gains for wheat during this timespan were attributed to an increase in both yield potential and stability across environments. However, a strong tradeoff (r = −0.36, p < 2.2 × 10−16) was observed between yield potential and stability. Additionally, distance between selection and evaluation environments was significantly correlated with yield, with yield decreasing as distance between locations increased. Advanced breeding lines had a +221, +126, and −29.6 kg ha−1 yr−1 (+3.29, +1.88, and −0.44 bu acre−1) yield difference over the location mean when the selection location was within, adjacent, and nonadjacent to the trial location zone, respectively. Advanced breeding lines in general performed poorly in production environments west of their selection site. Based on data analyzed, elevation and latitude are significant geographic parameters to consider when determining optimal selection location for a production environment. Meanwhile, change in growing degree days between selection and evaluation location had a stronger influence on yield than precipitation. Findings demonstrate the importance and benefits of breeder collaborations and multienvironment testing on crop improvement, which will be needed to maximize yield gains in the 21st century.

Predicting Fusarium Head Blight Resistance for Advanced Trials in a Soft Red Winter Wheat Breeding Program With Genomic Selection

“…Some elite lines are also grown in regional statewide variety testing trials, as well as the USDA-ARS Uniform Eastern (UE) and Southern nurseries (US), Southeastern University Grains (Sungrains) cooperative nurseries, and foundation seed increases. The UE and US nurseries include approximately 36 elite breeding lines from public and private SRWW breeding programs in the Southern and Eastern US, grown between 22 and 36 locations with between one and three replications per location annually (Boyles et al, 2019). The Sungrains cooperative consists of Southeastern US SRWW breeding programs that performs regional testing within the Southeastern US (Harrison et al, 2017;Johnson et al, 2017;Mason et al, 2018;Boyles et al, 2019).…”

“…The UE and US nurseries include approximately 36 elite breeding lines from public and private SRWW breeding programs in the Southern and Eastern US, grown between 22 and 36 locations with between one and three replications per location annually (Boyles et al, 2019). The Sungrains cooperative consists of Southeastern US SRWW breeding programs that performs regional testing within the Southeastern US (Harrison et al, 2017;Johnson et al, 2017;Mason et al, 2018;Boyles et al, 2019). Select breeding lines from the ADV and ARE are grown in these regional Sungrains nurseries.…”

Grain yield performance of hybrid rice in relation to inbred cultivars in long‐term multi‐environment tests in India

“…Hybrid F 1 genotypes with different maturity periods and those with medium slender grains were assessed for grain yields in tests for only 1–4 yr in 270 experiments executed between 1988 and 2019 (Table 3). These data sets were inadequate to control error degrees of freedom in analysis (Boyles et al., 2019; Gomez & Gomez, 1982). Mean grain yields in the remaining data set from 1,947 experiments executed at different locations for 5–24 yr, were used for analysis (Supplemental Table S1).…”

Grain Yield Performance of Hybrid Rice in Multi-Environment Tests for Thirty-two Years in India

“…Grain yield assessments were done on hybrid genotypes for only 1-4 years in 270 experiments performed and were omitted as inadequate for analysis 12 . Boyles et al 18 had also excluded data from locations that were not represented for ve or more years from the long-term analysis of red wheat experiments. The remaining assessments were done for 5-24 years.…”

“…Grain yield of hybrid F 1 genotypes higher than the yield of ILCV or HCV in IHRT-MED (131-140 days)experiments(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) …”