Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences are very broad - ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in sweetpotato genomics and the production of biobased, and value- added products from sweetpotato. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension-oriented and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to training MS and PhD level graduate students and postdoctoral scientists, this project typically hires 3-5 undergraduate summer helpers to assist with project activities during project year. This work provides significant real-world plant breeding experiences for the undergraduate and graduate students employed by the project. As part of our project we are also engaged in a number of on-farm extention related training activities. To this end during 2019-2020 we: conducted two onfarm sweetpotato trials with extension agents in Nash and Sampson counties and provided breeding program demonstrations and presented posters of thesweetpotato breeding program's activities at the Annual Virtual Sweetpotato Field Day . How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We routinely participate in field days and extension meetings at various venues in NC and the region. We also attend and make presentations at state, regional and national and international meetings. We also host numerous industry meetings through-out the year to discuss various special projects related to the sweetpotato industry. However, during the pandemic year these activities were significantlly downsized and all conducted on-line and not in person. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Sweetpotato and Potato Breeding and Genetics Project Accomplishments 1. Accomplishment: We submitted the paperwork and prepared for the release of NC04-0531 as the variety Monaco in 2021. NC04-0531 is named in honor of Dr. Thomas J. Monaco, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State. Dr. Monaco has had an illustrious career at NCSU. He was instrumental in recruiting me and Ken Pecota as the sweetpotato breeding team and we are very pleased to release NC04-0531 in his name. Impact: Monaco yields well though not as good as Covington. Its primary strength is its good yield and storage root shape and quality. It also has demonstrated resistance to the WDS complex of soil insects., it produces a compact upright plant canopy which helps to suppress weed growth, both of which make it well suited to organic production. Overall, Monaco provides growers with additional variety choices for NC's production environments, especially organic growers. Certified plants of Monaco are available from the NCSU Micropropagation and Repository Unit and from certified seed producers. It will be licensed as a patent protected line with royalties collected under our new per acre royalty structure directly from all growers producing Monaco. Sales of this new cultivar are just starting. 2. Accomplishment: We finalized the paperwork and prepared for the release of NCP13-0030 and NCP13-0315, two of our 2nd generation purple-fleshed lines. They are tentatively named Purple Splendor and Purple Majesty, respectively. Impact: Both of these purple-fleshed sweetpotato lines are well adapted to the North Carolina growing region. Storage root shapes are blocky to round elliptic and consistent. Yields and pack-out of No.1 grade roots are high when compared to Stokes Purple, the primary purple-fleshed variety produced in the US. The disease resistance package of these two clones is also a significant improvement over the other available purple cultivars. Certified plants of these two lines are available from the NCSU Micropropagation and Repository Unit and certified seed producers, and the licensing and royalty system will be similar to Monaco. 3. Accomplishment: Our 3 YR, $15 million BMGF project entitled SweetGAINS: Sweetpotato Genetic Advances and Innovative Seed Systems, led by the International Potato Center, Lima, Peru completed its 1st year of activities. NCSU leads SweetGAINS Work Package 3- Genomic Assisted Breeding with a budget of $3 million allocated to 4 subs: BTI, MSU, UTK and NaCRRI. Impact: We have made excellent progress even under coronavirus pandemic constraints. Current WP3 achievements are as follows: 1) a draft genome for the variety 'Beauregard' has been generated and is currently being refined, and a preliminary genome sequence of the variety 'Tanzania' has been generated; 2) large training populations for Genomic Selection (GS) proof-of-concept studies have been developed by CIP, NaCRRI, and NCSU and DNA is being sent to NCSU for sequencing; 3) a utility patent was filed jointly by NCSU and UTK for the OmeSeq/qRRS and OmeSeqArray genotyping platforms, developed under the GT4SP BMGF investment and carried forward under SweetGAINS; 4) a WP3 GS working group was established to drive program activities and lead discussions on GP/GP breeding needs; and 5) initial proof-of-concept GS studies for Me germplasm enhancement in NC were initiated and our 1st cycle of selections have been made (see also below). 4. Accomplishment: With support from the Global Crop Diversity Trust we completed the 5th year of a collaborative project with the International Potato Center entitled: Targeted Use of Crop Wild Relatives for Improved Abiotic Stress Resistance in Cultivated Sweetpotato. Impact: This project, conducted in collaboration with CIP, Lima, funds the PhD research of Stella Nhanala from Mozambique. She plans on completing her PhD in Spring 2021. 5. Accomplishment: With the emergence of Meloidogyne enterolobii (Me) in NC, the breeding program has begun germplasm screening and breeding activities focused on addressing this major problem. IMPACT: Sweetpotato production comprises the single largest economic impact among specialty vegetable crops for the southern states, and the industry is an important economic driver in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and Me is threatening the entire SE US sweetpotato industry. The breeding program has already identified novel sources of resistance to Me, along with several major QTL that control resistance. We have begun research to convert these QTL into molecular markers to facilitate the development of new cultivars resistant to nematodes. However, this a complex problem and it will require significant funding. To this end, we have leverage support from the SweetGAINS project, and I am also leading the development of a large-scale proposal to be submitted to the USDA SCRI for consideration, as well as several other in-state initiatives for funding consideration. 6. Accomplishment: Covington, released by our program, continues to be an important variety in NC and the US. Impact: Approximately 90% of NC's SP crop is planted to Covington. Based on the most recent USDA NASS and NCDA&CS figures, NC farmer's harvested ca. 97,700 acres of SP in 2019. Based on the 2019 SP crop value of $323,868,000, the 2019 NC farm-gate value of Covington was ca. $ 291,481,200. Royalties for Covington are totaled $418,789.72 in 2020 and they are a significant source of revenue for the University, CAL, HS and the breeding program that helps drive innovation and solve problems. 7. Accomplishment: Our ornamental SP (OSP) breeding program with Proven Winners (PW) continues to be highly productive. Impact: PW now markets 20 NCSU OSP varieties in 11 countries, with 3,641,273plants sold in 2019-2020 generating NCSU royalties of $180,109, and ca. $ $14,565,092 million in receipts (@$4/plant) for a wide range of large to small greenhouse, nursery and floricultural businesses. 9. Accomplishment: We obtained our 24th and 23rd year of funding from the NCSPC supportingthe breeding program's research station and Grower Participatory Breeding Project (GPBP), respectively. Impact: Since 2000, the NCSPC has provided ca. $730,12212 in support of our variety development efforts. New conventional, specialty and ISP varieties have enabled growers to diversify their farming operations, increasing farm profitability and sustainability. Plant Patented varieties released from the program also benefit the NCSPC's efforts through our royalty sharing arrangement, which contributed ca. $41.8K in revenue to Henry M. Covington Endowment for Excellence in Sweet Potato Research and Extension in 2020. These funds are used to support a broad range of sweetpotato research and extension efforts in CALS.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Gemenet, D. C., Lindqvist-Kreuze, H., De Boeck, B., Pereira, G. de S., Mollinari, M., Zeng, Z.-B., & Campos, H. (2020). Sequencing depth and genotype quality: accuracy and breeding operation considerations for genomic selection applications in autopolyploid crops. THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-020-03673-2
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Mollinari, M., Olukolu, B. A., S. Pereira Guilherme, Khan, A., Gemenet, D., Yencho, G. C., & Zeng, Z.-B. (2020). Unraveling the Hexaploid Sweetpotato Inheritance Using Ultra-Dense Multilocus Mapping. G3&Amp;#58; Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 10(1), 281292.
https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.119.400620
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Eserman, L. A., Sosef, M. S. M., Simao-Bianchini, R., Utteridge, T. M. A., Barbosa, J. C.J., Buril, M. T., & Simoes, A. R. G. (2020, December). Proposal to change the conserved type of Ipomoea, nom. cons. (Convolvulaceae). TAXON, Vol. 69, pp. 13691371.
https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12400
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Kinczyk, Jonathan Paul. 2019. Discovery and Analysis of QTL for Important Processing Traits and Resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. batatas in the NCDM04-0001 x Covington Sweetpotato Mapping Population. MS Thesis. Under the direction of Dr. G. Craig Yencho. NC State University. Raleigh, NC. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/resolver/1840.20/37446
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Amankwaah, Victor Acheampong. 2019. Phenotyping and Genetic Studies of Storage Root Chemistry Traits in Sweetpotato. MS Thesis. Under the direction of Dr. G. Craig Yencho. NC State University. Raleigh, NC.http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/resolver/1840.20/37131.
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