Source: CORNELL UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
BREEDING AND GENETICS OF THE SMALL GRAIN CEREALS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1021161
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 10, 2019
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2022
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
PLANT BREEDING AND GENETICS
Non Technical Summary
New York agriculture depends on small grains production to provide essential food and feed for the state. Cornell has the only active small grains breeding program, public or private, located in the NE U.S. and our research contributes directly to multiple goals of Cornell Cooperative Extension including agriculture/food systems, adapting to climate change, nutrition and food safety, and community economic viability. Small grains production is environmentally friendly, adaptable to organic production and contributes directly to the economic and nutritional well-being of rural communities. Products derived from whole grains are nutritious and contribute to a healthful diet for people of all ages. Since 1907, this research project has produced more than 70 cultivars. An effective plant breeding research program contributes to enhancing the productivity of small grains varieties and to meeting the changing climate and needs that are specific to NE agriculture.Our objectives are to develop and evaluate new cultivars of small grains, develop new breeding methods and characterize genes controlling important traits.Approximately 300,000 acres of small grains are grown on NY farms annually, and improved small grains cultivars are required for farmers, processors, and food companies to remain competitive. Small grains production is also important to crop rotation systems, distribution of labor, and soil and water conservation. Farmers depend on our state-wide variety testing programs for unbiased information about both public and private varieties of cereals. Our previous Hatch-funded research is directly responsible for our success in competing for these federally funded, high visibility, nation-wide grants.
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2021599108170%
2011549108030%
Knowledge Area
202 - Plant Genetic Resources; 201 - Plant Genome, Genetics, and Genetic Mechanisms;

Subject Of Investigation
1549 - Wheat, general/other; 1599 - Grain crops, general/other;

Field Of Science
1081 - Breeding; 1080 - Genetics;
Goals / Objectives
1. To develop, introduce, and evaluate new cultivars of small grains having improved yield, grain quality, disease resistance, and other characteristics that increase the crop value, safety, production efficiency, and stability for stakeholders in New York and the NE US. This objective includes development of our own new varieties and regional evaluation of private and public varieties from other programs.2. To devise and evaluate novel breeding methods that effectively manipulate genetic variability for desirable agronomic traits and contribute to understanding breeding theory. Advances in breeding methodologies are driven by new knowledge and technologies and are rarely explored in the public sector.3. To elucidate the inheritance, chromosomal location, and expression of genes controlling relevant characteristics, specifically, pre-harvest sprouting, fusarium head blight and nutritional quality. This objective is fundamental to the implementation of molecular breeding methods.
Project Methods
This project emphasizes the development of novel breeding methods that improve the efficiency of variety development and advance the science of plant breeding. The two most important constraints to small grains production in the NE U.S. are preharvest sprouting and fusarium head blight (FHB). Currently our research is focused on the implementation of molecular breeding methods and development of soft winter wheat and spring and winter malting barley varieties. Selection methods include conventional and molecular selection for resistance to lodging and major diseases, acceptable milling and baking quality, preharvest sprouting resistance, and improved grain yield.Specifically, within the next three years, we will release at least two new varieties of small grains and one or two new germplasm releases. The first will be a new soft white winter wheat with the best resistance to FHB in the Eastern U.S. The second will be a new spring two row malting barley variety adapted to the NE U.S. that will have resistance to preharvest sprouting and some level of FHB resistance. Using half-sib recurrent selection, we have developed a soft wheat population that has a higher level of resistance to FHB than all of the resistant checks. We have also developed spring wheat germplasm with adult plant resistance to Ug99 stem rust that has devastated wheat production in Africa. These germplasms will be made available to wheat breeders through a formal germplasm release.Selections from early generations that have acceptable maturity, height, seed quality, disease resistance, and vigor enter our regional testing program. Superior genotypes will be determined by comprehensive trial testing and released through the New York Seed Improvement Project as new cultivars for commercial production in the northeast. Unbiased performance information is required for farmers, seed companies, and extension agents to be able to choose the varieties that maximize return on investment and stability of income. In this project we are continuing our research on a new molecular breeding strategy that is complementary to marker-assisted selection called "Genomic Selection". This methodology was originally developed by animal breeders but it has great promise for crop improvement. Because this breeding method can potentially increase the rate of genetic gain, it is especially useful for dealing with climate change because new varieties can be developed more rapidly as the environmental conditions change.Currently, we are focused two specific goals for genomic selection research: 1) optimizing the training of statistical models for genomic selection in our wheat breeding program and 2) using correlated traits in multivariate models to increase the accuracy of genomic selection.We will publish four to six papers on this specific topic in the next three years.

Progress 10/01/20 to 09/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:We reached farmers, crop advisors, producers, end-users such as millers, brewers, distillers, maltsters, chefs and bakers through field days, email and webinars. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in the field trials and quality testing. We engaged other researchers including ag professionals, plant breeders, agronomists from academic, non-profit and industry settings through webinars and the grains week virtual conference. Through this virtual conference, we also engaged other organizations, consumers of local grains products and local businesses that could expand their use of local grains. Changes/Problems:No major changes in approach. The pandemic has created labor problems that is slowing progress in evaluating new selections and varieties in regional trials. We have had to scale back some of our work because of the COVID restrictions. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We provide training and professional development for the following people: David Benscher - Research Support Specialist James Tanaka - Lab and Greenhouse Manager Jenna Rice - Field Technical Assistant Graduate students - Daniel Sweeney, Shitaye Homma, Karl Kunze, Kay McNeary and Travis Rooney Undergraduate - Veronika Vogel, John Cohen, Valen, Elena Suarez, Cameron Kitzinger, and Vallan Roan. Post Docs - Malacky Campbell, Lauren Brzozowski All of our students, post docs, and visiting scientists receive training in state-of-the-art plant breeding methods including lab, greenhouse and fieldwork. We collaborate with many other researchers both nationally and internationally. The breeding program provides indispensable training for students and post docs. There is a nationwide shortage of trained plant breeders, and this project provides invaluable experience. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our variety trial results are presented at field days and training workshops where we explain to extension agents, growers and end users the importance and impacts of our research. Our breeding project is very important for training the next generation of plant breeders because it provides them with hands-on experience in a modern plant breeding program that integrates conventional and modern molecular technologies. Our performance trials are published in an annual report that is mailed or emailed to approximately 200 individuals and agencies. It is also available on our web site (smallgrains.cals.cornell.edu). Our research results are published in high quality peer-reviewed scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For objective #1, we will continue to run our statewide small grains trials and report the results to stakeholders. Our breeding programs for oats, wheat and barley are ongoing and have been expanded to include spring emmer, spring einkorn and winter malting barley. For objective #2, our wheat breeding efforts will continue to use molecular breeding for resistance to fusarium head blight, and recurrent selection for anther extrusion, large and small stem diameter, and long and short seed fill duration. We are also evaluating genomic selection for resistance to preharvest sprouting and resistance to spot blotch. For objective #3, we have a large project focused on the genetic control of seed dormancy in malting barley. A second project involves fine mapping and cloning a gene for seed size and shape. A third project involves developing free-threshing emmer and einkorn.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact: Continuous development of new small grains varieties is essential for farmers to remain competitive and for adaptation to a changing climate. A diverse farm economy helps to stabilize food production and farm income. We developed and evaluated new varieties of small grains in state-wide trials and identified 4 new varieties for production in New York (NY). Farmers and seed companies have adopted these varieties and they are being grown widely in NY. A vigorous farm economy is essential for the economic viability of NY and the United States (U.S.) A stabile and safe food supply for the public requires a lot of effort on the parts of a lot of people and businesses. For each of the accomplishments described below, the number of the objective they address is noted. Small grains production contributes to NY agriculture by providing essential food, fiber, and feed for the state and the surrounding region. Cornell has the only active small grains breeding program, public or private, located in the northeastern U.S. and our research contributes directly to multiple goals of Cornell Cooperative Extension including servicing agriculture and food systems, sustainable agro-ecosystems, adaptation to climate change, family nutrition, food safety and security, obesity prevention, and community economic vitality. #1) Our regional trial evaluations of small grains varieties and experimental lines are the backbone of our program and they provide unbiased information for farmers, the seed industry and processors. These state-wide trials include winter wheat, winter barley, winter rye, spring wheat, spring oats, and spring barley. For several years we have been conducting organic management trials. With support from New York State and the USDA-NIFA OREI we have expanded the organic trials with hard and soft winter wheat, winter barley, winter rye, winter spelt, spring wheat, spring oats and spring barley. #2 and #3) Our efforts to increase the acreage of fusarium head blight (FHB) resistant wheat and barley varieties have begun to pay off. Our FHB research is supported in part by the USDA-funded U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative and involves collaboration with breeders in seven other states on three sub-projects. Over the past nine years, we continued our FHB recurrent selection dominant male-sterile project that involved selection within and among 200 half-sib families. In 2019-21. We evaluated 60 fertile half sibs from the selected families, and all were equal to or more resistant to FHB than our most resistant checks. The third sub-project was a collaboration with barley breeders in several other states to evaluate their breeding lines in our FHB nursery. This project is continuing. #1) We evaluate all of the wheat and barley varieties and lines for FHB that are grown in NY in our regional trials each year. We have released a new soft white winter wheat line, NY99056-161, this past year that has excellent resistance to FHB. Among the soft red varieties, a Pioneer line has topped our trial for the past 4 years but it is susceptible to FHB and Wheat Spindle Streak Mosaic Virus. Our soft red variety, Erie, continues to perform well and has moderate resistance to FHB but is 5% lower yielding than Pioneer 25R40. Spring and winter malting barley varieties generally do not have much resistance to FHB, however KWS Scala has had the lowest scores and is one of the best performing varieties for NY. #1) We began evaluating Hybrid Rye varieties from the German company KWS in 2013. These new hybrids have outstanding yield and lodging resistance. The better hybrids have out-yielded Medina soft white winter wheat and the best synthetic rye varieties by 20-40%. . Seedway has been producing hybrid rye seed in NY. These hybrid rye varieties are revolutionizing rye production in this region. For the past three years new hybrid rye varieties have out yielded Brasetto, previously the highest yielding hybrid in our trials. #1) Spring oat acreage has been stable in New York for several years. Corral has been a solid performer for several years but two years ago it became susceptible to a new race of Crown Rust. Our new oat variety is named 'Steuben' and is a co-release with the University of Minnesota. Both Steuben and Hayden showed good resistance to Crown Rust for the past couple of years. #1) In 2012, the New York State Legislature passed a Farm Brewery Bill that provides tax and marketing incentives to small breweries provided they use New York grown ingredients. However, at that time there had not been any malting barley grown in NY in for several decades. With generous support from New York State Agriculture and Markets we have been testing both winter and spring malting barley varieties from around the world for their adaptation to NY. Over the past 6 years, we have identified a winter malting barley variety, KWS Scala that has acceptable yield, winter survival, and malting quality. We have identified two new winter malting barleys, Flavia and KWS Sommerset that are performing well and seed of Flavia has been obtained for production in NY. For spring malting barley, AAC Synergy from Canada and ND Genesis 2 row malting barley from North Dakota State University are the highest yielding and have adequate quality. AAC Synergy is very susceptible to preharvest sprouting (PHS) and ND Genesis is susceptible to FHB. PHS, foliar diseases and FHB are major problems for this crop and a local breeding effort is required to develop varieties that will succeed in this region. Consequently, in 2016 we initiated a high intensity spring 2 row malting barley breeding program that we refer to as Born, Bred, and Brewed in NY. In 2017, we grew 1,400 lines from 7 connected half sib crosses. These were selected for resistance to foliar disease, PHS and FHB. In September 2017 we sent 250 selections to New Zealand for seed increase and selected 100 for testing in 6 state-wide trials in 2018. In September 2018 we selected 60 and sent those to New Zealand for seed increase. That seed was used for state-wide trials in 2019 and a breeder seed increase was grown for the two top lines. In the fall of 2019 we released the first Cornell bred spring 2 row malting barley variety and named it 'Excelsior Gold'. #3) We continued our research on genomic selection. The results of this work have been groundbreaking and have resulted in many publications during this project. Last year we completed a genomic selection project to increase fructan content in wheat. This year we published two articles mapping genes for quantitative and qualitative stem rust resistance in durum wheat. We also published a description of our rapid breeding methodology for developing a spring malting barley. PHS is a major problem for malting barley production in New York, so we have been developing optimal breeding strategies to minimize PHS in malting barley. We have elucidated the qualitative genetic control that provides seed dormancy at harvest time but loses it rapidly to allow for efficient malting in the malt house. Each year we distribute the results of our New York State variety-testing program to stakeholders in the northeast and publish the summaries on the web (http://smallgrains.cals.cornell.edu).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hu, H., J.J. Gutierrez-Gonzalez, X. Liu , T.H. Yeats , D.F. Garvin, O.A. Hoekenga, M.E. Sorrells, M.A. Gore and J-L Jannink. 2020. Heritable temporal gene expression patterns correlate with metabolomic seed content in developing hexaploid oat seed. Plant Biotechnology Journal 18:12111222 doi: 10.1111/pbi.13286.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Krause, MR., S. Mondal, S, J. Crossa, R.P. Singh, F. Pinto, A. Haghighattalab, S. Shrestha, J. Rutkoski, M.A. Gore, M.E. Sorrells, J. Poland. 2020. Aerial high-throughput phenotyping enables indirect selection for grain yield at the early generation, seed-limited stages in breeding programs. Crop Sci. 60:3096-3114. DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20259.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Megerssa SH, A.K, M. Acevedo, G. Brown-Guedira, B. Ward B, A.G. Degete, M.S. Randhawa and M.E. Sorrells. 2020. Multiple-Race Stem Rust Resistance Loci Identified in Durum Wheat Using Genome-Wide Association Mapping. Front. Plant Sci. 11:598509. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.598509.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Campbell M. T., H. Hu, T.H. Yeats, L.J. Brzozowski, M. Caffe-Treml, L. Guti�rrez, K.P. Smith, M.E. Sorrells, M.A. Gore, J-L. Jannink. 2021. Improving Genomic Prediction for Seed Quality Traits in Oat (Avena sativa L.) Using Trait-Specific Relationship Matrices. Frontiers in Genetics. 12:437- . DOI=10.3389/fgene.2021.643733.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Campbell M. T., H. Hu, T.H. Yeats, L.J. Brzozowski, M. Caffe-Treml, L. Guti�rrez, K.P. Smith, M.E. Sorrells, M.A. Gore, J-L. Jannink. 2021.Translating insights from the seed metabolome into improved prediction for lipid-composition traits in oat (Avena sativa L.). Genetics 217:1-14. DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyaa043.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Fulcher, M.R., J.B. Winans, D., Benscher, M.E. Sorrells and G.C. Bergstrom. 2021. Triticum varieties grown as ancient grains in New York differ in susceptibility to Fusarium head blight and harbor diverse Fusarium flora. European Journal of Plant Pathology, 17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-020-02183-7.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Hayes, P., D.R. Carrijo, T. Filichkin, S. Fisk, L. Helgerson, J. Hernandez, B. Meints, M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Registration of 'Lightning' barley. J. Plant Registrations. 3:407-414. DOI: 10.1002/plr2.20129.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Jordan, K., P. Bradbury. Z. Miller, M. Nyine, F. He, M. Fraser, J. Anderson, E. Mason, A. Katz, S. Pearce, A. Carter, S. Prather, M. Pumphrey, J. Chen, J. Cook, S. Liu, J. Rudd, Z. Wang, C. Chu, A. Ibrahim, J. Turkus, E. Olson, R. Nagarajan, B. Carver, L. Yan, E. Taagen, M.E. Sorrells, B. Ward, J. Ren, A. Akhunova, G. Bai, R. Bowden, J. Fiedler, J. Faris, J. Dubcovsky, M. Guttieri, G. Brown-Guedira, E. Buckler, JL. Jannink, and E. Akhunov. 2021. Development of the Wheat Practical Haplotype Graph Database as a Resource for Genotyping Data Storage and Genotype Imputation. G3. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.10.447944.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kissing Kucek, L., E.B. Mallory, H.M. Darby, J.C. Dawson and M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Breeding wheat for weed-competitive ability: I. Correlated traits. Euphytica 217: 202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-021-02930-9.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kissing Kucek, L., J.C. Dawson, H. Darby, E. Mallory, M. Davis and M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Breeding wheat for weed-competitive ability: IImeasuring gains from selection and local adaptation. Euphytica 217, 203. https://doi-org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/10.1007/s10681-021-02905-w.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Massman, C., B. Meints, J. Hernandez, K. Kunze, P. Hayes, M.E. Sorrells, K. Smith, J. Dawson and L. Gutierrez. 2021. Characterization of Agronomic Traits in Organic Naked Spring Barley. Crop Sci. DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20686.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Maulana, F., K-S. Kim1, J.D. Anderson M.E. Sorrells T.J. Butler S. Liu P.S. Baenziger P.F. Byrne X-F. Ma. 2021. Genomic selection of forage agronomic traits in winter wheat. Crop Science. 61:410421. DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20304.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Megerssa, S. H., M.E. Sorrells, K. Ammar, M. Acevedo, G.C. Bergstrom, P. Olivera, G. Brown-Guedira, B. Ward, B., A.G. Degete, and B. Abeyo 2021. Genome-wide association mapping of seedling and adult plant response to stem rust in a durum wheat panel. Plant Genome. e20105. doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.20105.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rooney, T.E., D.W. Sweeney and M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Time series barley germination is predictable and associated with known seed dormancy loci. Crop Sci. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20638.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sweeney, D.W., T.E. Rooney, M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Gain from genomic selection for a selection index in two-row spring barley. The Plant Genome. DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20138.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sweeney, D.W., K.H. Kunze, M.E. Sorrells. 2021. QTL x environment modeling of malting barley preharvest sprouting. Theor Appl Genet. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03961-5.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sweeney, D.W., T.E. Rooney, J.G. Walling and M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Interactions of the barley SD1 and SD2 seed dormancy loci on preharvest sprouting, seed dormancy, and malting quality. Crop Sci. 001-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20641.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Taagen, E., J. Tanaka, A. Gul, M.E. Sorrells. 2021. Positional-based cloning 'fail-safe' approach is overpowered by wheat chromosome structural variation. The Plant Genome. 14:e20106. DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20106.


Progress 10/10/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Our domestic target audience is quite diverse and includes grain growers and grain users, grain processors that mill and produce products, distilleries, maltsters, consumers that purchase specialty grains and grain products, extension agents, the seed industry, farmers, seed industry representatives, agronomists, economists, students, USDA researchers and technical support people.Our international audience includes a variety of stakeholders but primarily scientists and students. Most of the international presentations involve our molecular breeding research. Changes/Problems:No major changes in approach. The pandemic has created labor problems that is slowing progress in evaluating new selections and varieties in regional trials. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We provide training and professional development for the following people: David Benscher - Research Support Specialist James Tanaka - Lab Manager Technical assistant - Amy Fox Graduate students - Nicolas Santantonio, Daniel Sweeney, Margaret Krause, Lynn Veenstra, Shitaye Homma, Karl Kunze, and Travis Rooney Undergraduate - Johnathan Berligeri, Veronika Vogel, Marlie Lukach, John Cohen Post Docs - Haixiao Hu, Shantel Martinez, Trevor Yeats, Malacky Campbell All of our students, post docs, and visiting scientists receive training in state of the art plant breeding methods including lab, greenhouseand fieldwork. We collaborate with manyotherresearchers both nationally and internationally. The breeding program provides indispensable training for students and post docs. There is a nationwide shortage of trained plant breeders and this project provides invaluable experience. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our variety trial results are presented at field days and training workshops where we explain to extension agents, growers and end users the importance and impacts of our research. Our breeding project is very important for training the next generation of plant breeders because it provides them with hands-on experience in a modern plant breeding program that integrates conventional and modern molecular technologies. Our performance trials are published in an annual report that is mailed or emailed to approximately 200 individuals and agencies. It is also available on our web site (smallgrains.cals.cornell.edu). Our research results are published in high quality peer-reviewed scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For objective #1, we will continue to run our statewide small grains trials and report the results to stakeholders. Our breeding programs for oats, wheat and barley are on going and have expanded to include winter malting barley. For objective #2, our wheat breeding efforts will continue our recurrent selection for resistance to fusarium head blight, anther extrusion, large and small stem diameter, and long and short seed fill duration. We are also evaluating genomic selection for resistance to preharvest sprouting and resistance to spot blotch. For objective #3, we have a large project initiated on understanding wheat gene interactions within and among genomes. A second project involves fine mapping and cloning a gene for seed size and shape.A third project involves mapping stem rust resistance genes in durum wheat.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact: Continuous development of new varieties is essential for farmers to remain competitive and for adaptation to a changing climate. A diverse farm economy stabilizes food production and farm income. We developed and evaluated new varieties of small grains in state-wide trials and identified 4 new varieties for production in New York (NY). Farmers and seed companies have adopted these varieties and they are being grown widely in NY. A vigorous farm economy is essential for the economic viability of NY and the United States (U.S.) A stabile and safe food supply for the public is expected but requiresa lot of effort on the parts of a lot of people and businesses. For each of the accomplishments described below, the number of the objective they address will be noted. Small grains production contributes to NY agriculture by providing essential food, fiber, and feed for the state and the surrounding region. Cornell has the only active small grains breeding program, public or private, located in the northeastern U.S. and our research contributes directly to multiple goals of Cornell Cooperative Extension including servicing agriculture and food systems, sustainable agro-ecosystems, adaptation to climate change, family nutrition, food safety and security, obesity prevention, and community economic vitality. #1) Our regional trial evaluations of small grains varieties and experimental lines are the backbone of our program and they provide unbiased information for farmers, the seed industry and processors. These state-wide trials include winter wheat, winter barley, winter rye, spring wheat, spring oats, and spring barley. For several years we have been conducting organic management trials. With support from New York State and the USDA-NIFA OREI we have expanded the organic trials with winter wheat, winter barley, winter rye, spring wheat, spring oats and spring barley. #2 and #3) Our efforts to increase the acreage of fusarium head blight (FHB) resistant wheat and barley varieties have begun to pay off. Our FHB research is supported in part by the USDA-funded U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative and involves collaboration with breeders in seven other states on three sub-projects. Over the past eight years, we continued our FHB recurrent selection dominant male-sterile project that involves selection within and among 200 half-sib families. In 2019-20. We evaluated 60 fertile half sibs from the selected families and all were equal to or more resistant to FHB than our most resistant lines. The third sub-project was a collaboration with Ohio State and Michigan State Universities to use genomic selection to improve FHB resistance in soft winter wheat breeding lines. This project is continuing and we are currently evaluating the gain from selection for FHB resistance in wheat. #1) We evaluate all of the wheat and barley varieties and lines that are grown in NY in our regional trials each year. We have released a new soft white winter wheat line, NY99056-161, this year that has excellent resistance to FHB. Among the soft red varieties, the Pioneer lines have topped our trial for the past 4years. Our soft red variety, Erie, continues to perform well and has moderate resistance to FHB but is 5% lower yielding than Pioneer 25R40. Spring and winter malting barley varieties generally do not have much resistance to FHB, however KWS Scala has had the lowest scores and is one of the best performing varieties for NY. #1) We began evaluating Hybrid Rye varieties from the German company KWS in 2013. These new hybrids have outstanding yield and lodging resistance. The better hybrids have out-yielded Medina soft white winter wheat and the best synthetic rye varieties by 20-40%. . Seedway has beenproducting hybrid rye seed in NY. These hybrid rye varieties are revolutionizing rye production in this region. For the past three years new hybrid rye varieties have out yielded Brasetto, previously the highest yielding hybrid in our trials. #1) Spring oat acreage has been stable in New York for several years. Corral has been a solid performer for several years but two years ago it became susceptibleto a new race of Crown Rust. Our new oat variety is named 'Steuben' and isa co-release with the University of Minnesota. Both Steuben and Hayden showed good resistance to Crown Rust for the past couple of years. #1) In 2012, the New York State Legislature passed a Farm Brewery Bill that provides tax and marketing incentives to small breweries provided they use New York grown ingredients. However, at that time there had not been any malting barley grown in NY in for several decades. With generous support from New York State Agriculture and Markets we have been testing both winter and spring malting barley varieties from around the world for their adaptation to NY. Over the past 6years, we have identified two winter malting barley varieties, KWS Scala and SY Tepee, that have acceptable yield, winter survival, and malting quality. Unfortunately, Syngenta has decided not to market SY Tepee in NY for unknown reasons. We have identified two new winter malting barleys, Flavia and KWS Sommerset that are performing well and seed of Flavia has been obtained for production in NY. For spring malting barley, AAC Synergy from Canada and ND Genesis 2 row malting barley from North Dakota State University are the highest yielding and have adequate quality. AAC Synergy is very susceptible to preharvest sprouting (PHS) and ND Genesis is susceptible to FHB. PHS, foliar diseases and FHB are major problems for this crop and a local breeding effort is required to develop varieties that will succeed in this region. Consequently, in 2016 we initiated a high intensity spring 2 row malting barley breeding program that we refer to as Born, Bred, and Brewed in NY. In 2017, we grew 1,400 lines from 7 crosses. These were selected for resistance to foliar disease, PHS and FHB. In September 2017 we sent 250 selections to New Zealand for seed increase and selected 100 for testing in 6 state-wide trials in 2018. In September 2018we selected 60 and sent those to New Zealand for seed increase. That seed wasused for state-wide trials in 2019 and a breeder seed increase was grown for the two top lines. In the fall of 2019 we released the first Cornell spring2 row malting barley variety and named it 'Excelsior Gold'. #3) We continued our research on genomic selection. The results of this work have been groundbreaking and have resulted in many publications during this project. This past year we completed a genomic selection project to increase fructan content in wheat. Two GS selection methodologies were compared for realized gain from selection for grain fructan content, and impacts on inbreeding, genetic variance, and agronomic traits. The key outcomes of these studies were 1) GxE interactions exist for wheat grain fructan content, but their impacts on GS prediction accuracies are small, 2) the quantitative genetic architecture of wheat grain fructan content supports the use of GS methodologies, 3) GS for wheat grain fructan content is an effective selection methodology that produces significant gains from selection, 4) the use of Optimum Contribution Selection to control for long term inbreeding effectively controlled inbreeding and conserved genetic variance relative to GBLUP selection. Breeding programs implementing GS for quantitative traits should focus efforts on designing breeding pipelines that control inbreeding within populations, update training populations frequently, and evaluate materials over multiple years of field trials. Each year we distribute the results of our New York State variety-testing program to stakeholders in the northeast and publish the summaries on the web (http://smallgrains.cals.cornell.edu).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ayalew, H., M.E. Sorrells, B.F. Carver, P.S. Baenziger, X-F. Ma. 2020. Selection signatures across seven decades of hard winter wheat breeding in the Great Plains of the United States. The Plant Genome 13: DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20032
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Fulcher, M.R., D. Benscher, M.E. Sorrells, and G.C. Bergstrom. 2020. Preserving Spring Oat Yields in New York through Varietal Resistance to Crown Rust. Plant Health Progress. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-05-19-0037-RS
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sweeney, D.W., J. Rutkoski, G.C. Bergstrom, M.E. Sorrells, 2020. A connected half?sib family training population for genomic prediction in barley. Crop Science 60: 262 281. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20104
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Taagen E., A.J. Bogdanove, and M.E. Sorrells. 2020. Counting on crossovers: Controlled recombination for plant breeding. Trends in Plant Science. 25:455-465.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Taagen, E., Bogdanove, A. J. & Sorrells, M. E. Achieving Controlled Recombination with Targeted Cleavage and Epigenetic Modifiers (2020) Trends in Plant Science. https://doi-org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/10.1016/j.tplants.2019.12.018
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Veenstra, L.D., J. Poland, Jannink, and M.E. Sorrells. 2020. Recurrent genomic selection for wheat grain fructans. Crop Science 60:1499-1512. DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20130.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cox, W., J. Hanchar, J. Cherney, and M.E. Sorrells. 2019. Economic responses of maize, soybean, and wheat in three rotations under conventional and organic cropping systems. Agronomy Journal. 9:424-437.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Krause, M.R., L. Gonz�lez-P�rez, J. Crossa, P. P�rez-Rodr�guez, O. Montesinos-L�pez, R.P. Singh, S. Dreisigacker, J. Poland, J. Rutkoski, M.E. Sorrells, M.A. Gore, and S. Mondal. 2019. Hyperspectral reflectance-derived relationship matrices for genomic prediction of grain yield in wheat. Genes Genomes Genetics. 9:1231-1247.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Neyhart, J.L., D. Sweeney, M. Sorrells, C. Kapp, K.D. Kephart, J. Sherman, E.J. Stockinger, S. Fisk, P. Hayes, S. Daba, M. Mohammadi, N. Hughes, L. Lukens, P. Gonz�lez Barrios, L. Guti�rrez, and K.P. Smith. 2019. Registration of the S2MET Barley Mapping Population for Multi- Environment Genome-wide Selection. Journal of Plant Registrations doi:10.3198/jpr2018.06.0037crmp.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sun J., J.A. Poland, S. Mondal, J. Crossa, P. Juliana, R.P. Singh, J.E. Rutkoski, J-L. Jannink, L. Crespo-Herrera, G. Velu, J. Huerta-Espino, M.E. Sorrells. 2019. High-throughput phenotyping platforms enhance genomic selection for wheat grain yield across populations and cycles in early stage. Theor Appl Genet. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03309-0.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Santantonio, N., Jannink, J.L. and M.E. Sorrells. 2019. Homeologous epistasis in wheat: the search for an immortal hybrid. Genetics. 211:1105-1122; https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.118.301851.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Santantonio, N., Jannink, J.L. and M.E. Sorrells. 2019. Prediction of subgenome additive and interaction effects in allohexaploid wheat. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. 9:685-698; https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.118.200613.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Santantonio, N., Jannink, J.L. and M.E. Sorrells. 2019. A low resolution epistasis mapping approach to identify chromosome arm interactions in allohexaploid wheat. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. 9:675-685; https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.118.200646.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Veenstra, L.D., N. Santantonio, J.L. Jannink, and M.E. Sorrells. 2019. Influence of Genotype and Environment on Wheat Grain Fructan Content. Crop Science. 59:190-198. DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2018.06.0363.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Plant Breeding in the 21st Century: Molecular Breeding and High Throughput Phenotyping  CROPS 2019  Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, Invited - June 4.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Plant Breeding in the 21st Century: Molecular Breeding and High Throughput Phenotyping  Vavilov 100 Year Anniversary, St. Pertersburg, Russia, Invited  June 21.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Plant Breeding: Past, Present & Future  International Plant Breeding Conference, Lanzhou, China Keynote, Invited September 10.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Plant Breeding in the 21st Century: Molecular Breeding and High Throughput Phenotyping  Qingdao, China Invited September 11.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Born Bred and Brewed in NY - Malting barley varieties for NY, Empire Barley and Malt Summit, Liverpool, NY, Invited December 13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cornell Small Grains Breeding and Genetics Project 2019  Northeast Grainshed Symposium, Canton, MA, Invited January 30
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Plant Breeding in the 21st Century: Molecular Breeding and High Throughput Phenotyping  Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Workshop (Virtual), Invited October 8.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cornell ATI Research: Genetic Variation and Effects of Germination  1St International ATI Workshop, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Invited February 4.