Recipient Organization
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
BOZEMAN,MT 59717
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project uses Teosinte Branched 1 (TB1) mutations to increase plant biomass and seed yield in elite wheat varieties. TB1 is a gene that influences tillering in cereal plants.There are few known natural TB1 alleles for wheat and none that vary significantly in function. Furthermore, tight linkage between TB1 and Reduced Height 1, a major height gene, has inhibited selection of new alleles. Chemically induced TB1 mutants have allowed us to test the impact of reduced TB1 dosage in fixed Rht backgrounds. Our preliminary results to dateindicate that reducing TB1 function increases productive tillers and plant biomass by >10%. In this project will create near isogenic lines (NILs) varying for TB1 alleles in spring, winter, and durum wheat standard and semi-dwarf backgrounds. We will then test all NILs across multiple locations, environments, and planting densities to identify TB1 allelic combinations best suited for growth in target environments. Our approach will maximize productive tillers and grain yield potential. All genotypes developed in this project will be transferred to wheat breeding programs and lead to yield enhanced varieties. This will benefit growers, the state, and national economy. Tillering potential is a fluid trait that can be quite resilient, with the ability to adapt to a changing climate. This is an ever-important quality when working toward US and global food security.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
60%
Applied
40%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
This project uses Teosinte Branched 1 (TB1) mutations to increase plant biomass and seed yield in elite wheat varieties. There are few known natural TB1 alleles for wheat and none that vary significantly in function. Furthermore, tight linkage between TB1 and Rht, a major height gene, has inhibited selection of new TB1 alleles. Our preliminary results indicate that reducing TB1 function increases productive tillers and plant biomass by >10%. Here, we will create BC5F4 NILs varying for TB1 alleles in spring, winter, and durum wheat standard and semi-dwarf backgrounds. We then will test all NILs across multiple locations, environments, and planting densities to identify TB1 allelic combinations best suited for growth in target environments. Our approach will maximize productive tillers and grain yield potential. All genotypes developed in this project will be transferred to wheat breeding programs and lead to yield enhanced varieties. This will benefit growers, the state, and national economy. Tillering potential is a fluid trait that can be quite resilient, with the ability to adapt to a changing climate. This is an ever-important quality when working toward US and global food security.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Creation and initial characterization of NILs varying in TB1 function. This will be carried out in durum, spring, and winter wheat backgrounds.To create genotypes varying in TB1 function that wheat breeders can use to improve tillering potential within their breeding programs to enhance plant biomass and/or seed yield. In this objective we integrate TB1 variant alleles into elite MT germplasm. This proposal builds upon our results in whichBC1F2 derived EMS TB1 homozygous durum lines were characterized. Our results demonstrate that reducing TB1 function increases plant growth. We will create NILs varying in TB1 function in spring, winter, and durum wheat.Objective 2: Comprehensive field evaluation of isolines (NILs) carrying single and double TB1 variants. We will carry out yield tests of TB1 durum, spring, and winter wheatNILs at multiple locations with multiple seeding densities. We will carry out detailed plant measurements for each growing condition. We haveobserved that different TB1 conditioned responses under different environments. While TB1 mutations increased tillering in each environment it was not necessarily significant in all environments nor is the magnitude of difference likely to remain constant. Therefore, it is important to carry out yield testing under varying environments. This will allow us to target TB1 genotypes to specific environments and conditions to produce the ideal tillering and yield phenotype. This objective will identify optimal TB1 genotypes for target locations and will aid breeders in variety development.It is well established that plants may adjust tiller number based on plant density. Therefore, it is important to grow TB1 NILs under varying conditions and environments. For example, the double variant NIL may perform quite differently under dryland production in Conrad, MT compared to irrigated production in Bozeman, MT. The advantages of this project may manifest in two ways. First, biomass and/or seed yield may be improved, leading to increased yield. Second, regardless of growing conditions, we believe that seeding rates may be reduced- resulting in cost savings to growers. We will test our genotypes at multiple locations to examine the sustainability of TB1 conditioned tiller increases under varying environments.