Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus

Christopher Davey; Paul Robson; Sarah Hawkins; Kerrie Farrar; John Clifton-Brown; Iain Donnison; Gancho Slavov

doi:10.1093/jxb/erx339

Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus

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Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus. / Davey, Christopher ; Robson, Paul ; Hawkins, Sarah et al.

In: Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 68, No. 18, 12.10.2017, p. 5093-5102.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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@article{afda42cdda8f4643a423059b5fcef12c,

title = "Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus",

abstract = "Miscanthus has potential as a bioenergy crop but the rapid development of high-yielding varieties is challenging. Previous studies have suggested that phenology and canopy height are important determinants of biomass yield. Furthermore, while genome-wide prediction was effective for a broad range of traits, the predictive ability for yield was very low. We therefore developed models clarifying the genetic associations between spring emergence, consequent canopy phenology and dry biomass yield. The timing of emergence was a moderately strong predictor of early-season elongation growth (genetic correlation >0.5), but less so for growth later in the season and for the final yield (genetic correlation <0.1). In contrast, early-season canopy height was consistently more informative than emergence for predicting biomass yield across datasets for two species in Miscanthus and two growing seasons. We used the associations uncovered through these models to develop selection indices that are expected to increase the response to selection for yield by as much as 21% and improve the performance of genome-wide prediction by an order of magnitude. This multivariate approach could have an immediate impact in operational breeding programmes, as well as enable the integration of crop growth models and genome-wide prediction",

keywords = "breeding, canopy phenology, emergence, genomic selection, genomic prediction, Miscanthus, biomass yield, quantitative genetics, selection indices, bioenergy crops, genomics",

author = "Christopher Davey and Paul Robson and Sarah Hawkins and Kerrie Farrar and John Clifton-Brown and Iain Donnison and Gancho Slavov",

year = "2017",

month = oct,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1093/jxb/erx339",

language = "English",

volume = "68",

pages = "5093--5102",

journal = "Journal of Experimental Botany",

issn = "0022-0957",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "18",

}

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus

AU - Davey, Christopher

AU - Robson, Paul

AU - Hawkins, Sarah

AU - Farrar, Kerrie

AU - Clifton-Brown, John

AU - Donnison, Iain

AU - Slavov, Gancho

PY - 2017/10/12

Y1 - 2017/10/12

N2 - Miscanthus has potential as a bioenergy crop but the rapid development of high-yielding varieties is challenging. Previous studies have suggested that phenology and canopy height are important determinants of biomass yield. Furthermore, while genome-wide prediction was effective for a broad range of traits, the predictive ability for yield was very low. We therefore developed models clarifying the genetic associations between spring emergence, consequent canopy phenology and dry biomass yield. The timing of emergence was a moderately strong predictor of early-season elongation growth (genetic correlation >0.5), but less so for growth later in the season and for the final yield (genetic correlation <0.1). In contrast, early-season canopy height was consistently more informative than emergence for predicting biomass yield across datasets for two species in Miscanthus and two growing seasons. We used the associations uncovered through these models to develop selection indices that are expected to increase the response to selection for yield by as much as 21% and improve the performance of genome-wide prediction by an order of magnitude. This multivariate approach could have an immediate impact in operational breeding programmes, as well as enable the integration of crop growth models and genome-wide prediction

AB - Miscanthus has potential as a bioenergy crop but the rapid development of high-yielding varieties is challenging. Previous studies have suggested that phenology and canopy height are important determinants of biomass yield. Furthermore, while genome-wide prediction was effective for a broad range of traits, the predictive ability for yield was very low. We therefore developed models clarifying the genetic associations between spring emergence, consequent canopy phenology and dry biomass yield. The timing of emergence was a moderately strong predictor of early-season elongation growth (genetic correlation >0.5), but less so for growth later in the season and for the final yield (genetic correlation <0.1). In contrast, early-season canopy height was consistently more informative than emergence for predicting biomass yield across datasets for two species in Miscanthus and two growing seasons. We used the associations uncovered through these models to develop selection indices that are expected to increase the response to selection for yield by as much as 21% and improve the performance of genome-wide prediction by an order of magnitude. This multivariate approach could have an immediate impact in operational breeding programmes, as well as enable the integration of crop growth models and genome-wide prediction

KW - breeding

KW - canopy phenology

KW - emergence

KW - genomic selection

KW - genomic prediction

KW - Miscanthus

KW - biomass yield

KW - quantitative genetics

KW - selection indices

KW - bioenergy crops

KW - genomics

U2 - 10.1093/jxb/erx339