Genomic Selection in CWRS and CWAD Wheat Breeding
Term: 1 year, beginning in 2021
Status: Ongoing
Funding Amount: $126,207
Lead Researcher(s): Dr. Ron Knox (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current)
Funding Partners: SeCan
Project Description
Genomic selection which utilizes genome-wide markers to predict the breeding value of lines within a population is not a new concept, having been proposed by Meuwissen et al in 2001. The strategy has been used for some time in animal breeding where the cost of genotyping is relatively small compared to the value of the animals. Genomic selection is more recent in crop breeding with the reduced cost of genotyping now making it feasible to assess individual plants more cheaply than doing phenotypic assessment. Many important traits selected for through breeding, such as yield, grain end use quality, and disease resistance are quantitative and under genetically complex control being based on multiple small effect genes. Genomic selection is a method of selecting traits under such complex genetic control.
The proposed strategy in this project is to apply genomic selection as early as possible within the breeding programs that is cost effective based on the current cost of genotyping and number of lines under consideration. Our strategy to continue to apply genomic selection at the F4 generation is based on a pilot study discussed more in the next section of this application ‘how does this project build on your previous research or research of others’. By applying genomic selection at an early generation the gene pool of breeding populations will be enriched for desirable alleles in the same way that phenotypic selection is done for agronomic and disease traits such as height and rust resistance. Genomic selection, however, confers the advantage of enriching the gene pool for complex genetic traits, such as FHB resistance, grain yield and quality, that are not selected for phenotypically until later generations due to cost. By applying genomic selection early in the breeding process, expensive multi-location agronomic and specialized disease nursery field trialing is not wasted on breeding lines with a low potential to become commercial cultivars. Genomic selection will be applied after rounds of phenotypic selection in the F2 and F3 generations for highly heritable traits such has height and certain forms of disease resistance. This will reduce the cost of genotyping, by applying genotyping to the most acceptable lines in a population based on phenotypic selection.