Program and Abstracts

9th International Wheat Conference 20-25 September 2015 | Four Seasons Hotel | Sydney, Australia

Program and Abstracts

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Contents Welcome ............................................................. 4 Keynote Speakers................................................ 6 Session Keynote Speakers.................................. 9 Program at a Glance........................................ 12 Social Program.................................................. 14 Venue................................................................. 15 Venue Floor Plan.............................................. 16 Location Map.................................................... 18 IWC 2015 Conference Secretariat

General Information......................................... 20 Sponsors & Exhibitors...................................... 22 Program Monday 21 September ............................. 24

ICMS Australasia Pty Ltd GPO Box 3270 Sydney NSW 2001 Telephone: +61 2 9254 5000 Fax: +61 2 9251 3552 Email: [email protected]

Tuesday 22 September............................... 25 Wednesday 23 September......................... 26 Thursday 24 September............................. 27 Friday 25 September.................................. 28 Abstracts Monday 21 September ............................. 30 Tuesday 22 September............................... 33 Wednesday 23 September......................... 39 Thursday 24 September............................. 43 Friday 25 September.................................. 48 Posters Monday 21 September ............................. 52 Tuesday 22 September............................... 94 Thursday 24 September........................... 151

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Welcome

Peter Sharp

Chair IWC 2015 Welcome to the 9th International Wheat Conference, the IWC2015. As a globally important food and feed crop, research on wheat is of vital importance in maintaining and improving world food security. Wheat needs to continue as the underpinning of food security in a world where the climate, and the pests and pathogens, are increasingly changing. In addition, wheat also has the extra demands of changing manufacturing and increasing end-user expectations. Fortunately, wheat science is also changing in exciting ways. The program of the IWC2015 showcases the new research, development, organization and outreach that will allow wheat to respond to the challenges of the future. The program assembles leading research and thought from around the world, from both developed and developing countries, regional, national and international organisations, and from the public and private sectors. The three forms of presentation - oral, poster and trade displays, and also the associated workshops, will provide ideal opportunities for all to present, learn, discuss, and decide how to contribute to the future of wheat. There are over 500 participants, from over 60 counties, so the conference will have truly global perspectives. The social events planned will also provide informal means to do this work, as well as enable established friendships to be renewed, and new ones made. Welcome also to Sydney, and Australia. Australia was the last continent where humans established wheat, and this started in Sydney. We have a great conference hotel near Circular Quay, right in the scenic heart of Sydney. You will have a perfect opportunity to explore some of the diverse history, built and natural environment, food and drink, arts and peoples of Sydney.

Enjoy!

Professor PETER SHARP Director | University of Sydney | Plant Breeding Institute | Faculty of Agriculture and Environment

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Richard Trethowan

Robert F. Park

Welcome to Sydney and the 9th IWC!

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to host this gathering of global wheat experts and I look forward to interacting with many of you. We have assembled a wonderful array of speakers covering a broad range of topics and we hope you will find the program as rewarding as past International Wheat Conferences. For those game enough to leave the urban areas this is a great time of year to see wheat and wheat research in an Australian context. I encourage everyone to contribute to discussions, renew old friendships, make new friends and leave this meeting with fond memories of your time in Sydney.

It is a tremendous pleasure to welcome you all to the 9th International Wheat Conference here in Sydney. Wheat is vital to the Australian economy, and the development of the wheat industry here following European colonisation has been a key driver in the development of Australian agriculture in general. We are therefore both very excited and deeply honoured to have the opportunity to host the IWC, which over the years has become the premier international scientific meeting for wheat. We are very pleased with how the program has come together and trust that you find it interesting, stimulating, and thought provoking. The sessions have been structured to optimise the opportunity for delegates to interact and network and we encourage you all to make the most of your time at the conference to do so.

Co-Chair IWC 2015

Professor RICHARD TRETHOWAN Director, IA Watson Grains Research Centre University of Sydney | Plant Breeding Institute | Faculty of Agriculture and Environment

Co-Chair IWC 2015

We are especially indebted to all of our sponsors, and to all of you who have contributed to making this conference a great success. September is one of the best times of the year to visit Sydney and we do hope that you will find some time in your busy schedules to unwind and enjoy our beautiful city. If there is anything we can do to make your stay here even better, please do not hesitate to speak with a member of the Organising Committee, or to our wonderful conference organisers ICMS Australasia. Sincerely Yours

Professor ROBERT PARK Judith & David Coffey Chair in Sustainable Agriculture and Director of Cereal Rust Research University of Sydney | Plant Breeding Institute | Faculty of Agriculture & Environment

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Keynote Speakers Sanjaya Rajaram When the young Raj arrived in Sydney, Australia, in March 1965, he was still fresh-faced and shy. He was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Narrabri to pursue his PhD degree. Narrabri, in the heart of the northern New South Wales wheat country, still remains isolated. In the 1960s it was a long and arduous train journey of some 600 km from Sydney. “Raj was received at the Narrabri train station by the Rotarians, chief among them were Mr. Lawrence Perry (a sheep farmer), Mr. George Wickham (County Clerk), Mr. George Freeman (a wheat farmer) and Mr. Nick Frederick Derera (Principal Wheat Breeder at the University of Sydney’s Narrabri research station). The Narrabri Courier was at hand to record the event: it might even be said that his arrival created quite a splash in the isolated community,” observed Dr. Richard Trethowan, the present Director of the I.A. Watson Plant Breeding Institute (PBI), Narrabri, and a close associate of Raj for over a quarter of a century. It was a sea change for Raj as the Australian bush country was vastly a different setting than what he was used to in India. Large areas were, and still are, a wilderness with low population density, expansive grain-growing farms, some in excess of 10,000 ha, and a strong frontier mentality among the people. The language initially posed a challenge for Raj as the Australian bush slang even confuses those born in the coastal cities. While it took some time to adjust, he eventually mastered the local slang and for the first time became a ‘beefarian’ as beef steaks were common fare among the locals. Surely a portent of an ability to adapt that was to hold him in good stead in the years to come. After three months, Raj moved to Castle Hill where the University’s wheat rust research was then conducted. It was later shifted to Cobbitty in the 1990s. Mr. John Oats, the Officer-inCharge at Castle Hill, took Raj under his wing, while the somewhat intimidating Professor Irving Watson became his primary supervisor and mentor. Raj began his doctoral program titled “The genetics of stem and leaf rust resistance” which absorbed much of his time. Raj somehow found time to visit Dr. Derera’s wheat breeding program. Soon, he and Dr. Derera became good friends. This friendship grew from strength to strength until Dr. Derera’s death in late 2011 at the age of 92, according to Dr. Trethowan. While he was at the University, Raj mixed with many local and overseas students and found the experience very rewarding. However, every now and then he became sick and tired of watching television images of famine and its ravages from India. This galvanized his attitude and he resolved to make a difference in the lives of the poor and disenfranchised. “His time in Australia at the University of Sydney transformed him into a global citizen very early in his career. He finished his PhD program, fully integrated into the Australian way of life, including a full suite of colloquial expressions and behaviours. However, he knew he was only marking time and gaining experience: he was still a foreign student and his real destiny lay in India. He departed Australia to pursue that destiny in early 1968,” said Dr. Trethowan.

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Judi Adams Judi Adams brings more than 40 years of nutrition education experience to her resume. She served as president of the Wheat Foods Council from 2010 to June 2015 when she retired. Adams had previously led this association for 13 years. Additionally, she has been president of the Grain Foods Foundation, marketing director for the Wyoming Dept. of Agriculture and held nutrition and marketing positions at the North Dakota Wheat Commission and the National Sunflower Association. She also was an assistant professor at North Dakota State University and had her own consulting firm for 4 years. Adams is a registered dietitian and holds a masters’ degree in foods and nutrition. She has published several peer-reviewed journal articles on the importance of grains and whole grains in a healthful diet, and has spoken at numerous professional and industry association meetings, both domestically and internationally. Adams is a member of the Colorado and national Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACC I), Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, American Society for Nutrition and the Society of Bakery Women.

Hans-Joachim Braun Hans-Joachim Braun is Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, which develops and distributes wheat germplasm to around 100 countries. Since 2015 he is also director of the CGIAR Research Program WHEAT. Hans had joined CIMMYT in 1983 as wheat breeder and led the TURKEY CIMMYT ICARDA International Winter Wheat Improvement Program from 1985 – 2006. He contributed to the development of more than 40 winter wheat varieties released mainly in West and Central Asia and was involved in recognizing Zn deficiency and soil borne diseases as a major constraint for winter wheat production in the dryland areas of West Asia. He has a PhD from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Julie King As a Principal Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham my main research interests focus around the introduction of genetic variation to the cereals and grasses from their distant relatives followed by the exploitation of this genetic variation for the development of superior, higher yielding plant varieties, adapted to climate change and environmentally friendly agricultural practises. This has involved the development and use of comparative mapping, genomics, sequencing, new marker technology including a 35K SNP array and molecular cytogenetics.

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Martin Kropff Martin Kropff serves as the Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, by its Spanish acronym) since June 2015. As DG of CIMMYT, a flagship CGIAR Center, Kropff leads center efforts to strengthen worldwide research on agriculture, food and the environment; areas that are central to addressing global challenges to food and nutrition security. Before joining CIMMYT, Martin was Rector Magnificus and Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of Wageningen University and Research Center (Wageningen UR) in the Netherlands. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biology at Utrecht University and a Ph.D. in agricultural and environmental sciences at Wageningen University, both cum laude. In 1984, he was appointed assistant professor at Wageningen University. From 1990 to 1995, Kropff was the systems agronomist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, where he led an interdisciplinary program on the introduction of systems analysis and simulation in rice production research. Upon his return to the Netherlands in 1995, he served successively as Full Professor of Crop and Weed Ecology, Scientific Director of the University’s C.T. de Wit Graduate School for Production Ecology and Resource Conservation and Director General of the Plant Sciences Group. In 2005 he joined the Executive Board of Wageningen UR. Kropff played a key role in raising Wageningen UR’s profile worldwide. In 2013, he joined the CGIAR Consortium Board, where he worked to improve cohesion and develop a new CGIAR strategy.

Russell Thomson Russell Thomson is an Associate Professor of Economics at Swinburne University of Technology. His research focuses on innovation policy, intellectual property and technical change. He holds a PhD (Economics) from Australian National University as well as a BSc (Genetics) from the University of Melbourne. Russell has published in leading international academic journals including American Journal of Agricultural Economics, National Tax Journal and Strategic Management Journal, Oxford Economic Papers, Research Policy and The Economic Record. In addition to academic research Russell regularly undertakes applied policy oriented research for clients including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance.

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Session Keynote Speakers Ruth Dill-Macky Ruth Dill-Macky is a professor and research plant pathologist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, United States. She earned her B.Sc. (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees in botany at The University of Queensland, Australia. She worked as a plant pathologist at the Queensland Wheat Research Institute, Toowoomba, QLD, from 1984 to 1992 and as a research associate at the Cereal Rust Laboratory, St. Paul, MN from 1992 to 1994. She joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in July 1994 where she has both research and teaching responsibilities. Her applied program focuses on the control of Fusarium head blight of wheat and barley and more recently on bacterial leaf streak of wheat and barley and the root rots of wheat. Her research interests include host resistance, cultural control practices and disease epidemiology. She has collaborated with scientists at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy (NIBIO) on Fusarium research since 2004 and was appointed as a researcher with NIBIO in 2015. She has been active in the leadership of the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative since its inception and has served on the Executive Committee of the initiative since 2000.

Alison Bentley Alison Bentley is a Programme Leader in wheat pre-breeding at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in Cambridge, UK. Her current work is centred on the manipulation of flowering-time and adaptive response as well as the exploitation of synthetic hexaploid wheat. She has a strong interest in the genetic control of complex traits and in the application of both association mapping and genomic selection for the breeding of high yielding, climate resilient wheat. Alison has also been involved in the development of multi-parent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) populations for fine mapping in winter wheat and is using these to dissect Fusarium Head Blight resistance. Alison is Chair of the Wheat Initiative’s Expert Working Group on Breeding Methods and Strategies, and Chair of the UK Monogram Network. Alison studied Agricultural Science at The University of Sydney, Australia where she also completed a PhD characterising the genetic structure of crown rot (Fusarium pseudograminearum) populations associated with Australian wheat production.

Matthew Hayden As a senior research scientist in the Biosciences Research Division of DEDJTR Victoria, my main research focuses on establishing and applying molecular genetics and genomic technologies for wheat improvement. In particular, my research aims to facilitate the adoption of new and emerging technologies in pre-breeding research to accelerate the development of improved wheat varieties. My research includes the establishment of new marker technologies, native gene discovery, high-throughput genomics and precision genome editing.

Philip Pardey Philip G. Pardey is Professor of Science and Technology Policy in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He is also the Director of Global Research Strategy for the College of Food Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and directs the University’s International Science and Technology Practice and Policy (InSTePP) center. Previously he was a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington D.C., and prior to 1994 at the International Service for National Agricultural Research in The Hague, Netherlands.

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He is a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association, Distinguished Fellow and Past President of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, and winner of the Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture. His research deals with productivity measurement and assessment, the finance and conduct of R&D globally, methods for assessing the economic impacts of research, and the economic and policy (especially intellectual property) aspects of genetic resources and the biosciences. He currently co-directs a Gates Foundation project, HarvestChoice (www.HarvestChoice.org), designed to inform and guide investments intended to stimulate productivity growth in African agriculture. Pardey is author of more than 330 books, articles, and papers, including, Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime: Food Security and Globalization (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), Saving Seeds: The Economics of Conserving Crop Genetic Resources Ex Situ in the Future Harvest Centers of the CGIAR (CAB International 2004), Agricultural R&D in the Developing World: Too Little, Too Late? (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2006), and Persistence Pays: U.S. Agricultural Productivity Growth and the Benefits from Public R&D Spending (Springer 2010). A listing of publications is at http://www.instepp.umn.edu/about-us/people/philip-pardey.

Martin Parry Martin Parry, Professor of Food Security within the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture at the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC), is an internationally recognised wheat scientist. Until September this year Martin was an Associate Director and Head of the Plant Biology and Crop Science Department of Rothamsted Research where he also directed the 20:20 Wheat® Institute Strategic Program. He has more than thirty years’ experience focused on attaining improved efficiency of production, yield and quality. His aim is to understand and manipulate the molecular and biochemical controls that determine carbon assimilation and partitioning and the influence of genotype and environment, principally drought and temperature. With his group, he has identified and quantified genetic variation that can be exploited in crop improvement and using plant transformation and synthetic biology has examined ways to increase photosynthesis and yield (see e.g. Lin et al., 2014 The Plant Journal 79 1-12; Lin et al 2014, Nature 513 547-550). His research has been supported by the BBSRC, DEFRA, EU, CIMMYT,BMGF and Industry. Martin is the Editor-in-Chief of Food and Energy Security, and Co-Editor for the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. In 2014, Martin was awarded the China National Friendship Award by Vice Premier Ma Kai in Beijing.

Matthew Reynolds Matthew Reynolds works as Wheat Physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre where his professional goals are to develop and transfer technologies to increase productivity of wheat cropping systems worldwide with a special focus on developing countries. Impacts include a new generation of advanced wheat lines based on physiological breeding approaches, increased understanding of yield potential and adaptation of wheat to heat and drought stress, development of high throughput phenotyping methodologies, and capacity building. To further these goals he has been active in developing global collaborations to tap into the expertise of plant scientists worldwide –such as the International Wheat Yield Partnershipand is currently coordinating the formation of the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC).

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6°C) with greenhouse. From flowering were dissected the pericarp of 8 kernel (G1 and G2) harvested from 4 spikes, each 4 day. At harvest, kernels of all grain position were sized and weighed. The pericarp fresh weight (12.2 -16.4 mg), dry weight (4.3 to 5.7 mg) and water (10.8 to 8.1 mg) increased to 150-200 °C day, later decreased exponentially. The pericarp achieves the maximum weights at 12 AAD. Kambara have pericarp and grain heavier than Bacanora (p > 0,05). At harvest, G2 is heavier than G1, G3 and G4. The pericarp relation with grain weight were y = 5,75x - 17,68 (r2 = 0,72), y = 14,18x - 5,17 (r2 = 0,62) and y = 7,83x - 11,61 (r2 = 0,55). The pericarp dynamic is different to length, high, volume or weight dynamic, register in previous studies. The dynamic component can be affected for genotype, grain position or AAD, also could determine the weight of grains.

PO06 Trade-off between grain weight and grain number, and key traits for increasing potential grain weight in CIMCOG population Alejandro Quintero1,2, Daniel F. Calderini2 1 2

CIMMYT México Universidad Austral de Chile

Recently studies evaluating wheat genotypes showed curvilinear associations between grain yield (GY) and grain number (GN). This association is due to a trade-off between GN and grain weight (GW). The aim of this study was to evaluate the trade-off between GW and GN, as well as volume (GV) and length (GL) of grain in 30 genotypes of wheat from CIMCOG population in Cd. Obregón (OBR) (Mexico) and Valdivia (VAL) (Chile) between years 2010 and 2014. GY evaluated during the three growing seasons in OBR ranged from 448 to 787 g m-2. The GY showed a curvilinear relationship with GN across the seasons (R2 = 0.16, P < 0.001) due to a clear trade-off between thousand kernel weight (TKW) and GN (R2= 0.63, P < 0.001). On the other hand, in VAL, the GY during the two growing seasons exhibited a range from 406 to 1204 g m-2. A positive linear relationship between GY and GN across the seasons was presented (R2 = 0.76, P < 0.001), this was possible to there was not a trade-off between TKW and GN (R2 = 0.16). A significant relationship between TKW and GW of grain G2 was recorded both OBR (R2 = 0.88,

PO07 Sucrose concentration in flower ovary of wheat and relationships with grain weight dynamics, gene expression of TaExpA 6, XTH5 and expansin protein abundance in cultivars contrasting in potential grain weight Daniel F. Calderini1, Alejandro Quintero1,2, Paola Montecinos1 Institute of Plant Production and Plant Protection, Universidad Austral de Chile 2 Graduate School, Faculty of Agricultural Science, Universidad Austral de Chile 1

Grain weight (GW) is a key component of grain yield of wheat, however, traits and mechanisms determining potential (PGW) and actual grain weight are partially understood. The need of increasing this knowledge is highlighted by the present paradigm of food security and, in addition, the negative association between GW and grain number (GN) usually reported for wheat. This study has the objective of identifying key molecular and physiological traits/mechanisms controlling the setting of PGW in two contrasting GW cultivars of wheat. In the light of this objective an experiment was carried out at field conditions in the Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia. The experiment consisted of two spring wheats contrasting in PGW. A Completed Randomised Block Design with three replicates was used. Plots were managed at optimal conditions. At heading 50 similar spikes were targeted per plot. From anthesis on fresh and dry matter of growing grains was recorded as well as grain dimensions of grain position 2 (G2) every five days. With the sale frequency grain samples were harvested for molecular analyses (qPCR of of TaExpA 6, XTH5 and expansin protein abundance) and sugar concentration of ovaries at pollination. Data was analysed by Variance and regression analyses. Cultivars sowed different (p70% (1). To confirm these results, the exceptionally good F0 crossings were repeated. Also, the F0 seeds were planted in the 2014/2015 season to produce F1 generation. The results obtained in the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons will be discussed in this presentation, including the potentials for commercial exploitation of the produced breeding material and the related data.

PO47 Assessing the impact of varying wheat sowing densities on weeds and soil moisture in a cotton-wheat rotation Benjamen Lenehan1, Daniel K.Y. Tan1, Sudheesh Manalil2, Gunasekhar Nachimuthu2 University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia NSW DPI, Australian Cotton Research Institute, Locked Bag 59, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia

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The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of

A range of wheat seeding rates (30, 60, 120, 180 kg/ ha and fallow) in a randomised complete block design with 3 replications were planted in the wheat phase of a cotton-wheat rotation in a furrow irrigated field at the Australian Cotton Research Institute, Narrabri in 2014 and 2015. Soil volumetric water was measured at least four times at monthly intervals (using a neutron probe at 20, 40, 60, 90 and 120 cm soil depths) in 2015. Weed biomass at anthesis were recorded. Wheat biomass and yield were recorded in 2014. Preliminary data showed that wheat grown in spring at higher seeding rates can suppress weeds. The data from 2014 wheat crop showed that the weed dry biomass at anthesis was highest in fallow plots (1374 kg/ha) followed by plots planted with 30 kg/ha of wheat seed rate (165 kg/ha of weed dry biomass). The 120 kg/ha wheat seed rate was effective in weed control with zero weed population at anthesis; however, the highest grain yield (4 t/ha) was recorded in the 60 kg/ha seed rate. Although the 120 kg/ha wheat seed rate recorded higher plant biomass, the economic yield was lower (3.3 t/ha). The preliminary findings reveal a trade-off between maintaining wheat yield and good weed control. The soil water storage data will be monitored in 2015 to provide additional information to optimize the wheat seed rate in a cotton-wheat rotation. A conclusion will be drawn upon the completion of second year field experiment in 2015.

PO48 Breeding program for dual purpose wheat in Brazil Ricardo Lima de Castro¹; Eduardo Caierão¹; Renato Serena Fontaneli¹; Henrique Pereira dos Santos¹; Giovani Stefani Faé1; Márcio Só e Silva1; Pedro Luiz Scheeren1 Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa Wheat, Rodovia BR 285, km 294, 99001-970, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil

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In Brazil, dual purpose wheat produces forage with very high nutritional value and still produces grains for human consumption, generating benefits to the production system. Among the benefits, we can cite early forage production in autumn, early soil coverage (controlling erosion and enhancing water retention), chemical, physical and biological improvement of soil properties, biodiversity conservation, income diversification, risk reduction, human labor occupation and improvement of cattle productivity. Being aware of this importance, Embrapa Wheat develops specific breeding program for dual purpose wheat cultivars. In this program, the selection process includes dairy cows grazing. In the first stage, populations are selected for forage purpose, evaluating habit of plant growing, trampling resistance, regrowth capacity and

forage production. In the second stage, plants are selected for grain purpose, evaluating plant architecture (lodging resistance), disease resistance, grain yield potential, natural threshing resistance, pre-harvest sprouting resistance and grain quality. As a result of this program, Embrapa Wheat released the wheat cultivars BRS Figueira, BRS Umbu, BRS Guatambu, BRS Tarumã and BRS 277. It is estimated that approximately 150,000 ha were cultivated with BRS Tarumã dual purpose wheat in South of Brazil, in 2014.

PO49 Designing wheat ideotype for Portugal understanding and reducing yield gap under mediterranean climate Benvindo Maçãs1, José Coutinho1, Ana Almeida1, Rita Costa1, Nuno Pinheiro1, Conceição Gomes1, João Coco1, Armindo Costa1, Ana Bagulho1, Stéphane Jézequel2 National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research, Plant Breeding Station, Elvas, Portugal 2 Arvalis - Institut du Végetal, Délégation régionale PACA, Oraison, France 1

The main region for bread and durum wheat production in Portugal, which is located in the Center and South of the country, is under a strong Mediterranean influence where rainfall occurs on a high unpredictable way and heat stress occurs during wheat grain filling. Cereals are sown in autumn, after the first rains, when daylenght is still long and the vegetative phase develops during winter. Heading occurs in the beginning of spring when photoperiod and temperature increases and wheat reaches maturity, during the first two weeks of June. The introduction of irrigation systems enabling to supplement precipitation, during the most wheat critical phases, will increase grain yield and quality and the profit for farmer. To better explore all advantages of supplementary irrigation, the agronomic options followed during the growth cycle should be adjusted in order to integrate the vital relations established between the crop and the environment. The definition of a wheat plant ideotype for the South of Portugal able to face environmental constraints related to climate changes, it is paramount for the Portuguese Cereal Breeding Program to breed (creation and selection) the best crop phenotype to grow under the target environments with defined cropping systems and end uses. In this context, to promote adaptation plasticity of wheat genotypes, important traits must be addressed, such as: tiller survival, adequate biomass at heading time and stay green of flag leaf, in order to guarantee and maximize number of grains/m2. Additionally, high grain filling rate, to compensate the short grain filling period, test weight higher than 82kg/hl, high 1000 kernel weight, heading time occurring between 20 March and 10 April are a combination of traits that confers to the crop a satisfying adaptation to this target environment. Resistance/ tolerance to most important diseases and pests are also

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POSTERS - MONDAY 21 September 2015

varying population of rotational wheat crop on wheat grain yield, weed types, weed population and soil water storage in profile in an irrigated cotton-wheat farming system.


traits that germplasm must express.

PO50 Wheat: overcoming the yield barrier in southern Chile Claudio Jobet 1,2 Volker Lein3, Ivan Matus1, Ricardo Madariaga1 and Juan Carlos García2 National Institute of Agricultural Research INIA,Temuco, Chile. 2 Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile 3 Saaten Union, Francia 1

From the beginning of agriculture until the mid-twentieth century, growth in the world grain harvest came almost entirely from expanding the cultivated area. It is only within the last 60 years or so that rising yields have replaced area expansion as the principal source of growth in world grain production (Brown, 2013). It is expected that by 2050, global agricultural production may need to be increased by 60% to meet future demands as well as to provide food security to the 870million of people currently chronically underfed (Tilman et al. 2011¸ FAO 2009). Several authors have suggested that the most suitable strategy to overcome food security issues is adopting an increase in crop yields, rather than expanding the land surface for food production (Godfray et al, 2010). Food supply will need to grow by 2–3% each year to meet the projected demand; but in the last decade the yields of the major cereals, rice, maize, and wheat have increased at less than half this rate, with wheat showing the lowest rate of increase (Malcolm et al, 2013). At this rate, global production in wheat would increase by 38%, which is far bellow what is needed to meet projected demands in 2050 (Deepak et al, 2013). The objective of this study is to present some results dealing with the potential yield of some cultivars and advanced genotypes planted in southern Chile under adequate agronomic and environmental conditions. A field experiment was established during 2014/15, in four locations in southern Chile: Carahue (38º S, 73 º W), Perquenco (38º S, 72º W), Máfil (39º S, 73º W), and Purranque (40º S, 73º W). Data showed that the potential of some genotypes is more than 17.0 ton/ha with adequate environmental conditions (no irrigation) and good agronomic management.

PO51 Progress in Breeding Spring Irrigation bread Wheat (Triticum aetivum L.) for South Africa over the last ten years (2004-2014) André Malan1, Mardé Booyse2, Chrissie Miles1, Annelie Barnard1, Cathy de Villiers1, Tarekegn Terefe1, Eben von Well1 Agricltural research council – small grain institute, Bethlehem, south Africa 2 Agricultural research council – biometry Stellenbosch, south Africa

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South Africa is a water scarce country with very erratic rainfall. This leads to unpredictable annual wheat crops that in turn have led to a dramatic decline in the area planted to wheat in the summer rainfall area of South Africa. Therefore the irrigation areas of South Africa became very important to stabilise annual wheat production. Twelve percent of wheat is planted under irrigation. This contributes 30% of the annual wheat production in South Africa. Thus irrigation wheat production plays a vital role in the national strategic goal towards food security, since South Africa is a net importer of wheat. Advanced spring irrigation wheat lines and cultivars of the Agricultural Research Council were studied to determine the genetic progress that has been made for yield over a 10-year period in an environment of high bread-making quality norms. This was done for local wheat, as well as in genetic backgrounds to lower risk by incorporating resistance to major diseases as well as tolerance to physiological stresses. Trials were planted in a randomised complete block design with four replicates at different localities throughout the irrigation area of South Africa. Statistical analyses and procedures were conducted to determine genetic improvement regarding yield. Preharvest sprouting tolerance was determined annually by using a rain simulator. Disease scoring for Fusarium head blight, leaf and yellow rust was done in the field and confirmed in the glasshouse at ARC-Small Grain Institute. The results showed that the yield gain for the advanced breeding lines and cultivars was nearly 0.7% per year for the warmer irrigation area, although South Africa is one of the countries with the highest bread-making quality specifications for pan bread. This yield increase was possible through the development of cultivars with tolerance for preharvest sprouting as well as resistance to leaf and yellow rust. Although the study shows a yield gain of 0.7% per annum that is in line with international findings, higher yields are still needed to make wheat production in South Africa more competitive with other cash crops.

PO52 Allele frequency and genetic effects of grain weight associated genes in wheat Diana C. Franco Corea1, Carlos Guzman2, Jose Crossa2, Susanne Dreisigacker2 Autonomous University of Querétaro 76010 Santiago de Querétaro, QRO, México 2 CIMMYT, Apdo. Postal 6-641 06600 México, D.F., México

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Grain yield is the most important trait in crop breeding. Thousand grain weight (TGW) is an important component of grain yield that usually shows high heritability but with little variation in advanced breeding lines. TGW can

Four different germplasm sets including Mexican landraces and CIMMYT advanced breeding lines were characterized with published and newly developed SNP markers for TGW related genes. Allele frequencies varied between the germplasm sets. Mean differences were highest for alleles ofTaCwi-A1 and TaGS-D1 in advanced breeding lines. Gene effects on TGW were not significant in all germplasm sets and in some cases in advanced breeding lines only. Biplots based on partial least square analyses in advanced breeding lines showed a strong influence of TaSus2-2A and TaCwi-A1 and their interaction on TGW under optimum growing conditions, while TaGW2 and TaGS-D1 has a stronger influence under drought and heat stress conditions. Our study shows that the varying genetic effects of the genes associated to TGW have to be considered before using functional markers for markerassisted selection in wheat breeding programs.

PO53 Trait discovery for nitrogen responsiveness in Australian spring wheat Mamoru Okamoto1, Sanjiv Satija1, Janine Jones2, Kate Dowling2, Chris Brien2, Jinhai Cai2, Stan Miklavcic2, Haydn Kuchel3, Peter Langridge4, Sigrid Heuer1 Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, University of Adelaide, Urrbrae, Australia 2 Phenomics and Bioinformatics Research Centre, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Australia 3 Australian Grain Technology, Roseworthy, Australia 4 School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Urrbrae, Australia 1

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient which has great impact on crop production and quality, resulting in large quantity of N fertilizer consumption in agriculture system. However, average Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) of crop plants is 30-50%, and the excess amount of N fertilizer often causes air and ground water pollutions. Therefore, improving of NUE of crops is beneficial economically and environmentally. The aims of this research are to identify valuable traits in wheat which are influenced by N treatment, to understand genetics underlying the traits, and to re-build ideal genotypes by combining

the information. First we looked at genetic variations on NUE dissecting to N responsiveness and basal NUE. From multiple years of field trials, we could rank varieties based on N responsiveness in grain yield. For example, Mace, Espada and Wyalkatchem, Australian spring wheat varieties, were classified as N responsive, whereas Yitipi, Kukri and Janz were grouped as less N-responsive varieties. Grain Protein Concentration (GPC) and Thousand Kernel Weight (TKW) are also influenced by N treatments, and strongly controlled by genetics. To capture traits at early developmental stages, LemnaTec Scanalyzer 3D imaging system was implemented to estimate growth rate and biomass production in relation to N treatment on selected wheat varieties. Mace showed positive correlation between growth and applied N even at the highest N (450mg N kg-1 soil), whereas other varieties had highest growth rates at 75 – 150 mg N kg-1 soil, and declined at 450mg N. These growth phenotypes from the image analysis matched with the final grain yield from the experiment, suggesting a usage of the imaging system for N responsiveness at early developmental stages. For the future study, we will focus on the identified N-related traits for genetic dissection.

PO54 Sink/source limitation analysis in wheat commercial cultivars and unselected lines María Pía Alonso1,3, Pablo Abbate1,2, Nadia Mirabella1,4, Juan Panelo1,4, Ana Pontaroli1,2,3 Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina 2 Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Balcarce, Argentina, 3 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina 4 Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Prov. de Bs. As, Argentina 1

Grain yield in wheat is generally considered to be sinklimited during grain filling. But is this limitation inherent to the crop species or a consequence of the breeding process? A way to ascertain this is using genetic materials not subject to selection. Grain yield could be analyzed as the product between: (i) grain number per unit area (GN), (ii) the potential weight per grain (PWG; i.e. weight per grain obtained without source limitation); and (iii) the degree of sink limitation (DSL). The product of the first two components defines the crop sink capacity (SICA), and the DSL could be assessed as the quotient between weight per grain and its potential weight. Such an analysis was carried out in an F8 RIL population derived from the cross between Baguette 10 and Klein Chajá (Argentinean cultivars with contrasting spike fertility; i.e. the quotient between grain number and spike chaff weight). Two field experiments were conducted in Balcarce, Argentina, during the 2013/14 and 2014/15 growing seasons, under potential conditions; 146 RILs, the parental cultivars and other six commercial cultivars were

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be further partitioned into physical parameters (grain length, width, area) and grain filling characteristics, which are also under independent genetic control. Many studies have identified QTL for TGW. Furthermore, a group of orthologue rice genes have been identified in wheat via comparative genetics. These orthologue genes are known to play different roles in various stages of grain development and include TaSus2, a sucrose synthase gene; TaCwi-A1, a cell wall invertase gene; TaGW2, associated with kernel width and weight; TaCKX6-D1, a cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase gene; and TaGS-D1, a gene mainly related to grain length. However, the effect of these genes on TGW, grain size or shape in wheat is still not well understood.


evaluated. At maturity, grain was harvested and weighed, and weight per grain was determined by counting a subsample of ca. 40 g of grains. The PWG was obtained by tilling rows at the beginning of grain filling. Grain number was calculated from weight per grain and grain yield. Yield was highly associated with SICA (R2=0.86). The slope of the relationship between yield and SICA (b=0.66) was lower than the expected 1:1 ratio, starting in 5 tons/ ha and particularly above 8 tons/ha, showing that the source for grain filling becomes a limiting factor when SICA increases. In turn, virtually none of the commercial cultivars showed such limitation. This suggests that sink limitation in wheat could be at least partially caused by artificial selection.

PO55 On-farm study of superior durum-wheat elitelines compare to local checks on moderate climate fields of Iran Shahryar Sasani1, Towhid Najafi-Mirak2, Amir-Keyvan Kaffashi1 Seed and Plant Improvement Department, Kermanshah Agricultural and Natural Resources Research & Education Center, AREEO, Kermanshah, Iran 2 Department of Cereal Research, Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, AREEO, Karaj, Iran 1

Wheat is major crop in temperate agro-climate zone in Iran. Increasing demand for pasta products has necessitated the development and improvement of new durum wheat cultivars with high grain yield, yield stability and high grain quality adapted to target environments to meet the needs of Macaroni industry. Durum wheat growing areas in Iran is estimated to be more than 300000 hectares. To find suitable and desirable durum-wheat lines for moderate zone of Kermanshah province and Iran, three superior elite-lines selected from Elite Regional Durum Yield Trial of moderate climate region (ERDYT M-90) trial, as DM-90-06, DM-90-14 & DM-90-16, and Dena cv., Shabrang cv., Behrang cv. & Aria cv. as local durum-wheat checks, likewise, Parsi cv. as local bread-wheat check, were planted on farmers fields of Ravansar and Sahneh townships (as On-Farm trial) in Kermanshah province at 2013-14 cropping cycle. Each plot contained 12 rows on four 60cm ridges, with 20 cm row spacing and 8 meters row-length. The experiment was carried out based on Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates on each site, and finally, Combined Analysis was run for whole of collected data. During the growing season, crop care and necessary measures and sampling were conducted. Leading-experts and pioneer-farmers were visited farms many times during growing season particularly, on the spring season. After physiological maturity stage, each plot was harvested individually. Simple statistical analysis for the results of each site

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independently, and combined analysis for site results, were conducted. Based on outcome of combined analysis, DM-90-06 & DM-90-14 proved their superiority over local checks basis on grain yield (7.3 & 8.2 tonha-1 respectively) and thousand kernel weight (49 & 46 g. respectively). Superior genotypes were candidate for following extension trials and probable released cultivar. KEYWORDS: durum wheat, elite lines, moderate zone, onfarm project, Combined Analysis

PO56 The genetic basis of composite spike form in barley and ‘Miracle-Wheat’ Naser Poursarebani1, Tina Seidensticker1, Ravi Koppolu1, Corinna Trautewig1, Piotr Gawroński1, Federica Bini1, Geetha Govind1, Twan Rutten1, Shun Sakuma2,8, Akemi Tagiri2, Gizaw M. Wolde1, Abdulhamit Battal3, Stefano Ciannamea7, Tiziana Fusca7, Helmy M. Youssef1,9, Thomas Nussbaumer4, Carlo Pozzi7,10, Andreas Börner1, Udda Lundqvist5, Takao Komatsuda2, Silvio Salvi6, Roberto Tuberosa6, Cristobal Uauy3, Nese Sreenivasulu1,11 Laura Rossini7,12, Thorsten Schnurbusch1 Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Corrensstr. 3, OT Gatersleben, D-06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany 2 National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS), Plant Genome Research Unit, Tsukuba 305 8602, Japan 3 John Innes Centre, Department of Crop Genetics, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK 4 Plant Genome and Systems Biology (PGSB), Helmholtz Center Munich, D-85764, Neuherberg, Germany 1

Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen), Smedjevägen 3, Box P.O. 41, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden 6 Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie (DipSA), University of Bologna viale Fanin 44, 40127 Bologna, Italy 7 Parco Tecnologico Padano, Via Einstein, 26900 Lodi, Italy 8 Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Maioka-cho 641-12, Yokohama 244-0813, Japan 9 Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, 12613 Giza, Egypt 5

Università degli Studi di Milano – DiSAA, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy 11 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Grain Quality and Nutrition Center, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines 12 Università degli Studi di Milano, DiSAA, Via Celoria 2, I-20133 Milan, Italy 10

Inflorescences of the tribe Triticeae, which includes wheat (Triticum sp. L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) are characterized by sessile spikelets directly borne on the main axis, thus forming a branchless spike. ‘Compositum-Barley’ and tetraploid ‘Miracle-Wheat’ (T. turgidum convar. compositum (L.f.) Filat.) display non-canonical spike-branching in which spikelets are replaced by lateral branch-like structures resembling

PO57 Identification and pyramiding of new resistance genes to combat yellow (tan) spot in wheat Manisha Shankar1, Diane Mather2, Dorthe Jorgensen1, Rebecca Fox2, Julian Taylor2, Elysia Vassos2, Ken Chalmers2, Donna Foster1, Hossein Golzar1, Grant Hollaway3, Mark McLean3, Stephen Neate4 and Shirley Jones4 Department of Agriculture and Food WA, South Perth, Australia 2 The University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, Australia 3 Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources, Horsham, Australia 4 University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

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Although good progress has been made internationally to understand yellow spot (YS), caused by Pyrenophora tritici repentis, resistance in wheat, relatively few resistance genes have been identified and mapped in Australian germplasm. Only one (tsn1 on 5BL) is in general and known use in Australian breeding programs. Under a current national project a major effort has been made to improve the understanding of genetics of YS resistance in present and future donors, identify novel quantitative trait loci for resistance and develop a series of fixed lines, each carrying YS resistance genes from 2 or 3 resistance sources in elite Australian backgrounds that can be used as parents in resistance breeding. Two doubled haploid mapping populations Calingiri/ Wyalkatchem and IGW2574/Annuello were screened for

YS resistance at various growth stages, environments and national sites and new resistance loci were mapped on chromosomes 2A in Calingiri/Wyalkatchem and 1AS in IGW2574/Annuello. These resistance loci were stacked along with tsn1 using single seed descent. Resistant parents were selected using both phenotypic and genotypic data and a cross was made in the spring of 2011. F2s were progressed through to F4 while being subjected to marker assisted selection. Thirty two F5 lines were developed which are triple homozygotes at the three YS resistance loci and are also fixed for the vrn-1 locus. Sixteen of these F5 lines were screened for yellow spot resistance at various growth stages and environments in South Perth, Western Australia. Lines expressed significantly higher resistance than parents and grandparents at both seedling and adult plant stages that was effective in various environments. Genes for yellow spot resistance can be successfully combined into fixed lines using single seed descent and marker assisted selection. These lines are important resources that can be used by breeders for rapid development of varieties with high levels of resistance.

PO58 Phenotyping and detection of qtl for resistance to yellow (tan) spot in three doubled haploid wheat populations Dorthe Jorgensen1, Diane Mather2, Rebecca Fox2, Julian Taylor2, Elysia Vassos2, Ken Chalmers2, Donna Foster1, Grant Hollaway3, Mark McLean3, Stephen Neate4, Shirley Jones4 and Manisha Shankar1 Department of Agriculture and Food WA, South Perth, Australia 2 The University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, Australia 3 Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources, Horsham, Australia 4 University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia 1

Understanding of the genetic control of resistance against yellow spot (YS), caused by Pyrenophora tritici repentis, will help wheat breeders develop varieties with improved resistance. Our research has focused on identifying genes other than tsn1; currently the only known gene used in Australian breeding programs. Three doubled haploid populations IGW2471/ Wyalkatchem, Calingiri/H45 and Machete/Magenta were phenotyped at various growth stages, environments and national sites in Australia. In glasshouse/controlled environment experiments plants were inoculated to run-off at the seedling stage and disease severity assessed 7 days after inoculation. Immediately after rating the seedlings, plants were provided with a 22 h photoperiod consisting of 12 h of natural day light and 10 h of high pressure sodium light with an active radiation of 400-500 µE/m2/s until half spike emergence. Flag leaves of individual plants were then inoculated and rated 14 days after

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downsized secondary spikes. As a result of this branch formation ‘Miracle-Wheat’ produces significantly more grains per spike, leading to higher spike yield. In this study, we first isolated the gene underlying spikebranching in ‘Compositum-Barley’, i.e. compositum 2 (com2). Moreover, we found that COM2 is orthologous to the branched headt (bht) locus regulating spikebranching in tetraploid ‘Miracle-Wheat’. Both genes possess orthologs with similar functions in maize BRANCHED SILKLESS 1 (BD1) and rice FRIZZY PANICLE/ BRANCHED FLORETLESS 1 (FZP/BFL1) encoding AP2/ ERF transcription factors. Sequence analysis of the bht locus in a collection of mutant and wild type tetraploid wheat accessions revealed that a single amino acid substitution in the DNA-binding domain gave rise to the domestication of ‘Miracle-Wheat’. mRNA in situ hybridization, microarray experiments, and independent qRT-PCR validation analyses revealed that the branch repression pathway in barley is governed through the spike architecture gene Six-rowed spike 4 regulating COM2 expression, while HvIDS1 (barley ortholog of maize INDETERMINATE SPIKELET 1) is a putative downstream target of COM2. These findings presented here provide new insights into the genetic basis of spike architecture in Triticeae, and have disclosed new targets for genetic manipulations aiming at boosting wheat’s yield potential.


inoculation. In field experiments conducted in Western Australia individual plots were inoculated at Zadoks 55 and flag leaves assessed at a specific thermal time after inoculation. In field experiments conducted in Victoria and Queensland plots were inoculated by spreading infected stubble from previous year’s crop between rows and plants rated at tillering and adult plant stages. Continuous distribution and transgressive segregation was observed for seedling, tillering and adult plant responses in various environments and sites in all three populations indicating that resistance isconditioned by several genes with partial effects. A few lines within each population consistently showed high levels of resistance, probably resulting from a combination of several genes with additive effects. Disease correlations between growth stages and between environments were moderate (r = 0.4 to 0.7). Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for YS resistance were detected on chromosome 6B in IGW2471/Wyalkatchem, on 2D, 5AS and 7B in Calingiri/ H45 and on 1AS, 2A and 5AL in Machete/Magenta.

PO59 Potential conservation agriculture interventions to boost productivity of wheat based cropping systems in Afghanistan Rajiv Sharma1, Mangi Lal Jat2 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)-Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan 2 CIMMYT-India, New Delhi, India

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Wheat is the most important food crop of Afghanistan. It occupies 80% acreage of cereals and contribute similar amount to cereal production of the country. Last decade has witnessed several wheat R&D interventions benefiting country’s wheat farmers contributing to national wheat production which is now close to five million tonnes for past few years. Across the diverse production ecologies, wheat remains farmers’ favorite crop being preferred staple of Afghan population. Country’s diverse agro-climatic conditions require optimization of strikingly different cropping systems for different agro-ecoregions. The huge diversity of wheat growing environment wherein the crop’s maturity varies from 160 to over 300 days. With such a variable and long duration of wheat crop, there are very limited options for increasing cropping intensity. However, innovative agronomic management optimization through sustainable intensification is critical and can help achieve higher cropping intensity. We studied wheat crop duration in various parts of country and explored how conservation agriculture (CA) based management optimization could help increase cropping intensity to help farmers harvest more and ultimately contribute to country’s agricultural production to make Afghanistan food secure.

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Crop experiments conducted over several years and regions revealed wheat crop taking over 160 days in Eastern region (ER) to over 300 days in Central Highlands (CH) to mature. This scenario almost rules out a second crop in CH but comfortably allows both maize and paddy as a second crop in ER. Northern region (NR) where wheat takes about 220 days, comfortably permits maize but does not leave enough time for presently popular paddy varieties that take more than 150 days to mature. CA intervention viz., zero tillage and its variants help farmers save time required in tillage operations and can thus enable Afghan farmers take a second maize/ paddy crop after wheat in South West and NR.

PO60 Can we achieve genetic gains in yield by improving fruiting efficiency in wheat? Gustavo A. Slafer1,2, Roxana Savin2 Department of Crop and Forest Sciences and AGROTECNIO (Centre for Research in Agrotechnology), University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain 2 ICREA (Catalonian Institution for Research and Advanced Studies), Barcelona, Spain.

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Wheat yields must increase dramatically in the near future. Further genetic gains in yield would require improvements in grain number. This might be hypothetically achieved by increasing fruiting efficiency (FE, the efficiency with which dry matter allocated to the spikes during preanthesis is used to determine grain number). We did a number of studies analysing from variability in FE within elite material to responsiveness to selection; determining the final output of treatments or understanding the physiological bases for the differences. Overall, we found that in general differences in yield within elite material (unlike what happens when comparing old and modern cultivars) were related to differences in FE; comparing either best lines of populations made from the cross well adapted cultivars or modern commercial cultivars. Differences in FE seemed related to an increased developmental progress of floret primordia reducing the rate of floret primordia mortality. This opens room to two alternative models for increasing FE: improved partitioning of resources within the spike or reducing the individual demands of floret primordia to progress in development (and growth). As reductions in floret size may bring about reductions in potential size of the grains, it is essential to identify sources of improvements in FE not based on decreasing the requirements of floret primordia to become fertile florets; as this would bring about reductions in the potential size of the grains preventing to effectively achieve yield gains. We analysed the nature of the negative relationship between grain size and FE and found that it might be independent of reductions in the potential size of the grains due to the improved FE. As a proof of concept, we selected divergently for a surrogate of FE and after four cycles of selection we ended up with lines consistently

Marker assisted breeding for grain yield and quality improvement in wheat

PO61 Bridging the yield gap in wheat production through improved varieties and crop management

Venkata Reddy Thamalampudi1, Hemanth Vendra1, BNV Priya1, GVS Saiprasad1

F. Subhan , A. J. Khan , F. Azam , M. Irfaq , M. Imtiaz and A. R.Rattu3 1

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Corporate R&D Agrisciences, ITC LSTC, Bengaluru India 560058

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Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan 2 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Pakistan Office, CSI, NARC, Park Road, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan 3 Pakistan Agriculture Research Council Islamabad, Pakistan

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Lack of certified seed and poor crop management are considered to be the major drivers of low productivity. Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) conducted a study in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to investigate the impact of seed of improved wheat varieties / fertilizer and crop management on productivity from 2012-13 to 2014-15, which was supported by “Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP)” of the USDA and CIMMYT. Farmers from 10 districts of KPK (50-90) were provided inputs, (seed of improved wheat varieties,Bathoor, Barsat, Lalma, FakhreSarhad, Tatara; resistant to yellow and leaf rusts/ fertilizer) along with onsite guidance on production technology with an understanding that the produce will be sold /exchanged with the neighboring farmers. The fields were visited for technical backstopping at different growth stages. In 2012-13, the mean yield recorded was in the range of 3.32 to 3.54 t ha-1 with an average production of 3.43 t ha-1 while in 2013-14 the mean yield was in the range of 3.63 to 4.67 t ha-1 with an average productivity of 4.12 t ha-1 which shows a significant increase (21–56% in 2012-13 & 34–64% in 2013-14) in production compare to the present provincial average of 1.5 t and national average is 2.70 t ha-1. Similar approach was adopted in 2014-15. However, the number of farmer’s was increased to 90 and inputs were provided for ½ an acre each. The crop stand is excellent and good production figures are expected in August 2015. This activity not only provided access of farming communities to the seed (70 and 90 metric tons) but also demonstrated that the access to inputs (certified seed /fertilizer) and better crop management are utmost important for enhancing productivity which is crucial for alleviating poverty and ensuring food security in the country.

We initiated a program for improvement of wheat grain yield of one of the popular Indian cultivars having less yield potential and good quality by marker assisted breeding strategy utilizing the functional genomic knowledge. Genotyping conditions for different functional markers for grain yield attributing traits like TaCWI-A1, TaGW2, TaGS-D1, TaGS1a and ALMT1 along with dwarfing gene markers (Rht-D1, Rht-B1 and Rht8) and Photoperiod (VRN-1 and Ppd-D1a) were standardized. Genotyping of the high yielding Indian cultivars identified donors having desirable alleles which need to be introgressed for yield improvement. Along with the yield traits, retaining the quality is essential during the process of breeding for yield improvement. Hence, we have established genotyping of markers for wheat quality determining factors like high and low molecular weight glutenins, grain hardiness (purolidine) and Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO). Currently, we have initiated introgression of yield positive alleles into our desired cultivar by marker assisted breeding. We envisage to pyramid multiple yield beneficial alleles of the functional markers in right allelic combination having higher yield and desired quality.

PO63 Breeding for higher wheat yield in the warmer areas of India SK Singh1, Vinod Tiwari1, Indu Sharma1 ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat & Barley Research, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India

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India has global recognition for wheat production achievements to the tune of 95.85 million tonnes during 2013-14. In recent years, changes in climate pattern at the global level have been observed and impact on crop production is also expected. In India, the expected loss in wheat production would be approx. 4 - 5 million tonnes due to effect of increased temperature during plant growth stages. Wheat crop in the warmer areas comprising central and peninsular parts of India experiences exposure to higher temperature during initial growth stages (early heat stress) as well as at grain filling stage (terminal heat stress). The wheat crop in these areas is not exposed to extremes of low and high temperature as is prevalent in northern India. The minimum mean temperature ranges from 19-230C and maximum mean temperature from 35 - 400C. With the changing climate pattern wherein the temperature extremes may be higher than at present, it is desired to develop wheat varieties that can withstand shifts in temperature and also produce higher yield.

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producing more and less grains than the controls, respectively.


A breeding programme has been initiated at ICAR-IIWBR for development of improved wheat genotypes suitable for warmer areas of the country with special emphasis to central and peninsular India using shuttle breeding as an integral component. The segregating populations are evaluated under the target environments in collaboration with shuttle breeding centres namely Dharwad, Akola, Niphad in Peninsular India and Jabalpur, Powarkheda, Vijapur, Junagarh and Bilaspur in Central India. Wheat crop at these centres experiences variable heat stress conditions. The programme has successfully developed a number of promising lines out of which DBW 110 and DBW 93 have been released for commercial cultivation under timely sown, restricted (limited) irrigation conditions of central and peninsular India, respectively. This programme has also helped in strengthening wheat breeding programmes at collaborating centres. The continuous efforts in this direction would result in development of more number of high yielding genotypes having tolerance to heat stress coupled with disease resistance that can lead to enhanced wheat productivity and thus, increased farm profitability in these areas.

PO64 Technologies for the improvement of wheat production on the southern Pampa Juan Vanzolini1, Luciano Zubiaga1, Andrés Grand1, Miguel Cantamutto1

EEA INTA Hilario Ascasubi, Hilario Ascasubi, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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The southern extreme of pampa region of Argentina, Villarino and Patagones counties (near 2,5 M ha), is a transitional area where rainfed agriculture is risky where native vegetation was composed by grasslands and shrub. Wheat is a traditional crop, introduced by European immigrants in the last century. In the beginning, wheat yield on deforested soils was over 1.5 t ha-1. Due virginal soil high N availability, the regional grain quality, with protein content over 11.5% was historically recognized. The mean wheat crop yield and grain protein content decreased in the last decade. We described the actual status and pointed the value of available technologies to overcome the main crop constrictions in this marginal area. In the last decade, wheat was cultivated under 212,000 ± 82,000 ha on soil with < 12 ppm available P and < 1.2 OM %. Mean yield was 1.1 ± 0.47 t ha-1 and protein content 9.5 ± 1.5%. Experiments evidence demonstrated that Vicia villosa antecessor or N fertilization could increase yield and protein content (> 15%). The no till technology could reduce wind erosion exposition but adoption is low because is more expensive than conventional till. As it is a not profitable area, breeding programs are absent and farmers planted olds varieties (eg. Buck Manantial). It was estimated a water use efficiency below 7 kg.mm-1. The adoption of simple technologies as crop rotation, fertilizer and improved varieties could increase more than

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40% wheat yield and protein. The use of conservative agriculture technologies as no till is imperative to limit the erosion risk.

PO65 Effects of alleles at Ppd-A1 and nitrogen supply on phenology, yield and grain protein content in durum wheat Dolors Villegas1, Karim Ammar2, Susanne Dreisigacker2, José María Arjona1, Conxita Royo1 IRTA (Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology), Field Crops Program, Lleida, Spain 2 CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), Mexico DF, Mexico 1

Phenology fitting and nitrogen responsiveness are two major durum wheat traits for breeding and production. A collection of 15 durum wheat genotypes, each five of them carrying one of the three Ppd-A1 alleles (PpdA1b causing photoperiod sensitivity, and the two alleles Ppd-A1a causing photoperiod insensitivity, GS105 and GS100, all genotypes with the same Vrn and Rht alleles) was grown at two contrasting locations (Ciudad Obregón, Mexico, and Gimenells, Spain) at two nitrogen levels (no nitrogen supply or regular nitrogen supply), in 2014. Experiments consisted on plots of 1.5 m2 at 250 seeds m-2, with three replications and a RCB design. Heading date, grains m-2, grain yield, harvest index (HI), protein content, and thousand kernel weight (TKW) were recorded. Analyses of variance showed that location was the main driver of variation for all studied variables. Nitrogen treatment was significant for grains m-2, grain yield, HI and protein content, while the location x nitrogen interaction was significant for all variables except grains m-2 and TKW. Mean values and principal component analyses (PCA) showed that nitrogen application resulted in higher yields (increases of 55% in Spain and 117% in Mexico), associated to higher number of grains m-2 and higher protein contents in grain (9% in Spain and 25% in Mexico), but lower HI. Despite genotypes were significant for all studied variables, Ppd-A1 alleles did not have a significant effect on grain yield nor on protein content in Spain. Ppd-A1 alleles explained most of the genotype variability in days to heading and HI. In the PCA, Ppd-A1 alleles had a strong influence on TKW and HI in Mexico, with a negative correlation with days to heading, which was not evident in Spain. This study shows the differential effect of Ppd-A1 alleles on important yield components in locations with contrasting latitude.

Assessment of potential proxy traits for indirect selection of improved yield under controlled conditions Amy Watson1, Jessica Rutkoski2, Jack Christopher3, Karine Chenu3, Lee Hickey The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2 Cornell University, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Ithaca, New York, United States 3 The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia 1

Rapid generation advance using controlled conditions, known as ‘speed breeding’, enables up to six generations per year, thus leading to greater rates of genetic gain. Indirect selection for yield during this rapid generation advance could lead to even greater gains. Traits that are highly heritable and correlated with yield, ‘yield proxy traits’, are ideal candidates for indirect selection. Glasshouse-based high-throughput proxy-trait screens could potentially be used alone or in multivariate genomic selection models on lines that are advanced using speed breeding, before field testing. Potential yield proxy traits were tested for their ability to predict yield across a range of environments to determine their potential utility for indirect selection. Eight wheat-growing sites in Queensland, Australia were characterised according to water availability throughout the growing season and assigned to one of four environment types: low deficit, mild deficit, high deficit and severe deficit throughout. Yield data from a Seri x Hartog population was collected from each site and genetic correlations were calculated with several potential yield proxy traits (height, seedling root angle/number, tiller number, spike length, grain number, biomass, flag leaf width, time to anthesis) measured on a 100-line subset of the same population in the glasshouse, under speed breeding conditions. Plants were grown at several densities to determine which led to better associations with yield. Potential proxy traits were correlated with yield, and combined with yield in multivariate mixed models to assess their potential use for indirect selection for yield across different target environments.

PO67 Winter wheat breeding development in Kazakhstan Rakhim Urazaliyev1, Minura Yessimbekova1 Kazakh Research Institute of Agriculture and Plant Growing, Almaty, Kazakhstan

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Development of wheat breeding in Kazakhstan can be divided into several stages, reflecting the results of research for more than half a century. In 1970 have

been established the breeding centers at the Kazakh Research Institute of Agriculture and Plant Growing, Almaty. This decision of the government was a historic for breeding research development in Kazakhstan. In 1970-1980 were created and planted local varieties Krasnovodopadskaya 49, Lutescens 12, Erythrospermum 7020, Zhuldiz, Almatinskaya 31, Kyzyl Dan, Predgornaya 26 with productivity of 2.0-2.5 t/ha for rain fed and 4.0-5.0 t/ha for irrigation. In 1980-2000 large areas were planted with local varieties: OPAKS-1, Bogarnaya-56, Komsomolskaya-1 and 56, Zhalyn, Progress, Almatinskaya polukarlikovaya, Karlygash, Yuzhnaya 12, Zhetysu, Erythrospermum 26, Krasnovodopadskaya 210 and 25, Oktyabrina 70, Pirotriks 50, Kazakhstanskaya 10, Pamyat 47. The varieties - Bogarnaya 56, Pirotriks-50, Jubileynaya 60, Akterekskaya have extremely high heat-resistance to drought, broad ecological plasticity and grain quality. The period 2000-2014 characterized by the development of more than 10 varieties of intensive and semi-intensive type: Derbes, Naz, Egemen, Rasad, Ramin, Rausin, Sapaly, Aliya, Almaly, Zhadyra, Mayra, Farabi, Karasay, Alatau. Variety “Karasay” integrated two very important traits - high productivity (irrigation – 9.4 t/ha, rain fed 5.8 t/ ha) and high grain quality (protein content - 15.9%, gluten - 35.4%, deformation energy – 359). It is very rare in the breeding. High-yielding varieties - Almaly and Naz showed a comprehensive resistance to rusts. The past two decades special emphasis was put on the building of wheat varieties with high number of grains per spike. As a result of long-term selection, genotypes with 60-70 grains per spike - Almaly, Arap, Aliya, Derbez, Daulet, Avicenna, Kyzylbidai, Diana, Egemen were obtained. For more than 50 years about 70 of local wheat varieties in the National Register of breeding achievements were entered.

PO68 Development of photoperiod-sensitive cytoplasmic male sterile (pcms) wheat lines and their combining abilities Koji Murai1 1

Fukui Prefectural University, Fukui, Japan

Homeotic transformation of stamens into pistil-like structures (a phenomenon termed pistillody) has been reported in cytoplasmic substitution (alloplasmic) lines of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) that have the cytoplasm of a related wild species, Aegilops crassa. Interestingly, in some alloplasmic lines of Japanese wheat cultivars such as Norin26 ((cra)-N26), the pistillody was induced under long-day (LD) conditions (>15hr light period). Under short-day (SD) conditions (

Program and Abstracts

Program and Abstracts

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