RESUMO
The Rosaceae crop family (including almond, apple, apricot, blackberry, peach, pear, plum, raspberry, rose, strawberry, sweet cherry, and sour cherry) provides vital contributions to human well-being and is economically significant across the U.S. In 2003, industry stakeholder initiatives prioritized the utilization of genomics, genetics, and breeding to develop new cultivars exhibiting both disease resistance and superior horticultural quality. However, rosaceous crop breeders lacked certain knowledge and tools to fully implement DNA-informed breeding-a "chasm" existed between existing genomics and genetic information and the application of this knowledge in breeding. The RosBREED project ("Ros" signifying a Rosaceae genomics, genetics, and breeding community initiative, and "BREED", indicating the core focus on breeding programs), addressed this challenge through a comprehensive and coordinated 10-year effort funded by the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative. RosBREED was designed to enable the routine application of modern genomics and genetics technologies in U.S. rosaceous crop breeding programs, thereby enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness in delivering cultivars with producer-required disease resistances and market-essential horticultural quality. This review presents a synopsis of the approach, deliverables, and impacts of RosBREED, highlighting synergistic global collaborations and future needs. Enabling technologies and tools developed are described, including genome-wide scanning platforms and DNA diagnostic tests. Examples of DNA-informed breeding use by project participants are presented for all breeding stages, including pre-breeding for disease resistance, parental and seedling selection, and elite selection advancement. The chasm is now bridged, accelerating rosaceous crop genetic improvement.
RESUMO
Improvements in market value of hard red spring wheat (HRS, Triticum aestivum L.) are linked to breeding efforts to increase grain protein concentration (GPC). Numerous studies have been conducted on the identification, isolation of a chromosome region (Gpc-B1) of Wild emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. dicoccoides) and its introgression into commercial hard wheat to GPC. Yet there has been limited research published on the comparative responsiveness of these altered lines and their parents to varied N supply. There is increased awareness that wheat genetic improvements must be assessed over a range of environmental and agronomic management conditions to assess stability. We report herein on economically optimal yield, protein and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) component responses of two Pacific Northwestern USA cultivars, Tara and Scarlet compared to backcrossed derived near isolines with or without the Gpc-B1 allele. A field experiment with 5 N rates as whole plots and 8 genotypes as subplots was conducted over two years under semi-arid, dryland conditions. One goal was to evaluate the efficacy of the Gpc-B1 allele under a range of low to high N supply. Across all genotypes, grain yield responses to N supply followed the classic Mitscherlich response model, whereas GPC followed inverse quadratic or linear responses. The Gpc-B1 introgression had no major impact on grain protein, but grain N and total above ground crop N yields demonstrated quadratic responses to total N supply. Generally, higher maximum grain yields and steeper rise to the maxima (Mitscherlich c values) were obtained in the first site-year. Tara required less N supply to achieve GPC goals than Scarlet in both site-years. Genotypes with Gpc-B1 produced comparable or slightly lower Mitscherlich A values than unmodified genotypes, but displayed similar Mitscherlich c values. Target GPC goals were not achieved at economic optimal yields based on set wheat pricing. Economic optimization of N inputs to achieve protein goals showed positive revenue from additional N inputs for most genotypes. While N uptake efficiency did not drop below 0.40, N fertilizer-induced increases in grain N harvest correlated well with unused post-harvest soil N that is potentially susceptible to environmental loss.
