Development and Evolution of an Intermediate Wheatgrass Domestication Program
1
The Land Institute, 2440 E. Water Well Rd., Salina, KS 67401, USA
2
Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 4024 Throckmorton PSC, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
3
Wheat Genetics Resource Center, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 4024 Throckmorton PSC, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1499; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051499
Received: 16 February 2018
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Revised: 16 April 2018
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Accepted: 3 May 2018
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Published: 9 May 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies, Advances and Challenges of Breeding Perennial Grain Crops)
Ecological intensification of agriculture is a proposed strategy to enhance the production of food while expanding ecosystem services and reducing inputs. Perennial plants that are directly harvested for human food are a novel means of ecological intensification, by potentially providing unprecedented levels of ecological services, such as increased soil carbon and reduced nutrient leaching. However, existing herbaceous perennial plants produce low yields of harvestable seed. Therefore, we initiated a domestication program to improve the grain yield of the perennial intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium [Host] Barkworth & D.R. Dewey). The breeding program has adapted to changing resources and to results from previous generations, with methods becoming more elaborate as the program has matured over six breeding cycles. Average predicted gains from selection accumulated over five cycles were 143, 181 and 60% respectively, for seed yield per head, percent naked seed and mass per seed. We did not detect negative correlations that would indicate simultaneously achieving increased grain yield and sustained perenniality would be particularly difficult. Heritability estimates based on genetic markers were the same or higher than those calculated from a pedigree, indicating that markers have potential to expedite breeding efforts.
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Keywords:
perennial; grain; wheatgrass; Kernza; domestication; recurrent selection; heritability
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MDPI and ACS Style
DeHaan, L.; Christians, M.; Crain, J.; Poland, J. Development and Evolution of an Intermediate Wheatgrass Domestication Program. Sustainability 2018, 10, 1499. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051499
AMA Style
DeHaan L, Christians M, Crain J, Poland J. Development and Evolution of an Intermediate Wheatgrass Domestication Program. Sustainability. 2018; 10(5):1499. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051499
Chicago/Turabian StyleDeHaan, Lee, Marty Christians, Jared Crain, and Jesse Poland. 2018. "Development and Evolution of an Intermediate Wheatgrass Domestication Program" Sustainability 10, no. 5: 1499. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051499
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