Barley Yield Trials at St. Paul

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Profitable barley production in the Midwest is dependent on growing barley varieties that are approved by the malting and brewing industries and that meet their grain specifications. Barley production has declined dramatically in the past 10 years primarily due to the reemergence of the disease Fusarium head blight that renders barley unusable for malting and brewing. This project aims to investigate the genetics of important traits, including resistance to Fusarium head blight, and develop improved barley varieties that meet the needs of producers and users.

OBJECTIVES: The overall goal of this project is to investigate the genetics of important traits of barley and to utilize this information to develop improved varieties and germplasm that are appropriate and useful to producers and end-users in the region. Specifically there are four ojectives. 1.Develop barley varieties, with desirable end-use qualities, that benefit producers in the Upper Midwest. 2.Investigation and implementation of marker assisted selection. 3.Investigate the genetics of important traits in barley. 4.Contribute to the education of graduate students.

APPROACH: We will use a modified pedigree method combined with single-seed descent for our barley improvement program. Selection will be based on parent combinations with complementary characteristics and the potential for using marker assisted selection (MAS). We will evaluate the effectiveness of MAS in breeding by evaluating breeding lines that are fixed for contrasting alleles at QTL that are targets of selection and calculating the gain from selection. Early generation selection (F2 and F3 generations) will be done using markers when appropriate and by screening for resistance to net blotch and Septoria in greenhouse seedling assays in collaboration with plant pathologists. Yield testing will begin three years after the cross has been made. Preliminary, intermediate, and advanced yield trials will be conducted at three, three, and five locations in Minnesota, respectively. In addition, we will exchange advanced lines for yield testing with the breeders from North Dakota State University and Busch Agricultural Resources Inc. We will use two general approaches to map the positions of QTL for important traits and identify linked markers. This first approach will utilize genetic mapping populations created from parents that differ for the trait(s) of interest, construction of linkage maps, and detection of QTL using simple or composite interval mapping. The second approach will use phenotype, genetic marker, and pedigree data from breeding germplasm with complex population structure instead of designed crosses and mixed models to conduct association mapping.

KEYWORDS: barley; plant breeding; plant disease resistance; scab; fungus diseases (plants); fusarium; malting; crop quality; quantitative genetics; gene loci; genetic markers; selection; head blight; plant genetics; pre harvest; traits; crop varieties; germplasm; graduate students; agricultural education

PROGRESS: 2006/01 TO 2006/12
We continue to focus research efforts toward developing new barley varieties with resistance to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), desirable field performance, and acceptable malting quality. This year we evaluated 1236 F5 lines for FHB resistance in replicated, misted, and inoculated disease nurseries in three locations in collaboration with Dr. Ruth Dill-Macky and Dr. Charla Hollingsworth in the department of Plant Pathology. To evaluate all breeding material from the F5 generation to advanced breeding lines, over 12,000 rows were sown, inoculated, and assessed for FHB. We collected good quality disease data for all of the nurseries except Morris where extreme drought prevented development of disease. One hundred and fourty-four of the 1236 F5 lines were selected on the basis of FHB severity and agronomics and were harvested to determine deoxynivalenol (DON) levels in grain and sent to a winter nursery in Yuma, AZ for evaluation and seed increase. Further selection will be imposed and selected lines will be advanced to preliminary yield trials and re-tested for FHB reaction next year. We also conducted selection on breeding lines using DNA markers and a greenhouse screen for resistance to Septoria speckled leaf botch and net blotch in collaboration with Drs. Char Hollingsworth, Brian Steffenson, and Ruth Dill-Macky. In 2006, we had 19, 3, and 1 breeding lines in our advanced yield trials with resistance to FHB, net blotch, and Septoria speckled leaf blotch, respectively. A total of one hundred eighty lines were evaluated in preliminary yield trials conducted at St. Paul, Morris, and Crookston. The best performing lines are being evaluated for malting quality. One intermediate yield trial and one advanced yield trial for malting barley were conducted at three and five locations in the state, respectively. We grew two locations of the regional barley trial (Mississippi Valley Nursery) to evaluate variety candidates from breeding programs across the region. Three of our four variety candidates (M115, M122 and M124) were rated satisfactory in industry pilot-scale malting evaluations using grain from the 2005 crop-year. M115 has been rated satisfactory for a second year and will be considered for advancement to plant-scale brewing evaluation. M122 is our first variety candidate with enhanced levels of resistance to FHB and lower levels of the mycotoxin DON. M109 was grown on about 500 acres for industry plant-scale brewing evaluation. M109 has been consistently higher yielding and lower in grain protein than current varieties grown in the region which should make it attractive to growers. M109 has higher malt extract than the currently available varieties which should make it attractive to the malting and brewing industry. Our latest variety release, Lacey, was grown on 44.9% of the acres in Minnesota and 14.6% of the acres in North Dakota in the 2006 growing season.

IMPACT: 2006/01 TO 2006/12
Developing new improved malting and feed barley varieties for the Midwest directly impacts farmers by improving their profitability. Our latest malting variety release, Lacey, has improved yield potential over the existing varieties and the acreage planted to Lacey is increasing in the Midwest. For the first time we have a new variety candidate that has enhanced resistance to the disease Fusarium head blight.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2006/01 TO 2006/12
1. Wenzl, Peter, Li, Haobing , Carling, Jason, Zhou, Meixue, Raman, Harsh, Edie, Edie, Hearnden, Phillippa, Maier, Christina, Xia, Ling, Caig, Vanessa, Ovesna, Jaroslava, Cakir, Mehmet, Poulsen, David, Wang, Junping, Raman, Rosy, Smith, Kevin P., Muehlbauer, Gary J., Chalmers, Ken J., Kleinhofs, Andris, Huttner, Eric, and Kilian, Andrzej. 2006. A high-density consensus map of barley linking DArT markers to SSR, RFLP and STS loci and agricultural traits. BMC Genomics 7:206.
2. Yun, S. J., Gyenis, L., Bossolini, R., Hayes, P.M., Matus, I., Smith, K.P., Steffenson, B.J., Tuberosa, R., and Muehlbauer, G.J. 2006. Validation of quantitative trait loci for multiple disease resistance in barley using advanced backcross lines developed with a wild barley. Crop Sci. 2006 46:1179-1186.
3. Zhong, S., Toubia-Rahme, H., Steffenson, B.J., and Smith, K.P. 2006. Molecular Mapping and Marker-Assisted Selection of Genes for Septoria Speckled Leaf Blotch Resistance in Barley. Phytopathology 96:993-999
4. Steffenson, B. J and Smith, K. P. 2006. Breeding barley for multiple disease resistance in the Upper Midwest region of the USA. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed. 41:79-85.

PROJECT CONTACT:
Name: Smith, K. P.
Phone: 612-624-1211
Fax: 612-625-1268
Email: smith376@umn.edu