Ecological characteristics andin situgenetic associations for yield-component traits of wildMiscanthusfrom eastern Russia

Abstract

Background and aims Miscanthus is a genus of perennial C 4 grasses native to East Asia. It includes the emerging ligno-cellulosic biomass crop M. Âgiganteus, a hybrid between M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus. Biomass yield and cold tolerance are of particular interest in Miscanthus, given that this crop is more temperate adapted than its C 4 relatives maize, sorghum and sugarcane.Methods A plant exploration was conducted in eastern Russia, at the northern extreme of the native range for Miscanthus, with collections including 174 clonal germplasm accessions (160 M. sacchariflorus and 14 M. sinensis) from 47 sites. Accessions were genotyped by restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) and plastid microsatellites.Key Results Miscanthus sinensis was found in maritime climates near Vladivostok (43Á6 N) and on southern Sakhalin Island (46Á6 N). Miscanthus sacchariflorus was found inland at latitudes as high as 49Á3 N, where M. sinensis was absent. Most M. sacchariflorus accessions were diploid, but approx. 2 % were tetraploids. Molecular markers revealed little population structure (Jost's D < 0Á007 among diploid groups) but high genetic diversity (expected heterozygosity ¼ 0Á14) within the collection of Russian M. sacchariflorus. Genome-wide association (GWA) analysis for traits measured at the collection sites revealed three M. sacchariflorus single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with the number of stems per unit area, one with height and one with basal stem diameter; three were near or within previously described sorghum quantitative trait loci for related traits.Conclusions This new Miscanthus germplasm collection from eastern Russia will be useful for breeding Miscanthus and sugarcane cultivars with improved adaptation to cold. Moreover, a strategy is proposed to facilitate the rapid utilization of new germplasm collections: by implementing low-cost SNP genotyping to conduct GWA studies of phenotypic data obtained at collection sites, plant breeders can be provided with actionable information on which accessions have desirable traits and alleles.

Winter hardiness of Miscanthus (II): Genetic mapping for overwintering ability and adaptation traits in three interconnected Miscanthus populations

“…The relatively poor overwintering ability of MapB and MapC progeny, their parents ( M. sinensis ‘Silberturm’ and M. sinensis ‘November Sunset’, respectively), and most of the controls, demonstrate a key limitation to relying entirely on the currently available ornamental Miscanthus cultivars for breeding new cultivars adapted to hardiness zones 5 and colder. However, there exist natural populations of M. sinensis from northern Japan, northern China, and eastern Russia that are adapted to colder winters than the ornamental M. sinensis cultivars currently available in the United States and Europe (Clark et al, ; Lim et al, ; Yan et al, ). Although the winter of 2013–2014 in Urbana was near the lower end of the range expected for minimum annual air temperatures in central Illinois based on a 30‐year record (1976–2005), the results of this study highlight the importance of breeding for adaptation to the coldest winter expected for a target environment, especially given that Miscanthus production fields are expensive to establish and growers may plan to keep a planting for ten or more years.…”

Breeding progress and preparedness for mass‐scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar

“…This species has small rhizomes and produces many tightly packed shoots forming a “tuft.” M. floridulus has a more southerly adaptive range with a rather similar morphology to M. sinensis , but grows taller with thicker stems and is evergreen and less cold‐tolerant than the other miscanthus species. M. sacchariflorus is the most northern‐adapted species ranging to 50 °N in eastern Russia (Clark et al, ). Populations of diploid and tetraploid M. sacchariflorus are found in China (Xi, ) and South Korea (Yook, ), and eastern Russia, but only tetraploids have been found in Japan (Clark, Jin, & Petersen, ).…”

Determination of Leaf Water Content by Visible and Near-Infrared Spectrometry and Multivariate Calibration in Miscanthus

“…M. sacchariflorus, M. sinensis , and M. fIoridulus belonging to subtribe Saccharinae were proved the most potential biomass grass species (Xi and Jeźowski, 2004). These species generally grow in the similar environment; even grow together (Xi and Jeźowski, 2004; Clark et al, 2016). In China, the bioenergy Miscanthus crop is proposed to be planted on the marginal lands where water is deficient, so the drought-tolerant genotypes or varieties are needed for this type of lands (Dai et al, 2013; Yu et al, 2015).…”