Genome-based establishment of a high-yielding heterotic pattern for hybrid wheat breeding

Abstract

Hybrid breeding promises to boost yield and stability. The single most important element in implementing hybrid breeding is the recognition of a high-yielding heterotic pattern. We have developed a three-step strategy for identifying heterotic patterns for hybrid breeding comprising the following elements. First, the full hybrid performance matrix is compiled using genomic prediction. Second, a high-yielding heterotic pattern is searched based on a developed simulated annealing algorithm. Third, the long-term success of the identified heterotic pattern is assessed by estimating the usefulness, selection limit, and representativeness of the heterotic pattern with respect to a defined base population. This three-step approach was successfully implemented and evaluated using a phenotypic and genomic wheat dataset comprising 1,604 hybrids and their 135 parents. Integration of metabolomic-based prediction was not as powerful as genomic prediction. We show that hybrid wheat breeding based on the identified heterotic pattern can boost grain yield through the exploitation of heterosis and enhance recurrent selection gain. Our strategy represents a key step forward in hybrid breeding and is relevant for self-pollinating crops, which are currently shifting from pure-line to high-yielding and resilient hybrid varieties.hybrid breeding | genomic prediction | heterotic pattern

Genomic Prediction of Single Crosses in the Early Stages of a Maize Hybrid Breeding Pipeline

“…The T0 scenario was the most difficult to predict. Similar trends have been observed using simulations (Technow et al 2012), as well as experimental studies based on historical data in maize (Massman et al 2013; Technow et al 2014) and wheat (Zhao et al 2015). This finding can be explained by the representation of parents among a differing number of single-cross combinations in the training set.…”

QTL Analysis of Spike Morphological Traits and Plant Height in Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Using a High-Density SNP and SSR-Based Linkage Map

“…The recently developed iSelect 9K and 90K arrays (Cavanagh et al, 2013; Wang et al, 2014) designed to characterize genetic variation in hexaploid wheat populations have extensive applications in QTL mapping (Wu et al, 2015b), genome-wide association studies (GWAS) (Gao et al, 2016), genomic selection (He et al, 2016), and establishment of heterotic groups (Zhao et al, 2015). In the present study, we constructed a dense genetic linkage map for the Y8679/J411 RIL population, using 10,816 polymorphic SNP markers from an iSelect 90K array and 174 polymorphic SSR markers.…”

The new winter wheat cultivars ‘Kena DS’, ‘Gaja DS’,‘Sedula DS’ and ‘Herkus DS’ for increased yield stability

“…To improve the productivity, it is recommended to include parental cultivars which belong to different ecological groups in the hybridization (Zhao et al, 2015).…”

“…The reduction in height raises wheat grain yield due to increased spike productivity and crop density (Zhao et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2016). The use of the parental forms from different ecological groups is recommended for the development of promising cultivars.…”

“…The protein content depends on the genotype, growing conditions and negatively correlates with grain yield, grain size, but modern cultivars are improved and can effectively use the mineral nutrition. Nevertheless, it is important to increase the capacity of protein synthesis in new cultivars (Bonjean et al, 2011;Zhao et al, 2015).…”