Improved wheat grain yield by a new method of root selection

Abstract

International audienceWheat is a major source of protein for human food, a critical issue at a time when mankind is growing by 77 million people per year. Wheat was domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago and has been systematically bred for about 200 years. However, this breeding selection has been done using only aerial plant parts. Indeed, wheat roots, the hidden half of plant, were not considered in breeding programs due to the lack of an appropriate method. Here, we evaluated roots of 18 wheat populations. The root system size was measured by its electrical capacitance directly in field. The plants in third and fourth generations were evaluated during shooting and heading. Then plants were selected for large and small root system. In dry conditions, progeny of plants with large and small root system had yields of 17.1 and 10.9 g per plant in the third generation and 18.5 and 10.0 g per plant in the fourth generation. Our results show that the progeny of the plants selected for large roots have larger roots than their parents, also in next generation. Similarly, the progeny of small root plants have smaller roots. The selection process showed a greater response for larger root system size. This response can be evolutionarily advantageous and make selection easier than, for example, selection for grain yield. Our unique method enables accurate, repeated evaluation and harvest of selected plants. Selection for higher wheat root system size can be easily used to breed for drought tolerance and higher efficiency of water and fertilizer use

A new method for assessing plant lodging and the impact of management options on lodging in canola crop production

“…5). Several recent studies3637 confirmed that using root C as a breeding criterion was efficient. In addition, these authors succeeded in using root C to select for high grain yields in wheat and barley.…”

Root Biomass Distribution with Root and Shoot Development at Different Growth Stages of Wild, Ancient and Modern Wheat Species

“…Therefore, ancient and wild wheat species can be utilized in breeding programs to improve superior genotypes with large and deep rooting as well as high yield. It was reported that the root system size was correlated with grain yield (Heřmanská et al, 2015). However, studies on root system of those genotypes are insufficient because root studies have difficulty to conduct and harvest.…”

Field phenotyping of plant roots by electrical capacitance – a standardized methodological protocol for application in plant breeding: a Review

“…The probability of the successful selection of a larger root system according to the electrical capacitance is high. In recent years, the size of the root system (measured by electrical capacitance) has been used as a criterion for the selection of genotypes that are tolerant to drought, such as those of spring barley (Chloupek et al, 2010;Svačina et al, 2014) and winter wheat (Heřmanská et al, 2015). It was verified that varieties of wheat and barley with a larger root system size provided higher yields and contained more assimilates (more starch in wheat and barley and more glycid extract in barley) and less nitrogenous substances than those varieties with a smaller root system.…”

“…A prospective in situ method with the potential to save money, labour and time is measuring the size of the root system by its electrical capacitance as a part of the electrical impedance. This unique method was originally published by Chloupek (1972) and has been intensively developed at the Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic (Chloupek et al, 2010;Středa et al, 2012;Středa and Chloupek, 2013;Svačina et al, 2014;Heřmanská et al, 2015) in the last decade. The method is applicable under field conditions and allows the detection of fine structures in the root system.…”