Improving Dual-Purpose Winter Wheat in the Southern Great Plains of the United States

Abstract

This chapter covers the production and breeding status of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) used for early-season animal grazing and late-season grain production in the Southern Great Plains of the United States. Besides, in the chapter, the current production status and needs, the drawbacks of current cultivars, breeding strategies of the crop, novel genomics tools, and sensor technologies that can be used to improve dual-purpose winter wheat cultivars were presented. We will focus on traits that are, in general, not required by cultivars used for grain-only production but are critical for cool-season forage production.

Cultivar, Trait and Management System Selection to Improve Soft-Red Winter Wheat Productivity in the Eastern United States

“…Examples of these locations are Mexico, California, and parts of the Middle East. Winter wheat is typically not viewed as a cover crop but has dual grain and grazing purposes in targeted regions such as Oklahoma and Texas (Maulana et al, 2019).…”

Genomic selection of forage agronomic traits in winter wheat

“…In the southern Great Plains of the United States, winter wheat is the largest crop not only grown for grain, but also for cattle grazing during the autumn and winter seasons when other forage species are dormant or not productive due to cold temperatures (Hossain, Epplin, & Krenzer, 2003; Kim et al., 2016; MacKown, Carver, & Edwards, 2011). When winter wheat is grazed over winter, it is often managed as a dual‐purpose crop in which grain is harvested by the end of the season (Maulana, Anderson, Butler, & Ma, 2019a). Although phenotyping forage and other agronomic traits during wheat breeding has been accomplished by using phenotypic selection (PS) over the years, our experience has shown that conventional PS is expensive, tedious, and time consuming.…”

Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Seedling Drought Tolerance in Winter Wheat

“…However, the crop often faces an establishment challenge because of inadequate amounts of soil moisture and high air temperatures during the seedling stage. Poor seedling establishment can reduce not only autumn-winter forage production for cattle grazing but also GY by the end of the season (Maulana et al, 2019). Therefore, breeding for improved tolerance to seedling drought stress is critical for sustainable production of forage and grain in dual-purpose winter wheat.…”

“…In this region, when wheat is grown for winter pasture, it is often planted at least 2–3 weeks earlier than wheat grown for grain-only production. However, early planting of the crop increases the risk of establishment failure due to potential drought stress in the autumn ( Maulana et al, 2019 ). Drought stress at the seedling stage has been shown to reduce the photosynthetic activity and respiration rate of seedlings, resulting in death of seedlings due to excessive dehydration ( Dhanda et al, 2002 ; Sallam et al, 2019 ).…”