Tradeoffs between yield, disease incidence and conversion efficiency for selection of hybrid poplar genotypes as bioenergy feedstocks

Bark morphological and chemical features are differentially correlated with disease resistance and yield in hybrid poplar taxa

“…To address these alternative possibilities, we conducted the FTIR analyses of wood samples from the DD and DM genotypes. We focused on this subset of genotypes since DM genotypes are considered the early‐age high‐yielding and disease sensitive genotypes whereas the DD genotypes are more disease tolerant and, in our study, also high yielding (Figures 5 and 6; Feau et al, 2010; Kim et al, 2021; Newcombe et al, 2001; Stanton et al, 2010). The PCA score plot revealed no clear separation between the FTIR spectra obtained from the wood samples of the DM and DD genotypes (Figure 9).…”

“…Understanding how plants balance these tradeoffs will enable us to identify traits that enhance plant fitness and develop effective breeding and engineering strategies to improve crop productivity. Our previous research revealed that there are tradeoffs between biomass yield and stem canker disease tolerance in hybrid poplar genotypes, and that these characteristics are correlated with bark thickness (Kim et al, 2021). To further understand how bark structure and chemistry impacts canker disease resistance and to test whether it is biologically feasible to overcome the tradeoffs and identify high‐yielding genotypes with disease tolerance, we screened hybrid polar genotypes for growth, biomass yield, and canker incidence.…”

“…Conventional breeding approaches have used field‐ and greenhouse‐based evaluation of canker severity to ascertain the susceptibility or resistance of poplar genotypes (Newcombe & Ostry, 2001; Qin & LeBoldus, 2014; Weiland et al, 2003). Although effective in identifying resistant clones, it was found that the canker resistant genotypes were generally low yielding (Kim et al, 2021). Tradeoffs between yield and disease tolerance are common features to contend with in crop and biomass feedstock production systems (Ha et al, 2021; Huot et al, 2014).…”

“…We evaluated hybrid poplar genotypes representing four different taxonomic designations [ P. deltoides × P. maximowiczii (DM), P. deltoides × P. nigra (DN), P. trichocarpa × P. maximowiczii (TM), P. deltoides × P. deltoides (DD); different P. deltoides genotypes were used to obtain intraspecific poplar hybrids]. Eastern cottonwoods ( P. deltoides ) are generally considered to be resistant to canker (Newcombe, 1998; Newcombe & Ostry, 2001; Ostry, 1985) and our previous study showed that pure eastern cottonwood genotypes had more bark, were disease resistant but were low yielding, whereas the DM genotype with low bark amount was high yielding but disease susceptible (Kim et al, 2021). These studies generally included one/few genotypes per taxon, making it difficult to assess whether the tradeoffs between yield and disease tolerance are associated with individual genotypes tested, or whether they can be more broadly applied to differences in taxa.…”

“…bark, disease, genotypes, hybrid poplar, taxa, yield study showed that pure eastern cottonwood genotypes had more bark, were disease resistant but were low yielding, whereas the DM genotype with low bark amount was high yielding but disease susceptible (Kim et al, 2021). These studies generally included one/few genotypes per taxon, making it difficult to assess whether the tradeoffs between yield and disease tolerance are associated with individual genotypes tested, or whether they can be more broadly applied to differences in taxa.…”