Advancing crested wheatgrass [Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.] breeding through genotyping-by-sequencing and genomic selection

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 8;15(10):e0239609. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239609. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Crested wheatgrass [Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.] provides high quality, highly palatable forage for early season grazing. Genetic improvement of crested wheatgrass has been challenged by its complex genome, outcrossing nature, long breeding cycle, and lack of informative molecular markers. Genomic selection (GS) has potential for improving traits of perennial forage species, and genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) has enabled the development of genome-wide markers in non-model polyploid plants. An attempt was made to explore the utility of GBS and GS in crested wheatgrass breeding. Sequencing and phenotyping 325 genotypes representing 10 diverse breeding lines were performed. Bioinformatics analysis identified 827, 3,616, 14,090 and 46,136 single nucleotide polymorphism markers at 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% missing marker levels, respectively. Four GS models (BayesA, BayesB, BayesCπ, and rrBLUP) were examined for the accuracy of predicting nine agro-morphological and three nutritive value traits. Moderate accuracy (0.20 to 0.32) was obtained for the prediction of heading days, leaf width, plant height, clump diameter, tillers per plant and early spring vigor for genotypes evaluated at Saskatoon, Canada. Similar accuracy (0.29 to 0.35) was obtained for predicting fall regrowth and plant height for genotypes evaluated at Swift Current, Canada. The Bayesian models displayed similar or higher accuracy than rrBLUP. These findings show the feasibility of GS application for a non-model species to advance plant breeding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agropyron / genetics*
  • Agropyron / growth & development
  • Animal Feed
  • Animals
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genome, Plant
  • Genotype
  • Models, Genetic
  • Nutritive Value
  • Phenotype
  • Plant Breeding / methods
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Saskatchewan
  • Selection, Genetic

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.11530677

Grants and funding

This project was funded by Beef Cattle Research Council of Canada. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) provides lab operation funding support to AAFC scientist YBF, where the DNA extraction was carried out.