| Identifying novel traits and molecular markers for improved N-use efficiency in malting barley |
| Student: Karol Kukula Industry partner: AB InBev Supervisors: Professor John Foukles and Professor Guillermina Mendiondo (UoN); Alex Park (AB InBev) |
| Objectives |
| The biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions associated with growing malting barley is nitrogen (N) fertilizers responsible for 50-70% of total emissions, due to their large CO2 footprint at production and release of nitrous oxide after application. Additionally, nitrate from fertilizers pollutes waterways and groundwater. Globally less than half of applied N-fertilizer is actually recovered by crops. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE: grain DM produced per unit of N supply) is a measure of how effectively plants use N from fertilizer or soil sources to support growth and yield formation. This project aims to identify traits determining improved NUE of spring barley genotpes through detailed field and glasshouse experiments. The project objectives are: Objective 1 (1st & 2nd year) – Screen elite and landrace spring malting barley genotypes and quantify G x N x E, and to identify target traits for improved NUE for further examination in Objective 2. Objective 2 (3rd year) – Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) on target traits in a field study on an AB InBev GWAS spring malting barley panel utilizing a 40,000 SNP array to identify mark-trait associations. Objective 3 (3rd year) – Marker Trait Associations used to search for candidate genes, to develop molecular markers for NUE traits for deployment in AB InBev breeding program. |
| Progress to date |
| In year 1 two experiments have been carried out quantifying the effects of two N treatments (optimum N and low N) on NUE in a panel of elite (UK and USA AB InBev) cultivars and landraces provided by JHI. Both experiments involved growth analysis of samples taken at anthesis (flowering) and at harvest, to examine the N accumulation and post-anthesis N remobilisation, as well as associations with photosynthetic capacity (including NDVI and leaf gas exchange), grain yield and malting quality. In both experiments there were Genotype x N treatment interactions for grain yield and associated grain sink and source traits, while effects on NUE and malting quality traits will be examined through the completion of ongoing sample analysis |
| Future plans |
| The ultimate aim of this project is to further knowledge of the genetic variation in NUE in spring barley, by identifying traits and genetic markers for improved NUE. The key traits identified through the first 2 years of trials will applied in phenotyping the large scale genome wide association study (GWAS) in year 3 to aid in guiding future breeding efforts for improved NUE in the AB InBev programme. |