ZUCHTWERT: Breeding methodology for the exploitation of heterosis in wheat

Hybrid breeding was a key factor of boosting grain yield and yield stability in maize and other allogamous crops. Wheat is one of the three major crops worldwide but current yield gain trends are insufficient. Hence, the establishment of hybrid wheat has great potential to face the rising food demand of a growing world population and to deal with abiotic and biotic challenges due to climate change. Besides other prerequisites, heterotic groups are of major importance for the long-term success of a hybrid breeding program but they are still lacking in wheat. Thus, main objectives of the ZUCHTWERT project are to search for genetically divergent populations that provide the basis for the establishment of heterotic groups in wheat. A broad genetic basis of elite germplasm provided by the project partners and wheat material provided by gene banks will be used in this project. Experimental data of > 2.000 hybrids together with their 240 elite parental lines and check varieties will be evaluated in multi-environmental field trials. Additionally, ~ 250 hybrids derived from crosses between genetic resources and elite testers will be evaluated in multi-environmental field trials. Parental lines will be genotyped with SNP technology and a subset will be sequenced with exome-capture-technology. Genomic data will be used for further developing genomic selection models in hybrid wheat particularly incorporating dominance effects and for the search of heterotic groups. In general, fundamental methods and strategies for hybrid wheat breeding will be optimized. 

Externe Institutionen:

Gesellschaft für Erwerb und Verwertung von Schutzrechten (GVS) mbH; Leibniz Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK); Bayer CropScience AG; Deutsche Saatveredelung AG; KWS Lochow GmbH; Lantmännen SW Seed Hadmersleben GmbH; Limagrain GmbH; Nordsaat Saatzucht GmbH; Pflanzenzucht Oberlimpurg; RAGT-Saaten GmbH; Saatzucht Bauer GmbH; Saatzucht Josef Breun GmbH & Co. KG; Saatzucht Josef Breun GmbH & Co. KG; Saatzucht Streng-Engelen GmbH & Co. KG; Secobra Saatzucht GmbH; Strube Research GmbH & Co. KG; Syngenta Seeds GmbH; TraitGenetics GmbH; W. von Borries-Eckendorf GmbH & Co KG