Discovery and Transfer of Genes from Wild Zea Germplasm to Improve Grain Oil and Protein Composition of Temperate Maize

Project Objectives 1. Develop and amplify two interspecific populations (annual and perennial teosintes x elite maize inbred) as the basis for genetic analysis of grain quality. 2. Identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) from teosinte that improve oil, protein, and essential amino acid composition of maize grain. 3. Develop near isogenic lines (NILs) to quantify QTL contributions to grain quality and as a resource for future breeding and gene cloning efforts. 4. Analyze the contribution of these QTLs to hybrid performance in both the US and Israel. 5. Measure the yield potential of improved grain quality hybrids. (NOTE: Yield potential could not be evaluated due to environmentally-caused failure of the breeding nursery where seed was produced for this evaluation.) Background: Maize is a significant agricultural commodity worldwide. As an open pollinated crop, variation within the species is large and, in most cases, sufficient to supply the demand for modem varieties and for new environments. In recent years there is a growing demand for maize varieties with special quality attributes. While domesticated sources of genetic variation for high oil and protein content are limited, useful alleles for these traits may remain in maize's wild relative, teosinte. We utilized advanced backcross (AB) analysis to search for QTLs contributing to oil and protein content from two teosinte accessions: Zea mays ssp. mexicana Race Chalco, an annual teosinte (referred to as Chalco), and Z diploperennis Race San Miguel, a perennial teosinte (referred to as Diplo). Major Conclusions and Achievements Two NILs targeting a Diplo introgression in bin 1.04 showed a significant increase in oil content in homozygous sib-pollinated seed when compared to sibbed seed of their counterpart non-introgressed controls. These BC4S2 NILs, referred to as D-RD29 and D-RD30, carry the Diplo allele in bin 1.04 and the introgression extends partially into bins 1.03 and 1.05. These NILs remain heterozygous in bins 4.01 and 8.02, but otherwise are homozygous for the recurrent parent (RD6502) alleles. NILs were developed also for the Chalco introgression in bin 1.04 but these do not show any improvement in oil content, suggesting that the Chalco alleles differ from the Diplo alleles in this region. Testcross Fl seed and sibbed grain from these Fl plants did not show any effect on oil content from this introgression, suggesting that it would need to be present in both parents of a maize hybrid to have an effect on oil content. Implications, both Scientific and Agricultural The Diplo region identified increases oil content by 12.5% (from 4.8% to 5.4% oil in the seed). Although this absolute difference is not large in agronomic terms, this locus could provide additive increases to oil content in combination with other maize-derived loci for high oil. To our knowledge, this is the first confirmed report of a QTL from teosinte for improved grain oil content in maize. It suggests that further research on grain quality alleles from maize wild relatives would be of both scientific and agricultural interest.

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Effect of Intercroping Maize-Soybean on Grain Quality Traits in Kenya

Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.5539/jas.v10n2p341 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 341

Author(s):

Habineza M. Jean Pierre ◽

Josiah M. Kinama ◽

Florence M. Olubayo ◽

Susan W. Wanderi ◽

James W. Muthomi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Size ◽

Protein Content ◽

Dry Matter ◽

Oil Content ◽

Grain Quality ◽

Block Design ◽

Small Scale ◽

Quality Traits ◽

Sole Crop ◽

Small Scale Farmers

An experiment was conducted in Kenya to determine the effect of intercropping maize-soybean on soybean grain quality traits. A randomized complete block design replicated three times with seven treatments was used. Data were collected and analysed for soybean protein content, oil content and dry matter while grain size was done for maize and soybean. Data were subjected to ANOVA and means separated using LSD0.05. The results showed that TGX1990-5F variety recorded high protein content (p ≤ 0.05) in sole crop compared to intercropping with 42.96% and 38.4% respectively while SB19 obtained 36.57% and 40.41% of protein between sites for the first season. A bout the second season, TGX1990-5F gave 40.84% of protein compared to 31.98% for GAZELLE in intercrop at both sites. GAZELLE showed higher oil content followed by TGX1990-5F and SB19 was the last in both seasons. TGX1990-5F showed higher dry matter followed by GAZELLE and SB19 was the last in intercrop. In addition, GAZELLE a local variety showed greater size than SB19 in both rainy seasons. Intercropping affected slightly the protein content, oil content and gain size than sole crop but it did not affect the dry matter in both seasons.Thus, TGX1990-5F can be recommended to small-scale farmers for intercropping with maize because it produced higher value of protein and small-scale farmers could use it to fight mal nutrition. GAZELLE variety can be also recommended for oil production. Maize grain size was not affected by intercropping system.

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Evaluation of castorbean samples by economically - valuable traits

Scientific and Technical Bulletin of the Institute of Oilseed Crops NAAS ◽

10.36710/ioc-2018-26-05 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 39-48

Keyword(s):

Ricinoleic Acid ◽

Castor Bean ◽

Castor Oil ◽

Oil Content ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Second Order ◽

Yield Potential ◽

Technological Parameters ◽

Potential Yield ◽

Ricinolic Acid

Castor oil (Ricinus communus L.) is an important commercial product. The climatic conditions of Ukraine determine the possibility of growing the castor as an annual crop. At the Institute of Oilseeds NAAS studied castor collection. The aim of the work was the selection of the most promising samples of castor oil, combining a large yield potential in a narrow range of vertical distribution for optimal technological parameters of mechanical harvesting with a high content of oil in seeds and ricinolic acid in oil. In the experience of 2015-2016, the manifestation of morphological features of 17 castor bean samples was studied. The height of plants, individual samples among themselves differed more than twice. Long-brush samples of ЕР118, К374, М203, К159 are distinguished on the basis of the length of the brush. The shortest brush was observed in sample K1008. The length of the productive brush in the studied samples is from 10.7 to 32.9 cm. Most castor bean samples under favorable conditions form brushes of the second and higher orders. According to this parameter, samples of Ep118 and selection No. 38 with four inflorescences of the second order are of the greatest interest. The largest brushes of the second order are similar in size to the brushes of the first order were observed in the samples: К1127, К810, К153. The adaptability of harvesting castor beads requires that the brushes of the first and second order coincide in height with each other, since the harvester can take a maximum of 60 cm. For the sum of the productive brushes of the first and second orders, the greatest potential yield will be provided by samples K159 and K1127. Among the studied collection stands out the small seed sample K159 and the large seed samples - PRL41 and K80. The average oil content in the seeds of the collection was from 52 to 61.4%. Sample38 had the highest oil content. The content of ricinolic acid in the collection was from 70.9 to 82.9%. Samples were isolated: К134, К1008, PRL41, К430 with the content of ricinoleic acid more than 80%. The results of the study of all parameters make it possible to isolate valuable technological samples. Sample K1064 with a high technological potential of productivity, with a seed oil content of 57.2%, has a not very high content of ricinoleic acid of 74.3%. Sample K1127 with an oil content of 58.6%, a mass of 1000 seeds of 265 g, a high potential of productive brushes has a wide variation in the arrangement of brushes. Sample K134 with a oil content of 57.1%, ricinoleic acid content of 80.7% has small second-order brushes and can be used as a single-cysts in a thicker seeding.

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Efficacy of Irrigation Interval after Anthesis on Grain Quality, Alkali Digestion, and Gel Consistency of Rice

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11040325 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 325

Author(s):

Ramin Rayee ◽

Tran Dang Xuan ◽

Tran Dang Khanh ◽

Hoang-Dung Tran ◽

Kifayatullah Kakar

Keyword(s):

Protein Content ◽

Grain Quality ◽

Cooking Quality ◽

Amylose Content ◽

Rice Grain ◽

Gelatinization Temperature ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Irrigation Interval ◽

Gel Consistency ◽

Alkali Digestion

The management of amylose and protein contents and cooking quality are the main challenges in rice macronutrients and quality improvement. This experiment was conducted to examine the rice grain quality, alkali digestion, and gel consistency responses to irrigation interval after anthesis. Three rice varieties (K1, K3, and K4) were subjected to different irrigation intervals (1, 2, and 3 d) after anthesis. The findings of this study showed that the protein content was markedly increased from 6.53–6.63% to 9.93–10.16%, whilst the amylose content was decreased significantly from 22.00–22.43% to 16.33–17.56% under stressed treatments at irrigation intervals, whilst the quantity of fatty acids was not affected. The 3-d irrigation interval recorded the highest protein content but the lowest amylose value. In addition, this treatment shows lower gelatinization temperature, but it is negatively associated with hard gel consistency under irrigation interval. This study highlights that the water management following a 3-d irrigation interval from anthesis is a useful and simple treatment to improve rice nutrients and grain cooking quality.

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Drought Tolerant near Isogenic Lines (NILs) of Pusa 44 Developed through Marker Assisted Introgression of qDTY2.1 and qDTY3.1 Enhances Yield under Reproductive Stage Drought Stress

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11010064 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 64

Author(s):

Priyanka Dwivedi ◽

Naleeni Ramawat ◽

Gaurav Dhawan ◽

Subbaiyan Gopala Krishnan ◽

Kunnummal Kurungara Vinod ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drought Stress ◽

Drought Tolerance ◽

Grain Quality ◽

Reproductive Stage ◽

Recurrent Parent ◽

Near Isogenic Lines ◽

Improvement Project ◽

Isogenic Lines ◽

Drought Tolerant ◽

Rice Improvement

Reproductive stage drought stress (RSDS) is detrimental for rice, which affects its productivity as well as grain quality. In the present study, we introgressed two major quantitative trait loci (QTLs), namely, qDTY2.1 and qDTY3.1, governing RSDS tolerance in a popular high yielding non-aromatic rice cultivar, Pusa 44, through marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). Pusa 44 is highly sensitive to RSDS, which restricts its cultivation across drought-prone environments. Foreground selection was carried out using markers, RM520 for qDTY3.1 and RM 521 for qDTY2.1. Background selection was achieved with 97 polymorphic SSR markers in tandem with phenotypic selection to achieve faster recurrent parent genome (RPG) recovery. Three successive backcrosses followed by three selfings aided RPG recoveries of 98.6% to 99.4% among 31 near isogenic lines (NILs). Fourteen NILs were found to be significantly superior in yield and grain quality under RSDS with higher drought tolerance efficiency (DTE) than Pusa 44. Among these, the evaluation of two promising NILs in the multilocational trial during Kharif 2019 showed that they were significantly superior to Pusa 44 under reproductive stage drought stress, while performing on par with Pusa 44 under normal irrigated conditions. These di-QTL pyramided drought-tolerant NILs are in the final stages of testing the All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project varietal trials for cultivar release. Alternately, the elite drought-tolerant Pusa 44 NILs will serve as an invaluable source of drought tolerance in rice improvement.

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Breeding of High Cooking and Eating Quality in Rice by Marker-Assisted Backcrossing (MABc) Using KASP Markers

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10040804 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 804

Author(s):

Me-Sun Kim ◽

Ju-Young Yang ◽

Ju-Kyung Yu ◽

Yi Lee ◽

Yong-Jin Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Background ◽

Amylose Content ◽

Yield Potential ◽

Eating Quality ◽

Breeding Cycle ◽

Recurrent Parent ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Breeding Programs ◽

Genome Wide ◽

Cooking And Eating Quality

The primary goals of rice breeding programs are grain quality and yield potential improvement. With the high demand for rice varieties of premium cooking and eating quality, we developed low-amylose content breeding lines crossed with Samgwang and Milkyqueen through the marker-assisted backcross (MABc) breeding program. Trait markers of the SSIIIa gene referring to low-amylose content were identified through an SNP mapping activity, and the markers were applied to select favorable lines for a foreground selection. To rapidly recover the genetic background of Samgwang (recurrent parent genome, RPG), 386 genome-wide markers were used to select BC1F1 and BC2F1 individuals. Seven BC2F1 lines with targeted traits were selected, and the genetic background recovery range varied within 97.4–99.1% of RPG. The amylose content of the selected BC2F2 grains ranged from 12.4–16.8%. We demonstrated the MABc using a trait and genome-wide markers, allowing us to efficiently select lines of a target trait and reduce the breeding cycle effectively. In addition, the BC2F2 lines confirmed by molecular markers in this study can be utilized as parental lines for subsequent breeding programs of high-quality rice for cooking and eating.

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Effects of Elevated CO2 and Heat on Wheat Grain Quality

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10051027 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 1027

Author(s):

Xizi Wang ◽

Fulai Liu

Keyword(s):

Grain Quality ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Co2 Concentration ◽

Yield Potential ◽

Wheat Crop ◽

Wheat Grain ◽

Wheat Growth ◽

Elevated Atmospheric Co2 ◽

Huge Impact ◽

Increasing Demand

Wheat is one of the most important staple foods in temperate regions and is in increasing demand in urbanizing and industrializing countries such as China. Enhancing yield potential to meet the population explosion around the world and maintaining grain quality in wheat plants under climate change are crucial for food security and human nutrition. Global warming resulting from greenhouse effect has led to more frequent occurrence of extreme climatic events. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2) along with rising temperature has a huge impact on ecosystems, agriculture and human health. There are numerous studies investigating the eCO2 and heatwaves effects on wheat growth and productivity, and the mechanisms behind. This review outlines the state-of-the-art knowledge regarding the effects of eCO2 and heat stress, individually and combined, on grain yield and grain quality in wheat crop. Strategies to enhance the resilience of wheat to future warmer and CO2-enriched environment are discussed.

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Assessing the Potential of Extra-Early Maturing Landraces for Improving Tolerance to Drought, Heat, and Both Combined Stresses in Maize

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10030318 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 318 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Charles Nelimor ◽

Baffour Badu-Apraku ◽

Antonia Yarney Tetteh ◽

Ana Luísa Garcia-Oliveira ◽

Assanvo Simon-Pierre N’guetta

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Abiotic Stress ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Yield Loss ◽

Yield Potential ◽

Genetic Base ◽

Maize Varieties ◽

Early Maturing ◽

Maize Landraces ◽

Landrace Accessions

Maize landrace accessions constitute an invaluable gene pool of unexplored alleles that can be harnessed to mitigate the challenges of the narrowing genetic base, declined genetic gains, and reduced resilience to abiotic stress in modern varieties developed from repeated recycling of few superior breeding lines. The objective of this study was to identify extra-early maize landraces that express tolerance to drought and/or heat stress and maintain high grain yield (GY) with other desirable agronomic/morpho-physiological traits. Field experiments were carried out over two years on 66 extra-early maturing maize landraces and six drought and/or heat-tolerant populations under drought stress (DS), heat stress (HS), combined both stresses (DSHS), and non-stress (NS) conditions as a control. Wide variations were observed across the accessions for measured traits under each stress, demonstrating the existence of substantial natural variation for tolerance to the abiotic stresses in the maize accessions. Performance under DS was predictive of yield potential under DSHS, but tolerance to HS was independent of tolerance to DS and DSHS. The accessions displayed greater tolerance to HS (23% yield loss) relative to DS (49% yield loss) and DSHS (yield loss = 58%). Accessions TZm-1162, TZm-1167, TZm-1472, and TZm-1508 showed particularly good adaptation to the three stresses. These landrace accessions should be further explored to identify the genes underlying their high tolerance and they could be exploited in maize breeding as a resource for broadening the genetic base and increasing the abiotic stress resilience of elite maize varieties.

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Effect of varying seeding rates on hybrid and conventional summer rape performance in Manitoba

Canadian Journal of Plant Science ◽

10.4141/cjps92-079 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 635-641 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

A. E. Van Deynze ◽

P. B. E. McVetty ◽

R. Scarth ◽

S. R. Rimmer

Keyword(s):

Protein Content ◽

Chlorophyll Content ◽

Seed Yield ◽

Harvest Index ◽

Dry Matter ◽

Oil Content ◽

Seed Quality ◽

Seeding Rate ◽

Seed Formation ◽

Matter Production

To compare the effects of varying seeding rate on the agronomic performance, phenology and seed quality of hybrid and conventional summer rape cultivars, four hybrid and two conventional summer rape cultivars were seeded at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0 and 9.0 kg ha−1 at two locations for 3 yr. The hybrid cultivars were, very importantly, 24% higher yielding and produced 50% more total dry matter than the conventional cultivars. The hybrid cultivars were, on average, 1.3% lower in seed oil content, 1.0% higher in seed protein content and equal in sum of oil and protein in the seed compared with the conventional cultivars. The hybrid cultivars were on average, 1.3 d later to 50% flowering and 1.1 d later to maturity than the average for the conventional cultivars, (i.e., equal or earlier to flowering and maturity than Regent). The hybrid cultivars were also 3.9% lower in harvest index and 1.3 ppm lower in chlorophyll content than the conventional cultivars. In spite of these differences, there were no significant cultivar-by-seeding-rate interactions, indicating that the hybrid and conventional cultivars responded similarly to varying seeding rate. Lodging, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, harvest index, survival, oil content and protein content displayed significant linear responses to varying seeding rate. Stand at maturity, seed yield and total dry matter production displayed significant linear and quadratic responses to varying seeding rate. Varying seeding rate had no effect on seed formation period, the sum of oil and protein content, or chlorophyll content. A seeding rate of 6 kg ha−1 maximized seed yield for both hybrid and conventional summer rape cultivars.Key words: Brassica napus, canola, seed quality, agronomy, phenology

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Pretreatment of brewery effluent to cultivate Spirulina sp. for nutrients removal and biomass production

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2017.363 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 76 (7) ◽

pp. 1852-1866 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Qian Lu ◽

Hui Liu ◽

Wen Liu ◽

Yuming Zhong ◽

Caibing Ming ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Protein Content ◽

Algal Biomass ◽

Oil Content ◽

Sustainable Utilization ◽

Nutrients Removal ◽

Nutrient Profile ◽

Algae Cultivation ◽

Appropriate Treatment ◽

Brewery Effluent

Due to the low concentration of nitrate and high contents of organics, brewery effluent was not suitable for the cultivation of Spirulina sp. This work changed the nutrient profile of brewery effluent effectively by dilution, addition of nitrate, and anaerobic digestion. The result showed that the optimum dilution rate and NaNO3 addition for brewery effluent were 20% and 0.5 g/L, respectively. Spirulina sp. grown in pretreated brewery effluent produced 1.562 mg/L biomass and reduced concentrations of nutrients to reach the permissible dischargeable limits. In addition, Spirulina sp. grown in pretreated brewery effluent had much higher protein content and oil content. So the appropriate treatment converted brewery effluent into a nutrient balanced medium for algae cultivation and alleviated the potential environmental problems. Pretreatment procedure developed in this work is an effective way to realize the sustainable utilization of brewery effluent and produce algal biomass with valuable nutrients.

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