Plant Breeding Archives - Department of Soil and Crop Sciences

Texas A&M AgriLife-bred wheat varieties top Texas producer choices

24Mar

A drone shot of the irrigated uniform variety wheat trial near Bushland gives a perspective on the differences in hard red winter wheat varieties, including those bred by Texas A&M AgriLife. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

by Kay Ledbetter

The Texas A&M AgriLife wheat breeding team once again leads in the development of the varieties producers select to plant across Texas, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA-NASS, survey.

TAM 114 remains at the top of the hard red winter wheat varieties, closely followed by TAM 204, according to the Texas Wheat Varieties report released recently. These two varieties led plantings in the Northern High Plains and Southern High Plains, the major wheat-producing regions of the state. TAMsoft 700 topped the survey for soft red winter varieties planted in the Blacklands and Cross Timbers regions.

“The Texas Wheat Team, comprised of outstanding breeders, agronomists, plant pathologists and entomologists, continues to provide the best wheat varieties available to growers in Texas and beyond,” said Larry Redmon, Ph.D., associate department head and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program leader in Texas A&M’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.

According to the USDA-NASS report, in 2020, the state planted an estimate of 4.9 million acres of wheat. For 2022, the preliminary estimate is 5.6 million acres.

“The results of the survey clearly show the success of the TAM wheat breeding program and offer insight into the varieties that are performing best for Texas farmers,” said Rodney Mosier, executive vice president of Texas Wheat Producers Board and Association, a funding partner of Texas A&M AgriLife’s wheat breeding program.

“Farmers support the wheat breeding program through the Texas Wheat Producers Board checkoff every year, and it is encouraging to see that investment paying off as TAM varieties perform well in the field and increase in popularity,” Mosier said.

2022 Wheat Variety Survey results

TAM 114, bred in 2014 by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is the top wheat planted in Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The 2022 Wheat Variety Survey, conducted from December through January, asked producers to report wheat acres planted and to be planted, by variety, for the 2022 crop year. AgriLife Extension funded the survey.

Those figures were compared to 2020 since there was no report generated for 2021, according to the USDA-NASS.

“We are excited to see these figures from NASS,” said Jackie Rudd, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research wheat breeder, Amarillo. “Our research aims to create varieties with improved insect and disease resistance, excellence in milling and baking qualities, and improved adaptability and forage performance. This report indicates that the producers believe in the TAM genetics we have developed.”

TAM 114 accounted for 5.6% of the 2022 wheat planted acres, and TAM 204 moved up three spots from the 2020 crop year, ranking second and accounting for 5.1% of acres planted for 2022. Both of these varieties were released in 2014.

TAM 114 was bred for the Texas High Plains, as well as western Kansas and eastern Colorado, and also performs well in most other areas of Texas. It is good in dual-purpose grazing and seed systems, tolerating heavy grazing pressure and still maintaining its grain yield and excellent bread quality.

TAM 204 is a beardless wheat bred for the Texas High Plains, Oklahoma and southern Kansas. It is an excellent heavy grazing and graze-out wheat with resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus, wheat curl mite, greenbug and Hessian fly.

TAM 204, bred in 2014 by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is the second-most planted wheat in Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

TAM 112, released in 2005, moved down to the fourth-place spot at 2.4% planted. TAM 111, a release from 2003, and TAM 112, released in 2005, which ranked as the top two planted wheat varieties for nearly a decade, are still popular at third, 2.7%, and fourth, 2.4%.

TAM 105, one of the oldest varieties in the survey, released in 1979, moved up from ninth to seventh place, with 1.6% of the acreage. Finally, TAM 113, released in 2010, gained one position at 1% of the acreage, to round out the top 10 varieties in 2022.

Other varieties and their positions were: Gallagher, with 1.9% of the acreage, dropped three spots from 2020 to fifth; SY Razor moved into the sixth slot and contributed to 1.8% of the acreage; Winterhawk tied with TAM 105 at seventh place at 1.6% of the acreage; and Smith’s Gold accounted for 1.2% of the 2022 acreage and placed ninth.

In the soft red winter wheat area, Amir Ibrahim, Ph.D., AgriLife Research wheat breeder in Bryan-College Station, said TAMsoft 700 was co-released jointly in 2009 by Texas A&M AgriLife and the University of Georgia. It targets excellent grain yield under heavy Hessian fly infestation conditions in north-central and eastern Texas.

TAM varieties

Rudd leads the Amarillo-Vernon Center of Excellence, which targets the High Plains and Rolling Plains. The primary breeding objectives aim to resist drought, wheat curl mite, wheat streak mosaic virus and greenbug.

Ibrahim leads the College Station Center of Excellence targeting Central Texas, South Texas and the Blacklands, with primary breeding objectives directed toward heat stress, leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, and Hessian fly resistance.

The two centers collaborate closely, so most varieties and breeding lines combine the strengths of both, leading to better varieties with a wider adaptation than either could develop working alone.

TAM 114 and TAM 204, both released in 2014, have complementary traits, Rudd said. TAM 114 offers excellent grain yield and quality and very good grazing, while TAM 204 has excellent grazing characteristics and very good grain yields, Rudd said.

“TAM 115 and TAM 205 are the new guys,” he said. “It is good to see them getting started, and I expect them to move up in rank rapidly.”

TAM 115 and TAM 205 were both released in 2019. TAM 115 is a dual-purpose variety bred for the Texas High Plains and offers both excellent drought tolerance and bread-making qualities. TAM 205 is another dual-purpose variety bred for the Texas High Plains and Rolling Plains. It provides good fall forage production, as well as maintains an excellent bread-making quality.

Two Texas A&M students named Borlaug Scholars by plant breeders association

3Jul

By: Beth Ann Luedeker
Two students from the Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Tia Dunbar and Ammani Kyanam, were among those named as Borlaug Scholars for 2020 by the National Association of Plant Breeders, NAPB.

“Both Tia and Ammani’s resumes reveal outstanding students with the potential to follow closely in the footsteps of Dr. Norman Borlaug in relieving hunger and poverty through plant breeding,” said Don Jones, chair, NAPB Borlaug Scholars committee.

The scholars program is named after Dr. Norman Borlaug, a plant breeder known as the Father of the Green Revolution.

The NAPB Borlaug Scholarship awards are given to exceptional students aspiring to careers in plant breeding and genetics and who have a strong desire to contribute to the improvement of the plants that we all depend upon for our daily needs, according to NAPB.

This is especially critical in this age of continually increasing populations, climate change and uncertain global food security – issues Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and also a plant breeder, cared about deeply. Plant breeding uniquely addresses these challenges through applied research and improving technologies, according to the association.

Dunbar is a master’s student under Michael Thomson, Ph.D., professor and HM Beachell Rice Chair with Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Kyanam is a doctoral student working with Bill Rooney, Ph.D., AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow and sorghum breeder.

Each wants to help improve agriculture through plant breeding, but they are approaching it from different angles.

Tia Dunbar

Dunbar is working to optimize “in planta” gene-editing techniques using nanotechnologies, while Kyanam is mapping quantitative trait loci, or QTL, for sugarcane aphid tolerance and evaluating a chemical male gametocide.

Tia Dunbar

“Most gene editing methods for crop improvement require time and labor-intensive in vitro tissue culture techniques,” Dunbar said in her application. “Bypassing the in vitro regeneration processes could facilitate gene editing and expand its use.”

“If we are successful, our optimized gene-editing protocol will enable accelerated improvement of rice,” Dunbar said.

While her research currently focuses on rice, Dunbar hopes to pursue a career that applies gene-editing techniques to a broader range of organisms.

“Growing up, my family did not always have access to healthy food, so I chose to major in plant breeding to learn more about crop improvement,” Dunbar said. “I see biotechnology as the key to manipulate agriculture to better serve the growing population and ease the suffering caused by hunger and malnutrition.”

Ammani Kyanam

Kyanam said she chose to pursue agriculture because of Borlaug, “but I chose plant breeding when I learned how direct an impact it had on the livelihoods of farmers, especially small farmers.”

Ammani Kyanam

As an undergraduate at the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad, India, Kyanam participated in the Rural Agricultural Work Experience Programme, RAWEP, where she shadowed a small farmer for a crop season.

“My inquiries showed me that farmers had progressive views about purchasing seed, and the boon that was BT cotton,” she said. “It also helped that my father was a seed salesman, and I had learned how important quality seed is to a farming operation.”

Fortunately for Kyanam, she not only loved plant breeding as a subject, but also has a knack for it. Her current focus is streamlining the sorghum breeding process.

“For my doctoral research, I am testing a chemical gametocide, triflouromethanesulfonamide, to assess its potential in generating testcross hybrid seed,” she said. “Hybrid seed production relies on male-sterile seed parents, and the current process to develop those parents is tedious and time consuming.”

Kyanam plans to pursue a career in an applied breeding program, developing new breeding materials and commercial hybrids, as well as evaluating pre-commercial hybrids.

“My secondary goal is to work in science communication and to contribute to clearing up the misinformation that is so prevalent,” Kyanam said.
Students making a difference

Both young women are active outside the classroom as well.

Dunbar is an officer in the Texas A&M Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science chapter and the University’s Women in Science and Engineering organization. She is an active member of Texas A&M’s Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences and was on the organizing committee for the Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium in 2020.

Kyanam is a founding member of the Corteva Plant Science Series’ Student Advisory Council and a graduate student liaison for NAPB’s communication committee. She has chaired several plant breeding symposia at Texas A&M and was a founding officer in the Soil and Crop Sciences Graduate Organization.

Texas A&M AgriLife brings wheat field tours to producers online

23Jun

By: Kay Ledbetter

Producers across the state are harvesting or have already harvested their wheat crop. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas A&M AgriLife wheat research and variety trials did not take a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it was not possible to conduct a traditional May wheat field tour, so Texas A&M AgriLife faculty across the state are bringing fields to producers – virtually.

The 2020 Virtual Wheat Tour is a combination of videos from across the state that allow producers to view the field trials and hear the latest in research, said Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide small grains and oilseed crops specialist, College Station.

Picking the best of the best

Winter wheat uniform variety trials, or UVT, were planted at 23 sites across the state in 18 different geographic locations to evaluate lines of wheat under both irrigated and dryland conditions, Guillen said.

The plots are a collaboration of AgriLife Extension agronomists and county agents as well as Texas A&M AgriLife Research’s two wheat breeders, Jackie Rudd, Ph.D., Amarillo, and Amir Ibrahim, Ph.D., College Station.

Guillen said the UVT include different varieties and experimental lines developed by Texas A&M AgriLife, as well as varieties from other universities and private industry. The results gathered from these test plots are used to make sound variety recommendations to producers in the different growing regions – High Plains, Rolling Plains, Blacklands and South Texas – by way of an annual “Picks list.” The 2020-2021 list will be posted in early August.

The best materials placed in the Picks list are selected based on a careful evaluation of:

Grain yield – the variety performs above average in its target region.
Disease and insect package – the variety’s ability to cope with seasonal disease and pressures within the target region – particularly leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, wheat streak mosaic virus, soil-borne mosaic virus, greenbug, wheat curl mite and Hessian fly.
End-use quality – specifically the variety must have above average test weight and good milling and baking attributes.
Stability – the variety must have the ability to perform consistently across locations and years within a given region.

This drone shot of the irrigated uniform variety trial near Bushland gives a wheat tour perspective on the differences in hard red winter wheat varieties. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

Variety trial locations

In the High Plains, there were three irrigated and three dryland trials located near Bushland, Groom, Perryton, Dumas and Dalhart. In these trials, 34 varieties were planted in the dryland trials and 36 in the irrigated ones. The dryland trials included eight Texas A&M AgriLife, TAM, varieties, four new experimental TAM lines, nine from other universities and 13 from the seed industry. The irrigated trials had eight TAM varieties, three experimental TAM lines, 11 from other universities and 14 from private industry. These trials are approaching the final stages of development, and they will soon be ready to harvest. This year no trials were lost due to weather conditions at the Panhandle.

In the Rolling Plains, there were trials under dryland conditions near Abilene, Chillicothe, Munday and San Angelo. They included 31 varieties – five TAM varieties, five experimental TAM lines, five from other universities and 16 from private industry. One location, Chillicothe, was impacted by freeze and hail damage.

The Blacklands had trials in Ellis, Hillsboro, McGregor, Muenster, Thrall and Prosper, all under dryland conditions. The Thrall location was lost, however, due to significant cattle damage. Harvest is underway at most locations. There were 23 varieties planted – four TAM, four experimental TAM lines, one from another university and 14 from private industry.

In South Texas, dryland trials were planted at Castroville, College Station, Eagle Lake and Uvalde and all were harvested in May. Twenty varieties were included in these trials – four TAM, five new experimental TAM lines, one from another university and 10 from private industry.

Wheat tour: Conditions and yields

Guillen said based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture report from May, approximately 80% of winter wheat was in fair condition or better. Only 21% was listed as poor or very poor. And at that time, about 30% had been harvested.

Ibrahim reported leaf rust was a problem again this year in the southern regions of the state, although not as severe as in previous years.

“It’s been wet in many areas of the Blacklands, so much so that we didn’t get to apply second dose of nitrogen this year,” he said. “Our yields were 50 to 60 bushels per acre instead of the 70 or 80 bushels per acre we typically see there.

“We also had some freeze damage in some of the early lines in South Texas and Central Texas. We had freezing temperatures in February after the wheat had started to joint. The freeze in Uvalde and Castroville came when the stems were elongating and caused the damage.”

Freezing temperatures and snow damaged wheat across the state in 2020. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Qingwu Xue)

Ibrahim said overall they saw good moisture and timely rains, although some rains impeded field operations. All locations other than the Blacklands were expected to see average yields.

Rudd said the weather has definitely provided the most optimum conditions to find the hardiest varieties.

“The reason our varieties are such strong performers under stress is because they have been bred and selected under stress,” he said.

In 2018, there was almost no rain and 2019 there was a lot of rain and good yields. Now in 2020, the rains were in the middle – decent early rains and then some snow through February and March, before they shut off.

“This gives us a good diversity of what we need when looking at different germplasm. Since breeding is a long multi-year process, something that can do really well in all three years are definitely keepers,” Rudd said.

He said many of the plots saw freeze and hail damage and then recent high winds caused some shattering in wheat lines that were not bred for the High Plains.

“Our target environment is a tough place and we need lines that will survive all these conditions,” Rudd said. “There are several experimental lines coming through the pipeline that we feel very good about. What we have in the pipeline are better than the existing varieties. The process works.”

Texas A&M researcher creating better corn yields and quality on less land

22Jun

By: Kay Ledbetter

As the human population booms, we hear the term “sustainable food supply” a great deal. One Texas A&M AgriLife researcher’s efforts to make corn production, whether for human or livestock consumption, more sustainable has earned him national recognition.
Seth Murray, Ph.D., is a Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientist finalist Seth Murray, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research corn breeder, has been selected as a Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientist finalist for a second time. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Texas A&M AgriLife Research corn breeder Seth Murray, Ph.D., is the Eugene Butler Endowed Chair in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences in College Station, and he is among the finalists for the prestigious Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists.

Seth Murray, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research corn breeder, has been selected as a Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientist finalist for a second time. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Murray determined that individual genes poorly predict corn yield, so he began to evaluate the physical and spectral traits, the “phenome”, of corn instead. Through the innovative use of statistical analysis of images collected from drones, he along with colleagues and students on his team examined the physical traits of corn over time and model traits to predict the highest yielding plants, optimizing breeding and selection.

While innovative breeding strategies have mostly focused on developing higher yielding and more stress and aflatoxin resistant corn, Murray is also in the process of creating perennial varieties of corn that could revolutionize agricultural practices and ensure the sustainability of corn production.

“Dr. Murray is leading the way in crop breeding and the use of advanced technologies that will allow growers to benefit from higher yields and increased stress resistance in corn,” said Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D., vice chancellor of Texas A&M AgriLife, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of AgriLife Research. “His pursuit to contribute to a safer and more secure food supply for our nation epitomizes the spirit of a land-grant university.”
The Blavatnik National Award

The Blavatnik award is presented by the New York Academy of Sciences that recognizes America’s most innovative young scientists and engineers. Thirty-one of the nation’s rising stars in science were announced June 17 as 2020 finalists of the prestigious award, the world’s largest unrestricted prize for early career scientists.

Murray was chosen from 305 nominations from 161 academic and research centers across 41 U.S. states, and is competing to be one of three Blavatnik National Awards Laureates, one in each of the award categories: Chemistry, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Life Sciences. Each Laureate will win $250,000. The three 2020 Blavatnik National Awards Laureates will be announced on July 22.

Launched in 2007 by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the awards were created with the New York Academy of Sciences to enhance research funding opportunities and emphasize the work of promising scientists under the age of 42 in three disciplinary categories of science and engineering.
Advancing corn research

Murray focuses his research on solving large-scale problems in crop production through plant breeding and technology, including the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs or drones, in agricultural decision making.

Murray, a world-renowned expert on crop field phenotyping, co-led a project of 40-plus faculty across disciplines in developing procedures for scaling UAV technology for breeding and precision agriculture. This project led to his program’s focus on crop characteristics and use of high-throughput measurements to select the most promising varieties in a breeding program.

Murray’s research program focuses on both quantitative genetic discovery and applied corn breeding for Texas and the southern U.S. Last year he released five new corn hybrids bred for the southern U.S.’s longer growing season and multiple stresses, characterizing them as “foundational to our future inbred and hybrid production and breeding efforts.”

Breeding trait research in his program includes improved aflatoxin resistance, drought tolerance and nutrient-use efficiency. It also addresses incorporation of novel genetic diversity for perennial, blue and quality protein corn.

“Corn is a tremendously productive crop, and through scientific discoveries farmers have increased yields eight-fold over the last 100 years,” he said. “That means one-eighth of the land is needed to get the same production, freeing up land for recreation, urbanization, wildlife or simply producing additional crops needed to feed a growing population.”

The next generation of UAVs and phenomics research will allow further improving crop yield while also improving the economic and environmental sustainability of growing them, Murray said.

Genomes of five cotton species unveiled by Texas-rich research team

20Apr

By: Kay Ledbetter

Cotton – we touch it every day. From clothes to medical supplies to animal feed, cotton continues to increase in quality. A recent collaborative, including Texas A&M researchers, is making sure this amazing crop, and thus the products made from it, will continue to be efficiently bred, grown and produced.

New cotton gene sequencing will help researchers improve the valuable staple in our lives. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

The multi-institutional research team sequenced five cotton species, including Upland and Pima cotton grown here in Texas, as well as globally. Contributions to the effort from Texas involved Texas A&M University, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the University of Texas – Austin.

The most recent issue of Nature Genetics reports on the results of this collaboration — high-quality genome-wide sequence assemblies for each of five 52-chromosome species of the cotton genus Gossypium, a member of the Malvaceae family, which also includes okra, kenaf, hibiscus, durian and cacao.

The overall project was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, and led by Z. Jeffrey Chen, Ph.D., a former student and former faculty member of Texas A&M who now holds the D. J. Sibley Centennial Professorship in Plant Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas at Austin.

Breeding cotton typically increases economic yield through better productivity, better quality of products and improved sustainability by providing better pest resistance and drought resilience, David Stelly, Ph.D., a co-principal investigator in the National Science Foundation project and AgriLife Research cotton breeder in the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, College Station.

“Globally, cotton is the premier natural fiber crop of the world, a major oilseed crop and an important feed crop,” Stelly said. “This report establishes new opportunities in multiple basic and applied scientific disciplines that relate directly and indirectly to genetic diversity, evolution, wild germplasm utilization and increasing the efficacy with which we use natural resources for provisioning society.”

The cotton genome research project

While fiber removed from the cotton seed is of greatest value, ginned seed also provides significant additional value as a source of vegetable oil and/or dairy cattle feed. The recent data and findings provide immediately accessible resources for basic and applied research, including breeding and gene editing.

The five cotton species (Graphic provided by David Stelly)

The other three species sequenced originate from Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands or Ecuador and Brazil. They remain undomesticated but are sources of prospectively useful genetic differences. The Nature Genetics report should facilitate use of all five species in genomics-aided cotton breeding programs.

Stelly said the importance of the assemblies may be accentuated by the extreme complexity of cotton’s genome. It contains a relatively large number of genes, about twice as many as occur in most flowering plants with simple genomes.

The researchers report that sequences of these five species’ genomes will provide long-needed genomics resources and insights that will facilitate genetic improvements needed to maintain economic yield from production, enhance quality and value of the fiber and seed products, and further improve sustainability-enhancing features, such as resistance to pests, pathogens, drought and heat-resilience.

Contributions from Stelly’s laboratory

Contributions from Texas A&M came through Stelly’s laboratory. A key finding by graduate student Luis De Santiago was the detection and mapping of numerous “haplotypic blocks” throughout the genome of Upland cottons.

Stelly explained these present a major challenge for breeding, because they are both non-recombinant and virtually uniform among cultivars. Evidence corroborating the haplotypic blocks was obtained from analyses of genetic recombination, also involving Yu-Ming Li and former student Amanda Hulse-Kemp, Ph.D.

Also, from Stelly’s laboratory, researchers Robert Vaughn, Ph.D., provided plant, seed and nuclei acid samples to the team, and Bo Liu, Ph.D., provided integrative molecular cytogenetic mapping data.

“This kind of mega-project takes a lot of time and effort, but can yield game-changing results, and this one certainly has done that,” Stelly said. “Already, we are seeing paradigm shifts in what we and others are doing and thinking about doing. These kinds of data are vital to our research and breeding efforts and open many doors for exploration.”

He also emphasized collaborations and individual contributions are instrumental to success.

“Research projects like this unlock agriculture’s potential,” said Patrick J. Stover, vice chancellor of Texas A&M AgriLife, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. “By developing crops that enhance health and increase profitability, we not only improve cotton immediately, but the way we approach this data and findings provide direction for basic and applied research far into the future.”

“The Soil and Crop Sciences Department appreciates the leadership of Dr. Stelly in guiding this project to completion and providing the vision for implementing the results to benefit our cotton producers,” said David Baltensperger, Ph.D., department head, College Station.

Other members of the team

Other project members include:
– Chen’s functional genomics / epigenetics team at UT-Austin.
– Jane Grimwood, Ph.D., and Jeremy Schmutz, along with their HudsonAlpha/JGI structural genomics and bioinformatics teams, including Jerry Jenkins, Ph.D., and key bioinformatics contributor Avinash Sreedasyam, Ph.D.
– The U.S. Department of Agriculture genomics and bioinformatics teams of Brian Scheffler, Ph.D., Mississippi, and Hulse-Kemp, North Carolina.
– The Clemson genomics team of Chris Saski, Ph.D.
– Keith McGee, Ph.D., and his educational team at Alcorn State.
– Mississippi State genomics group of Dan Peterson, Ph.D.
– The Iowa State taxonomic genomics group involving Jonathan Wendel and Corrinne Grover, both Ph.Ds.
– Industry involvement through Don Jones, Ph.D., with Cotton Incorporated, a not-for-profit company that works with cotton scientists, the textile industry and consumers.

Other institutions involved in the research were Nanjing Agricultural University in China, and the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. The work was supported by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cotton Incorporated. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The work was also supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China.

Genetic capabilities cut time for potential Texas wheat lines to make field appearance

16Dec

Writer: Kay Ledbetter

When new pests, diseases or environmental issues are identified in Texas wheat, expertise in doubled haploid development can help find solutions in less than half the time of traditional breeding practices.

Chenggen Chu, Ph.D., a geneticist, joined Texas A&M AgriLife Research’s wheat program at Amarillo two years ago, and his doubled haploid wheat pure lines are already making it to field yield trials this fall.

Since moving to Amarillo, Chu has built a wheat doubled haploid production pipeline from scratch that can be shared with AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding programs in both Amarillo and College Station. He is training other personnel on the process.

Chenggen Chu, Ph.D., Texas AM AgriLife Research geneticist, looks at the first crop of doubled haploid wheat pure lines in a yield field trial at Bushland. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The major advantage of using doubled haploid plants is to shorten time in developing genetically pure lines from five to six years in a traditional winter wheat breeding scheme, to only two or three years, said Shuyu Liu, Ph.D., AgriLife Research wheat geneticist, Amarillo.

“Texas A&M’s wheat breeding programs are very strong, but did not include anyone with the skills Dr. Chu brought with him,” Liu said. “The wheat doubled haploid line development procedures require some skilled steps in the laboratory.

“It also requires a special growth room and lab equipment for inducing haploid embryos, growing plants from young haploid embryos, doubling chromosome numbers to bring back the fertility, and recovering plants to grow in soil for seed production.”

What is doubled haploid?

Traditional wheat two sets of chromosomes (genetic material from both parents). This is called a diploid. In the general procedure for wheat doubled haploid production, corn was used as the father to pollinate the mother wheat plants.

During embryo development, only the chromosomes from the wheat mother plant are kept. These embryos with a single set of chromosomes are haploids and are highly sterile, producing almost no seed.

However, through an induced chromosome doubling process – the skill that Chu brings to the program – the haploids can produce another copy of chromosomes in each cell, bringing the chromosome numbers back to the normal two sets per cell and fully restoring their fertility.

This doubled haploid process turns the haploid to the regular diploid with two sets of chromosomes that are identical. The identical sets of chromosomes in each cell makes doubled haploid lines 100% genetically stable, even after being reproduced for many generations.

“This genetic stability, regardless of time and location, makes trait evaluation more accurate and reliable for breeders,” Chu said.

Chenggen Chu works in the lab at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Amarillo. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Doubled haploids in the field

Chu has been able to optimize the procedures to increase efficiencies on both haploid plant induction and chromosome doubling. He led the genetic team working with Texas A&M’s two wheat breeding programs in College Station and Amarillo, and he produced more than 1,300 doubled-haploid lines in the first season from about 40 crosses.

The team has now finished the second season and harvested over 700 lines. The first set of 550 lines were increased for seed in Yuma, Arizona, and have been planted in multiple locations this fall for yield trials.

Liu said the process isn’t without challenges, as with any crop. The 2018 summer was very good for growing doubled haploid plants in the greenhouse in Bushland, but this past summer many plants failed to produce enough tillers due to the stressful, hot environment.

Next steps

“We would like to keep the trained personnel and established procedures and a facility to continue doubled haploid production to meet the requirements from both breeding and genetic research,” Liu said. “But that takes funding.”

He said they are currently working on two U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture projects where doubled haploids are involved to develop pure lines with target genes.

At the same time, Chu is working to optimize the procedures further to increase the efficiency of doubled haploid development.

“We greatly appreciate the funding support from the Crop Improvement Program of Texas A&M AgriLife Research during the last two years and the continuous support from Texas Wheat Producers Board,” Liu said.

Such funding, he said, will be key to keeping skilled technicians and a facility with controlled light and temperature conditions in place.

Marsh named Borlaug Scholar by plant breeders

10Jul

By: Kay Ledbetter

Sarah Marsh, a senior in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University, is one of 12 students recognized by the National Association of Plant Breeders, or NAPB, in the 2019 class of NAPB Borlaug Scholars.

“The NAPB Borlaug Scholarship awards are given to exceptional students aspiring to a careers in plant breeding and genetics and who have a strong desire to contribute to the improvement of the plants that we all depend upon for our daily needs,” according to NAPB.

Sarah Marsh – senior Plant and Environmental Soil Science major.

This is especially critical in this age of continually increasing populations, climate change and uncertain global food security – issues Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and also a plant breeder, cared about deeply. Plant breeding uniquely addresses these challenges through applied research and improving technologies, according to the association.

“To receive this award is an honor, and it is encouragement to continue striving towards a career in plant breeding,” Marsh said. “It is my belief that plant breeding holds an ever-important space in agriculture, and to be able to be a part of that through this program is humbling.

“I have been fortunate this far to have met professors who have encouraged me in this subject. It is my hope that this award allows me to connect with more people in order to further my knowledge of this necessary subject.”

These awards include a travel grant valued up to $1,500 to attend the 2019 NAPB annual meeting at Calloway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, Aug. 25-29, plus participation in a professional development mentoring program that connects these scholars with experienced NAPB professional members. Awards come with a free new student membership in NAPB and complimentary registration for the conference.

The students were selected from an impressive field of nominees with strong recommendations from professors and advisers through a rigorous national competition, according to NAPD.

In his nomination of Marsh, Dr. Steve Hague, Texas A&M cotton breeder, said she enrolled in his Plant Breeding and Genetics course in 2017 and later took two other courses he taught, making ‘As’ in all three courses.

“In my courses, her work was creative and went beyond what most students were submitting,” Hague said. “She grasped complex systems quickly and was capable of providing original answers.
Sarah grew up on a family farm in northern California, where they produced vegetable crops and almonds. I have no doubt that is where she acquired her dogged work ethic.”

Marsh’s career objective is to become a plant breeder. She has a particular interest in rice. Hague said this award will allow her to become familiar with plant breeders from around the country.

“She is one of the most capable students I have had the opportunity to encounter,” he said.

Marsh has been active in the Texas A&M soil and crop sciences department as a member of the undergraduate Agronomy Society, along with participating in a study abroad program to Brazil. She has been recognized for academic acumen as the recipient of the Texas A&M President’s Endowed Scholarship, as well as numerous departmental-level scholarships.

The NAPB Borlaug Scholarship awards were initiated in 2018 with an inaugural class of eight students, who attended the first internationally held NAPB annual meeting in Guelph, Canada. Due to the success and interest in the program, a 25% increase in nominations were submitted for 2019, according to NAPB.

The selection committee increased the number of awards by 50%, exceeding the original goal, according to NAPB. This was made possible by continual gifts to the NAPB/ASF Borlaug Scholars Fund by individuals and institutional donations.

Two new wheat varieties announced by Texas A&M AgriLife

24Apr

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Jackie Rudd, 806-677-5600, jcrudd@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Richard Vierling, 940-552-9941, richard.vierling@ag.tamu.edu

AMARILLO – Two new wheat varieties have been announced by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the TAM Wheat Improvement Program, according to Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder at Amarillo.

“We are excited to release these two new varieties that will complement the TAM lineup already being grown throughout much of Texas and the Southern High Plains of the U.S.,” Rudd said.

“Both are well-suited to battle against our environmental challenges and still perform well in end-user tests,” he said.

One of the newest wheat varieties to be released by Texas A&M AgriLife Research is TAM 115, pictured here to the right of TAM 114. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Dr. Richard Vierling, director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon and Texas Foundation Seed manager, said the two varieties have been submitted to the State Seed Plant Board. The board is appointed to oversee the seed certification program and will meet mid-June to review the varieties.

Vierling said both varieties are being grown in the Foundation seed increase this year and are performing well in the field. The Foundation and Registered classes of seed are the ones used to produce the Certified class, which is most typically used by the commercial producer.

“This step is designed to assure seed purity and quality, and genetic integrity during the commercial life of the variety,” he said. “We will start the licensing process as soon as we get seed in the bin.”

Rudd said some Certified seed will be available this fall, while most of the Foundation seed will be used for Registered and Certified seed for 2020. The licensee will decide how much to sell as Certified and how much to save for increase for next year.

TAM 115 is a hard, red winter wheat developed from a cross with TAM 112, Rudd said. The second release, TAM 205, was developed from the cross of RonL and a TAM experimental breeding line.

TAM 115 has good yield under dryland and irrigated conditions and has an excellent protection package for the High Plains, with resistance to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, greenbug and wheat curl mite, he said.

Of these center four rows, the two on the left are TAM 205 and the two on the right are TAM 115. These strips are located in the Texas A&M AgriLife Research irrigated field trials near Bushland. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

“It is a few days later in flowering than the most popular cultivars in Texas, but compensates well with its rapid grain-fill characteristics,” Rudd said. “With large seeds, high test weight and strong dough properties, it received above-average milling and baking scores in the 2018 Wheat Quality Council evaluations.”

He said TAM 115 has drought tolerance, water-use efficiency, greenbug resistance and wheat curl mite resistance from the popular drought tolerant cultivar TAM 112, and leaf and stripe rust resistance from a Texas experimental line.

This new variety has performed well across the High Plains, Rolling Plains and Blacklands in Texas, as well as other southern Great Plains areas like western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

TAM 205 is resistant to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, wheat streak mosaic virus, soil-borne wheat mosaic virus, spindle streak mosaic virus and fusarium head blight or scab, Rudd said.

“With large seeds, high test weight and strong dough properties, it also received very good milling and baking scores in this year’s Wheat Quality Council evaluation,” he said. “The bread-making characteristics of TAM 205 make it an excellent choice for whole-wheat products as well as traditional pan bread.”

TAM 205 has performed well across the nation’s southern winter wheat-growing regions and the Texas High Plains, Rolling Plains and the Blacklands.

“Both of these new varieties cover the ground quickly in the fall for good forage production,” Rudd said. “Both have performed well in traditional and organic production systems for grain only and for heavy grazing plus grain.”

Grain and forage yield data are available at http://varietytesting.tamu.edu/wheat/#varietytrials.

Texas A&M releases new corn lines for use in commercial hybrids

23Apr

By: Kay Ledbetter

Texas corn producers will have hybrids better suited to the state’s longer growing season and multiple stresses in the future after a Texas A&M AgriLife team from across the state released five new lines bred specifically for that purpose.

“These are the first lines tested, selected and released for commercial corn hybrid production in central and south Texas in over 20 years,” said Dr. Seth Murray, Eugene Butler Endowed Chair at Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Research corn breeder in College Station. “They will be foundational to our future inbred and hybrid production and breeding efforts.”

AgriLife Research approved the release of these lines in 2017, which means they have been introduced in commercial hybrids and are looking for commercial partners to make them available at scale to producers.

Texas A&M field trials show recently released inbred line Tx777 (left), with commercial inbred line LH195 (right), and the resulting hybrid a farmer would plant (center). Tx777 and the hybrid have excellent adaptation to the field stresses that occur throughout Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Seth Murray)

Murray and other AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service team members discuss the attributes of the five corn inbred lines – Tx741, Tx777, Tx779, Tx780 and Tx782 – in the recently published “Inbred Maize Lines for Yield and Southern United States Stress Adaptation” article in Journal of Plant Registrations, https://tinyurl.com/y6287qp7.

Other current team members are Dr. Wenwei Xu, AgriLife Research corn breeder, Lubbock; Dr. Tom Isakeit, AgriLife Extension Service plant pathologist, College Station; and Dr. Gary Odvody, AgriLife Research plant pathologist, Corpus Christi.

Also a part of this ongoing research project over the past 10 years in the Texas A&M department of soil and crop sciences, College Station, were Dr. Javier Betran, former AgriLife Research corn breeder; and Kerry Mayfield and Jacob Pekar, both research associates.

Helping with the photoperiod-sensitive trials were Dr. Patrick Brown in the department of crop and soil sciences, University of Illinois, and Dr. Aaron Lorenz in the department of agronomy, University of Minnesota.

Corn, also known as maize in world agriculture, has gone through modern commercialization with inbreds, or pure parental lines, and hybrids selected from temperate germplasm insufficiently adapted to Texas and other southern U.S. environments, Murray said.

New Texas inbred line Tx777 being increased and used as a parent in an isolation block to make hybrid seed for testing and limited distribution. Its deep orange color is novel in the US and highly desirable in some foreign markets. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Seth Murray)

“These new Texas lines broaden the genetic diversity of U.S. corn,” he said. “They can immediately be used in commercial hybrids and certainly should be useful in breeding new corn lines and hybrids adapted to southern U.S. environment.”

The Texas A&M lines are competitive for yield across the southern U.S. and were selected within Texas stress environments from mostly tropical germplasm previously selected for aflatoxin resistance and have outstanding grain quality.

“We also measured benefits including reduced southern rust, reduced incidence of southern corn leaf blight and lower susceptibility to Lepidopteran insects compared with commercial material currently available,” Murray said.

The lines produce yields comparable to the best commercially available hybrids, he said. The AgriLife Research breeding program crossed with a variety of these commercial testers, and the resulting hybrids were grown at multiple locations over several years.

“Several hybrids from each line produced yields that met or exceeded those of current commercial hybrids,” Murray said. “These lines and their hybrids had additional beneficial traits, including high test weight and reduced susceptibility to diseases such as southern rust and aflatoxin.”

He said using the unique tropical germplasm allowed these inbred lines to be subjected to high day and night temperatures that often cause heat and water stress, and only the best were selected for how they handled those stresses.

However, for these lines to be most useful for seed production, they need to flower early enough in commercial midwestern U.S. seed production areas, Murray said.

Photoperiod sensitivity is one of the major limitations to bringing tropical material into temperate climates, he said. The resulting delay in flowering can cause a number of issues, from seed production to appropriate phenotyping.

Texas A&M field trials show recently released inbred line Tx777 (left), with commercial inbred line LH195 (right), and the resulting hybrid a farmer would plant (center). Tx777 and the hybrid have excellent adaptation to the field stresses that occur throughout Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Seth Murray)

“It is quite challenging to separate late-flowering hybrids, which need higher growing degree days, from true photoperiod sensitivity,” he said. “We have almost no ability to select for lines with reduced photoperiod sensitivity in College Station because plants flower before the summer solstice, making this one of the few environments to do so in the U.S.”

To attempt to quantify this occurrence, the team grew a larger set of lines in Nebraska and Illinois to identify correspondence in flowering times. Of the lines from the breeding program that had been growing in all three environments – Texas, Nebraska and Illinois – only two had flowering times near what is needed.

Although these lines have some unique shortcomings, notably delayed flowering in Midwestern seed production environments and large seed, which could be expensive to produce as female seed parents, these lines will be foundational to future inbred and hybrid production and breeding efforts.

“The Texas Corn Producers Board and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture have been key supporters of Texas A&M AgriLife to develop these lines and to continue to address the numerous issues Texas corn farmers face,” Murray said.

Seed for Tx741, Tx777, Tx779, Tx780 and Tx782 will be maintained by the Quantitative Genetics and Maize Breeding Program of AgriLife Research at College Station. Seed is available with a Materials Transfer Agreement from the Office of Technology Commercialization, Texas A&M University System, 1700 Research Parkway, Suite 250, College Station, TX 77845-9548.

2019 Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium held

20Mar

Writer: Beth Ann Luedeker

Dr. Bill Rooney, Professor and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement, discussed the use of genome prediction for crop improvement. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Soil and Crop Sciences and Horticulture graduate students teamed up once again to host the Texas A&M University Plant Breeding Symposium at the Memorial Student Center February 21.

This is the fourth year for student-run symposium, and the event keeps getting bigger and better. Since its inception the symposium has been attended by 1,200 scientists and graduate students either in person or via the live webinar broadcast.

Graduate student organizers of the symposium were (from left to right) Jales Fonseca, Yu-ya Liang, Nolan Bentley, Cynthia Sias, Jeewan Pandey, Anil Adhikari, and Roy Davis.

Plant Breeders, Assemble! was the theme for this year, with a focus on how interdisciplinary teams are working together for plant improvement. Keynote speakers included Dr. Tabare Abadie of Corteva, Dr. Matthew Rouse of the USDA-ARS, Dr. Jose Crossa of CIMMYT, and Dr. Bill Rooney, TAMU Professor and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement.

Three travel scholarships were provided by Corteva to bring students from other universities to present their research posters at this symposium. The winners of those scholarships were Gina Sideli, a Ph.D. student in Hortuculture and Agronomy at the University of California-Davis; Bal Maharajan, a Master’s student in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; and Alexander Susko, a Ph.D. student in Plant Breeding at the University of Minnesota.

Ranjita Thapa, April DeMell and Ammani Kyanam were the graduate students selected to speak at the symposium.

Three Texas A&M students were given the opportunity to speak at the symposium in addition to presenting their research posters. Those speakers were April DeMell a Master’s student in Plant Pathology; Ammani Kyanam, a Ph.D. student in Plant breeding under Dr. Bill Rooney; and Ranjita Thapa, a Ph.D. Plant Breeding student under Dr. Michael Thomson.

Winners in the poster competiton were Stephany Toinga, 1st; Aditi Raju, 2nd; and Lauren Fedinia 3rd.

Stephany Toinga placed first with in the research poster competition. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Graduate student Yu-ya Liang introduces a speaker during the afternoon session of the symposium.

More than 40 graduate students presented their research posters during the Plant Breeding Symposium.

Graduate student Jales Fonseca introduced the speakers during the morning session. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)