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Wheat shovelomics I: A field phenotyping approach for characterising the structure and function of root systems in tillering species

Larry M. York, Shaunagh Slack, Malcolm J Bennett, View ORCID ProfileM John Foulkes
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/280875
Larry M. York
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Shaunagh Slack
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Malcolm J Bennett
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M John Foulkes
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  • ORCID record for M John Foulkes
  • For correspondence: John.Foulkes@nottingham.ac.uk
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Abstract

Wheat represents a major crop, yet the current rate of yield improvement is insufficient to meet its projected global food demand. Breeding root systems more efficient for water and nitrogen capture represents a promising avenue for accelerating yield gains. Root crown phenotyping, or shovelomics, relies on excavation of the upper portions of root systems in the field and measuring root properties such as numbers, angles, densities and lengths. We report a new shovelomics method that images the whole wheat root crown, then partitions it into the main shoot and tillers for more intensive phenotyping. Root crowns were phenotyped using the new method from the Rialto × Savannah population consisting of both parents and 94 doubled-haploid lines. For the whole root crown, the main shoot, and tillers, root phenes including nodal root number, growth angle, length, and diameter were measured. Substantial variation and heritability were observed for all phenes. Principal component analysis revealed latent constructs that imply pleiotropic genetic control of several related root phenes. Correlational analysis revealed that nodal root number and growth angle correlate among the whole crown, main shoot, and tillers, indicating shared genetic control among those organs. We conclude that this phenomics approach will be useful for breeding ideotype root systems in tillering species.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted March 12, 2018.
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Wheat shovelomics I: A field phenotyping approach for characterising the structure and function of root systems in tillering species
Larry M. York, Shaunagh Slack, Malcolm J Bennett, M John Foulkes
bioRxiv 280875; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/280875
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Wheat shovelomics I: A field phenotyping approach for characterising the structure and function of root systems in tillering species
Larry M. York, Shaunagh Slack, Malcolm J Bennett, M John Foulkes
bioRxiv 280875; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/280875

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