Abstract
Key message
By comparing 195 varieties in eight trials, this study assesses nitrogen use efficiency improvement in high and low nitrogen conditions in European winter wheat over the last 25 years.
Abstract
In a context where European agriculture practices have to deal with environmental concerns and nitrogen (N) fertiliser cost, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) has to be improved. This study assessed genetic progress in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) NUE. Two hundred and twenty-five European elite varieties were tested in four environments under two levels of N. Global genetic progress was assessed on additive genetic values and on genotype × N interaction, covering 25 years of European breeding. To avoid sampling bias, quality, precocity and plant height were added as covariates in the analyses when needed. Genotype × environment interactions were highly significant for all the traits studied to such an extent that no additive genetic effect was detected on N uptake. Genotype × N interactions were significant for yield, grain protein content (GPC), N concentration in straw, N utilisation, and NUE. Grain yield improvement (+0.45 % year−1) was independent of the N treatment. GPC was stable, thus grain nitrogen yield was improved (+0.39 % year−1). Genetic progress on N harvest index (+0.12 % year−1) and on N concentration in straw (−0.52 % year−1) possibly revealed improvement in N remobilisation. There has been an improvement of NUE additive genetic value (+0.33 % year−1) linked to better N utilisation (+0.20 % year−1). Improved yield stability was detected as a significant improvement of NUE in low compared to high N conditions. The application of these results to breeding programs is discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ADM_S:
-
Straw dry matter at maturity
- BLUE:
-
Best linear unbiased estimator
- BLUP:
-
Best linear unbiased predictor
- E:
-
Environment
- FLO:
-
Flowering date
- G:
-
Genotype
- GNY:
-
Grain nitrogen yield
- GPC:
-
Grain protein content
- GPD:
-
Grain protein deviation
- GY:
-
Grain dry matter yield
- HI:
-
Harvest index
- HN:
-
High nitrogen input
- KS:
-
Kernel per spike
- LN:
-
Low nitrogen input
- LRT:
-
Likelihood ratio test
- LSD:
-
Fisher’s least significant difference test
- N:
-
Nitrogen
- %N_S:
-
Straw nitrogen content at maturity
- NHI:
-
Nitrogen harvest index
- NSA:
-
Straw nitrogen per area
- NTA:
-
Total nitrogen in plant at maturity
- NUE:
-
Nitrogen use efficiency
- NUE_Prot:
-
Nitrogen use to protein efficiency
- NupE:
-
Nitrogen uptake
- NutE:
-
Nitrogen utilisation efficiency
- NutE_Prot:
-
Nitrogen utilisation to protein efficiency
- P:
-
P value
- PH:
-
Plant height
- SA:
-
Spike per area
- TKW:
-
Thousand kernel weight
- YR:
-
Year of release
References
Anbessa Y, Juskiw P, Good A, Nyachiro J, Helm J (2010) Selection efficiency across environments in improvement of barley yield for moderately low nitrogen environments. Crop Sci 50:451–457
Allard V, Martre P, Le Gouis J (2013) Genetic variability in biomass allocation to roots in wheat is mainly related to crop tillering dynamics and nitrogen status. Eur J Agron 46:68–73
Atlin GN, Frey KJ (1989) Predicting the relative effectiveness of direct versus indirect selection for oat yield in three types of stress environments. Euphytica 44:137–142
Austin RB (1999) Yield of wheat in the United Kingdom: recent advances and prospects. Crop Sci 39:1604–1610
Bänziger M, Etran FJB, Afitte HRL (1997) Efficiency of high-nitrogen selection environments for improving maize for low-nitrogen target environments. Crop Sci 37:1103–1109
Barraclough PB, Howarth JR, Jones J, Lopez-Bellido R, Parmar S, Shepherd CE, Hawkesford MJ (2010) Nitrogen efficiency of wheat: genotypic and environmental variation and prospects for improvement. Eur J Agron 33:1–11
Bingham I, Karley A, White P, Thomas W, Russell J (2012) Analysis of improvements in nitrogen use efficiency associated with 75 years of spring barley breeding. Eur J Agron 42:49–58
Brancourt-Hulmel M, Doussinaut G, Lecomte C, Berard P, LeBuanec B, Trottet M (2003) Genetics improvement of agronomic traits of winter wheat cultivars released in France from 1946 to 1992. Crop Sci 43:37–45
Bogard M, Allard V, Brancourt-Hulmel M, Heumez E, Machet JM, Jeuffroy MH, Gate P, Martre P, Le Gouis J (2010) Deviation from the grain protein concentration-grain yield negative relationship is highly correlated to post-anthesis N uptake in winter wheat. J Exp Bot 61:4303–4312
Bordes J, Ravel C, Jaubertie JP, Duperrier B, Gardet O, Heumez E, Pissavy AL, Charmet G, Le Gouis J, Balfourrier F (2012) Genomic regions associated with the nitrogen limitation response revealed in a global wheat core collection. Theor Appl Genet 126:805–822
Brancourt-Hulmel M, Heumez E, Pluchard P, Beghin D, Depatureaux C, Giraud A, Le Gouis J (2005) Indirect versus direct selection of winter wheat for low input or high input levels. Crop Sci 45:1427–1431
Brisson N, Gate P, Gouache D, Charmet G, Oury F-X, Huard F (2010) Why are wheat yields stagnating in Europe? A comprehensive data analysis for France. Field Crops Res 119:201–212
Bruinsma J (2009) The resource outlook to 2050. By how much do land, water use and crop yields need to increase by 2050? FAO, Expert Meeting on How to Feed the World in 2050, Rome, Italy
Bushuk W (1998) Wheat breeding for end-product use. Euphytica 100:137–145
Butler DG, Cullis BR, Gilmour AR, Gogel BJ (2009) ASReml-R reference manual. Queensland Department of Primary Industries. http://www.vsni.co.uk/downloads/asreml/release2/doc/asreml-R.pdf
Ceccarelli S, Grando S, Hamblin J (1992) Relationship between barley grain yield measured in low- and high-yielding environments. Euphytica 64:49–58
Cullis BR, Smith AB, Coombes NE (2006) On the design of early generation variety trials with correlated data. J Agric Biol Environ Stat 11:381–393
Erisman JW, Galloway JA, Sutton MS, Klimont Z, Winiwater W (2008) How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world. Nat Geosci 1:636–639
Falconer D, Mackay T (1996) Introduction to quantitative genetics, 4th edn. Longman Scientific & Technical, New York
Fischer R, Edmeades G (2010) Breeding and cereal yield progress. Crop Sci 50:85–98
Foulkes M, Hawkesford M, Barraclough P, Holdsworth M, Kerr S, Kightley S, Shewry P (2009) Identifying traits to improve the nitrogen economy of wheat: recent advances and future prospects. Field Crops Res 114:329–342
Gaju O, Allard V, Martre P, Snape JW, Heumez E, Le Gouis J, Moreau D, Bogard M, Griffiths S, Orford S, Hubbart S, Foulkes MJ (2011) Identification of traits to improve the nitrogen-use efficiency of wheat genotypes. Field Crops Res 123:139–152
Gooding MJ, Addisu M, Uppal RK, Snape JW, Jones HE (2012) Effect of wheat dwarfing genes on nitrogen-use efficiency. J Agric Sci 150:3–22
Goulding KWT (2004) Minimising losses of nitrogen from UK agriculture. J R Agric Soc Engl 165:1–11
Graybosch R, Peterson C (2012) Specific adaptation and genetic progress for grain yield in Great Plains hard winter wheats from 1987 to 2010. Crop Sci 52:631–643
Green A, Berger G, Griffey C, Pitman R, Thomason W, Balota M, Ahmed A (2012) Genetic yield improvement in soft red winter wheat in the eastern United States from 1919 to 2009. Crop Sci 52:2097–2108
Guarda G, Padovan S, Delogu G (2004) Grain yield, nitrogen-use efficiency and baking quality of old and modern Italian bread-wheat cultivars grown at different nitrogen levels. Eur J Agron 21:181–192
Guo Y, Kong FM, Xu YF, Zhao Y, Liang X, Wang YY, An DG, Li SS (2012) QTL mapping for seedling traits in wheat under varying concentrations of N, P and K nutrients. Theor Appl Genet 124:851–865
Hedden P (2003) The genes of the green revolution. Trends Genet 19:5–9
Hirel B, Le Gouis J, Ney B, Gallais A (2007) The challenge of improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop plants: toward a more central role for genetic variability and quantitative genetics within integrated approaches. J Exp Bot 58:2369–2387
Kant S, Bi YM, Rothstein S (2011) Understanding plant response to nitrogen limitation for the improvement of crop nitrogen use efficiency. J Exp Bot 62:1499–1509
Kendall MG, Stuart A (1979) The advanced theory of statistics, 4th edn. Griffin, London
Kibite S, Evans LE (1984) Cause of negative correlations between grain yield and grain protein concentration in common wheat. Euphytica 33:801–810
Kichey T, Hirel B, Dubois F, Le Gouis J (2007) In winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), post-anthesis nitrogen uptake and remobilisation to the grain correlates with agronomic traits and nitrogen physiological markers. Field Crops Res 102:22–32
Laperche A, Brancourt-Hulmel M, Heumez E, Gardet O, Le Gouis J (2006a) Estimation of genetic parameters of a DH wheat population grown at different N stress levels characterized by probe genotypes. Theor Appl Genet 112:797–807
Laperche A, Devienne-Barret F, Maury O, Le Gouis J, Ney B (2006b) A simplified conceptual model of carbon/nitrogen functioning for QTL analysis of wheat adaptation to nitrogen deficiency. Theor Appl Genet 113:1131–1146
Le Gouis J, Beghin B, Heumez E, Pluchard P (2000) Genetic differences for nitrogen uptake and nitrogen utilisation efficiencies in winter wheat. Eur J Agron 12:163–173
Liu X, Li R, Chang X, Jing R (2013) Mapping QTLs for seedling root traits in a doubled haploid wheat population under different water regimes. Euphytica 189:51–66
Lopez-Bellido L, Lopez-Bellido R, Lopez-Bellido F (2006) Fertilizer nitrogen efficiency in durum wheat under rainfed Mediterranean conditions: effect of split application. Agron J 98:55–62
Lopez MS, Reynolds MP, Manes Y, Singh RP, Crossa J, Braun HJ (2012) Genetic yield gains and changes in associated traits of CIMMYT spring bread wheat in a “historic” set representing 30 years of breeding. Crop Sci 52:1123–1131
Manske GGB, Ortiz-Monasterio IJ, Vlek PLG (2001) Techniques for measuring genetic diversity in roots. In: Reynolds MP, Ortiz-Monasterio I.J, McNab A (eds) Application of physiology in wheat breeding. CIMMYT, Mexico, D.F, pp 208–218
Moll RH, Kamprath EJ, Jackson WA (1982) Analysis and interpretation of factors which contribute to efficiency of nitrogen utilization. Agron J 74:562–564
Monaghan JM, Snape JW, Chojecki AJS, Kettlewell PS (2001) The use of grain protein deviation for identifying wheat cultivars with high protein concentration and yield. Euphytica 122:309–317
Muurinen S, Slafer GA, Peltonen Sainio P (2006) Breeding effects on nitrogen use efficiency of spring cereals under northern conditions. Crop Sci 46:561–568
Olesen JE, Jørgensen LN, Petersen J, Mortensen JV (2003) Effects of rate and timing of nitrogen fertilizer on disease control by fungicides in winter wheat. 2. Crop growth and disease development. J Ag Sci 140:15–29
Oury FX, Bérard P, Brancourt-Hulmel M, Depatureaux C, Doussinault G, Galic N, Giraud A, Heumez E, Lecomte C, Pluchard P, Rolland B, Rousset M, Trottet M (2003) Yield and grain protein concentration in bread wheat: a review and a study of multi-annual data from a French breeding program. J Genet Breed 57:59–68
Oury FX, Godin C (2007) Yield and grain protein concentration in bread wheat: how to use the negative relationship between the two characters to identify favourable genotypes? Euphytica 157:45–57
Oury FX, Godin C, Mailliard A, Chassin A, Gardet O, Giraud A, Heumez E, Morlais JY, Rolland B, Rousset M, Trottet M, Charmet G (2012) A study of genetic progress due to selection reveals a negative effect of climate change on bread wheat yield in France. Eur J Agron 40:28–38
Ortiz-Monasterio I, Sayre KD, Rajaram S, McMahon M (1997a) Genetic progress in wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency under four N rates. Crop Sci 37:898–904
Ortiz-Monasterio I, Pena RJ, Sayre KD, Rajaram S (1997b) CIMMYT’s genetic progress in wheat grain quality under four N rates. Crop Sci 37:892–898
Pathak RR, Lochab S, Raghuram N (2011) Plant systems | improving plant nitrogen-use efficiency. In: Murray M-Y (ed) Comprehensive biotechnology, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 209–218
Peng J, DE Richards, Hartley NM, Murphy GP, Devos KM, Flintham JE, Beales J, Fish LJ, Worland AJ, Pelica F, Sudhakar D, Christou P, Snape JW, Gale MD, Harberd NP (1999) ‘Green revolution’ genes encode mutant gibberellin response modulators. Nature 400:256–261
Presterl T, Seitz G, Landbeck M, Thiemt W, Schmidt W, Geiger HH (2003) Improving nitrogen use efficiency in European maize: estimation of quantitative parameters. Crop Sci 43:1259–1265
Rothstein S (2007) Returning to our roots: making plant biology research relevant to future challenges in agriculture. Plant Cell 19:2695–2699
Shewry PR, Halford NG (2002) Cereal seed storage proteins: structures, properties and role in grain utilization. J Exp Bot 53:947–958
Shewry PR (2004) Improving the protein content and quality of temperate cereals: wheat, barley and rye. In Cakmak I, Welch R (eds) Impacts of agriculture on human health and nutrition. USDA, ARS, U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, Cornell University, USA
Simmonds NW (1995) The relation between yield and protein in cereal grain. J Sci Food Agric 67:309–315
Sinebo W, Gretzmacher R, Edelbauer A (2002) Environment of selection for grain yield in low fertilizer input barley. Field Crops Res 74:151–162
Sylvester-Bradley R, Kindred DR (2009) Analysing nitrogen responses of cereals to prioritize routes to the improvement of nitrogen use efficiency. J Exp Bot 60:1939–1951
Tester M, Langridge P (2010) Breeding technologies to increase crop production in a changing world. Sci 327:818–822
Uzik M, Zofajova A (2012) Progress in accumulation and translocation of nitrogen in winter wheat cultivars released in the years 1921–2003. Cereal Res Commun 40:135–146
Van Sanford DA, MacKown CT (1987) Cultivar divergences in nitrogen remobilization during grain filling in soft red winter wheat. Crop Sci 27:295–300
Wojciechowski T, Gooding M, Ramsay L, Gregory PJ (2009) The effects of dwarfing alleles on seedling root growth of wheat. J Exp Bot 60:2565–2573
Worland AJ (1996) The influence of flowering time gene on environmental adaptability in European wheats. Euphytica 89:49–57
Acknowledgments
Data were obtained thanks to the support of the ANR ProtNBle project (06 GPLA016). The authors would like to thank the staff at Estrées-Mons experimental unit (INRA) and at Villiers-le-Bâcle and Vraux experimental farms (Arvalis) that have phenotyped so many traits. The authors are also grateful to the ANRT (Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie) which support the PhD thesis (129/2012) during which the analyses were made. Sincere thanks to Ian Mackay for his editorial advice.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical standards
The authors declare that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by A. E. Melchinger.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cormier, F., Faure, S., Dubreuil, P. et al. A multi-environmental study of recent breeding progress on nitrogen use efficiency in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Theor Appl Genet 126, 3035–3048 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-013-2191-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-013-2191-9