Physiological and genetic mechanisms of grain quality associated with nitrogen use efficiency in near isogenic bread wheat
Term: 3 years, starting in 220
Status: Ongoing
Funding Amount: $62,563
Lead Researcher(s): Dr. Jatinder Sangha (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current)
Funding Partners: Western Grains Research Foundation, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture -Agriculture Development Fund (ADF)
Project Description
This project focuses on identifying new wheat germplasm with better Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and grain quality.
Currently, the fertilizer NUE (grain yield per unit of N fertilizers) in many farm fields is below 50%, leading to significant loss of N and investments, and environmental contamination as well. Currently, the yearly genetic gain for NUE in wheat is very low and in the range of 0.3-1.2%. The use of higher NUE wheat varieties that could improve efficiency even by 10% from the current level would save the cost associated with N fertilizers by $3.4 to $17.0 million per year for Saskatchewan.
This project builds on the genetic material (near-isogenic lines – bread wheat sister lines) developed by the research team for the trait of interest. The main objective is to study N metabolism (N uptake, partitioning and post-anthesis remobilization) related to NUE, and to interpret the physiological and genetic mechanisms in the 85 wheat sister lines. This information will further be utilized to associate with grain and protein yield, and quality relevant to Canadian germplasm through identifying more effective NUE-related QTLs and genes in wheat genotypes. Decoding the grain quality traits associated with N in the wheat sister lines, not only identifies germplasm with high quality, NUE, and yield, but also generates information on universal physiological and molecular signatures in wheat for use in a breeding program. So far, no particular germplasm has been identified that could be used in breeding programs for improving NUE. Identifying germplasm and traits for NUE enhancement in Canadian wheat will be helpful to breeders to use those lines in developing varieties with improved NUE.