BREAD PHENO: High Throughput Phenotyping Early Stage Root Bulking in Cassava using Ground Penetrating Radar

木薯是一种热带根茎作物，具有极强的抗旱性，是非洲、拉丁美洲和亚洲热带地区8亿人粮食安全的重要组成部分。尽管木薯很重要，但目前12至24个月的作物周期限制了小农的经济繁荣，因为收获周期之间的时间很长。确定在作物周期早期大量扎根的新木薯品种是克服这一时间限制的关键解决方案。然而，对早期根膨大性状的选择目前是有限的，因为它需要破坏性的根挖掘，难以管理的育种试验规模，以及高昂的劳动力成本。该项目将改进性状选择，采用一种名为探地雷达的地球物理学技术，以非破坏性地产生木薯根部的三维可量化图像。使用探地雷达，可以在地下拍摄到早期膨大的根团。目标是通过从现有的高产基因型中选择早期根膨大来选择将木薯产量提高25%至50%的木薯品种。开发一种商业探地雷达仪器和相关的数据处理软件来选择木薯的早期根膨大，将为世界各地的木薯育种者提供开发新的高产品种所需的工具。卡萨瓦是一种热带根类作物，特别适应干旱，但生命周期延长，为12至24个月。如此长的持续时间限制了发展中国家小农的收获能力，从而减少了作为全球粮食安全组成部分的作物的好处。通过选择表现出早期根膨大(ESRB)的新木薯品种来克服这一限制，是确保持续粮食安全的基本解决方案。该项目将采用探地雷达(GPR)来非破坏性地开发木薯根部的3维(3-D)可量化图像。目前的探地雷达仪器和分析软件是为地下成像而设计的，但不一定适用于作物研究。该项目将使用不耦合的探地雷达发射器和天线以及体外木薯槽式检测系统，根据中心发射频率和天线几何形状开发一种准确且具有成本效益的木薯育种探地雷达仪器设计。辅助土壤基质数据将被结合起来，以允许开发根与土壤基质特定频率的宽带GPR滤波过程，得出根的异速生长，并开始将单独的数据处理方法转换为用于ESRB选择的简化决策支持软件。从长远来看，目标是通过基于GPR从现有高产基因型中选择ESRB，将产量提高25%至50%。该项目最终将开发一种理想的探地雷达仪器和易于使用的简化数据处理和决策支持软件，这是木薯育种者开发高产早期膨大木薯品种所需的。

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a tropical root crop with exceptional drought tolerance, making it a critical component of food security for 800 million people in tropical regions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Despite its importance, cassava's current 12 to 24 month crop cycle limits the economic prosperity of smallholder farmers due to the length of time between harvest cycles. Identifying new cassava varieties that bulk roots early in the crop cycle is an essential solution to overcome this time constraint. Selection for an early root bulking trait, however, is currently limited because it requires destructive digging of roots, unmanageable breeding trial sizes, and large labor costs. This project will improve trait selection by adapting a technology from geophysics called ground-penetrating radar to produce three-dimensional quantifiable images of cassava roots non-destructively. Using ground-penetrating radar, early bulking root masses can be imaged underground. The goal is to select for cassava varieties that increase cassava yields by 25 to 50% by selecting early stage root bulking from existing high yielding genotypes. The development of a commercial ground-penetrating radar instrument and associated data processing software for selecting early stage root bulking in cassava will provide cassava breeders throughout the world with the tools needed to develop new higher yielding cultivars.Cassava is a tropical root crop that is exceptionally adapted to drought tolerance but has a prolonged life cycle of 12 to 24 months. This long duration limits harvest capabilities for smallholder farmers in the developing world, thus reducing the benefits of the crop as a component of global food security. Overcoming this limitation through selection of new cassava cultivars that exhibit early stage root bulking (ESRB) is an essential solution to ensure continued food security. This project will adapt ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to non-destructively develop 3-dimensional (3-D) quantifiable images of cassava roots. Current GPR instruments and analytical software are designed for subsurface imaging but not necessarily adapted for crop research. This project will use uncoupled GPR transmitters and antenna and an in vitro cassava trough assay system to develop an accurate and cost effective GPR instrument design for cassava breeding in terms of central frequencies emitted and antenna geometries. Ancillary soil matrix data will be combined to allow the development of broadband GPR filter processes of root versus soil matrix specific frequencies, derive root allometries, and begin to convert the individual data processing methods into a streamlined decision support software for ESRB selection. In the long term, the aim is to increase yield by 25 to 50% via GPR-based selection of ESRB from existing high yielding genotypes. The project will ultimately develop an ideal GPR instrument and an easy to use streamlined data processing and decision support software needed by cassava breeders to develop higher yielding early bulking cassava cultivars.