Next generation apple breeding for resilient UK production

下一代苹果育种促进英国生产的弹性

• 批准号: 10051546
• 金额: $ 28.35万
• 依托单位: WORLDWIDE FRUIT LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Responsive Strategy and Planning
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10051546
• 关键词: Next; generation; apple; breeding; resilient

Access to new apple varieties is crucial for the future sustainability of the UK apple industry, as new varieties tend to have a significantly higher retail value and therefore offer larger margins for apple growers. However, many of the new cultivars introduced to the UK market are susceptible to apple scab (_Venturia inequalis_), powdery mildew (_Podosphaera leucotricha_) or European canker (_Neonectria ditissima_), three apple diseases that are highly prevalent in the UK. This has led to a heavy reliance on chemical disease control.Monogenic resistance to powdery mildew and scab are well-documented and the use of the scab resistance gene _Rvi6_ has successfully been incorporated in breeding programmes worldwide. In contrast, the documented resistances to European canker are polygenic and have been poorly deployed in apple breeding. There is thus a lack of cultivars with combined resistance to all three diseases and a heavy reliance on a single resistance gene against scab in commercial cultivars. Breeding apples with improved resistance is a long process, traditionally taking 20-25 years. Such timescales leaves the apple industry vulnerable to the emergence of new biotic and abiotic threats and to the availability of effective plant protection products.This project aims to develop modern breeding methods to enable a shorter breeding cycle of apple and ensure a faster route to market for new, more resistant cultivars. The project will research three breeding methods and their potential to shorten the breeding cycle: genomic selection, molecular marker-trait associations and speed breeding.Genomic selection is a form of marker-assisted selection in which markers covering the whole genome are utilised for selection. This breeding method has revolutionised animal and plant breeding and is particularly useful for highly polygenic traits. Nevertheless, genomic selection has not been widely adopted in apple breeding and there are no reports of it's efficacy as a selection tool for polygenic disease resistance in apple. Within this project we will evaluate genomic prediction models for resistance to European canker, an essential trait for UK production.Speed breeding is a tool in which environmental growth conditions are manipulated to accelerate plant development, thereby allowing for rapid generation cycling. Integrated with marker-based selection methods, this methodology has great potential to produce multi-resistant apple cultivars which meet industry and consumer demand in a significantly reduced time-frame. We will use a combination of photoperiod regime, plant hormones and growth regulators to manipulate the plant development and seed dormancy in apple.

获得新的苹果品种对英国苹果产业未来的可持续发展至关重要，因为新品种往往具有更高的零售价值，因此为苹果种植者提供更大的利润。然而，引入英国市场的许多新品种易受苹果黑星病（_Venturia inequalis_），白粉病（_Podosphaera leucotricha_）或欧洲溃疡病（_Neonectria ditissima_）的影响，这三种苹果疾病在英国非常普遍。对白粉病和疮痂病的单基因抗性有充分的文献记载，抗疮痂病基因Rvi 6的使用已成功地纳入世界各地的育种计划。与此相反，记录的欧洲溃疡病的抗性是多基因的，并已部署在苹果育种不善。因此，缺乏对所有三种病害具有联合抗性的栽培品种，并且在商业栽培品种中严重依赖单一抗赤霉病基因。培育具有改良抗性的苹果是一个漫长的过程，传统上需要20-25年。这样的时间表使苹果产业容易受到新的生物和非生物威胁的出现以及有效植物保护产品的可用性的影响，该项目旨在开发现代育种方法，以缩短苹果的育种周期，并确保更快地将新的、更具抗性的品种推向市场。该项目将研究三种育种方法及其缩短育种周期的潜力：基因组选择、分子标记-性状关联和快速育种。基因组选择是一种标记辅助选择，利用覆盖整个基因组的标记进行选择。这种育种方法彻底改变了动物和植物育种，特别适用于高度多基因性状。然而，基因组选择在苹果育种中尚未得到广泛应用，其作为苹果多基因抗病性选择工具的有效性尚未见报道。在这个项目中，我们将评估抗欧洲溃疡病的基因组预测模型，这是英国生产的一个重要性状。快速育种是一种工具，其中操纵环境生长条件以加速植物发育，从而实现快速世代循环。与基于标记的选择方法相结合，该方法具有很大的潜力，以产生多抗性苹果品种，满足工业和消费者的需求，在显着减少的时间框架。我们将使用光周期制度，植物激素和生长调节剂的组合来操纵苹果植物发育和种子休眠。