Phenotyping root function in wheat

小麦根功能的表型分析

• 批准号: BB/J01950X/1
• 负责人: W Whalley
• 金额: $ 40.21万
• 依托单位: Rothamsted Research
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FJ01950X%2F1
• 关键词: Phenotyping; root; function; wheat

In the UK, approximately 30% of the production of wheat is on soils where insufficient soil moisture decreases yields by (on average) 1-2 t/ha. This costs between £112M and £224M each year in lost production (Foulkes et al. 2001). Studies comprising a limited range of wheat cultivars have shown that genotypes with deep root systems have been associated with high yield in water limited environments, while those with shallow root systems have been associated with increased nutrient uptake when soil water is plentiful. However, there is no comprehensive understanding of what configuration of root system architecture leads to improved resilience of yields, water and nutrient use efficiency, or what the trade-offs, if any, there are with yield potential. This is because roots are hidden underground, and important traits are discovered only by laborious, destructive excavation of roots. This project will develop a rapid, non-invasive technique using electromagnetic inductance (EMI) to measure the degree of soil drying at different depths in plots of different wheat varieties. Current EMI technology can be used to profile with changes in conductance with depth, but is not being used to study root activity. A key objective for the project will be to optimise the existing capabilities of EMI, so that they can be used to characterize water extraction profiles beneath different varieties of wheat. We will use electrical resistance tomography (ERT), which is labour intensive, invasive and slow, as a tool to provide high resolution images of soil drying to help with the optimisation of EMI which is rapid, non-contact and efficient. Patterns of soil moisture extraction through the soil profile as the crop develops, which are related to growth and activity of the root system, will be measured with EMI. These data will be validated using conventional techniques such as root sampling via soil coring, buried soil moisture probes, changes in soil strength via penetrometer measurements, and root pulling strength. Initial field tests will comprise 20 UK élite wheat lines, some of which in preliminary data have shown differences in soil water extraction patterns. We will use our new root phenotyping tool kit in field trials with the Avalon x Cadenza mapping population, which has already shown significant genetic variation for nutrient uptake, yield and grain quality. We will determine the correspondence between QTLs identified with our new tool kit and wheat root QTLs already published. We will use soil drying data at various depths to test hypotheses that describe relationships between yield, deep water extraction, soil strength and root placement within drying superficial soil layers. This information is essential for the breeder: for instance, it is not enough to know which varieties can produce deeper roots; confirmation that such a root system translates to greater yield and yield stability across a range of environments is also required before any investment is made in selection for particular root traits. At the start of the project we will establish a project advisory panel comprising breeders and other members of industry to help guide the selection of materials for investigation. This project will provide a completely new measurement possibility that can be applied to large field trials to give a spatial map of soil water at different depths over time. With the help of the project advisory panel we will identify existing field trials that can be used to test our new methods. There are numerous laboratory methods available for phenotyping roots in seedlings that have led to the discovery of QTLs linked to various root traits. However, it is rare that any of these QTLs are validated under field conditions because current methods of examining roots in the field are time-consuming and expensive. The proposed studies will fill this gap, and can possibly complement work on wheat roots in the BBSRC-LINK project based at NIAB.

在英国，大约30%的小麦生产在土壤水分不足的土壤上，土壤水分不足使产量（平均）减少1-2吨/公顷。每年的生产损失在1.12亿英镑到2.24亿英镑之间（Foulkes et al. 2001）。对有限范围的小麦品种进行的研究表明，具有深根系的基因型在水分有限的环境中与高产有关，而具有浅根系的基因型在土壤水分充足时与养分吸收增加有关。然而，对于根系结构的哪种配置能提高产量的恢复力、水分和养分的利用效率，以及与产量潜力之间的权衡（如果有的话），人们还没有全面的了解。这是因为根隐藏在地下，重要的特征只有通过艰苦的、破坏性的挖掘才能发现。本项目将开发一种快速、无创的技术，利用电磁感应（EMI）来测量不同小麦品种地块不同深度的土壤干燥程度。目前的电磁干扰技术可用于分析电导随深度的变化，但尚未用于研究根的活动性。该项目的一个关键目标将是优化电磁干扰的现有能力，以便它们可以用来描述不同品种小麦下的水提取剖面。我们将使用电阻断层扫描（ERT），这是劳动密集型的，侵入性的和缓慢的，作为提供土壤干燥的高分辨率图像的工具，以帮助优化快速，非接触和高效的电磁干扰。作物生长过程中通过土壤剖面提取土壤水分的模式，与根系的生长和活动有关，将用电磁干扰测量。这些数据将使用传统技术进行验证，例如通过土壤取样、埋地土壤水分探针、通过穿透仪测量土壤强度的变化以及根系拔拔强度。最初的田间试验将包括20个英国的麦系，其中一些在初步数据中显示出土壤水分提取模式的差异。我们将在Avalon x Cadenza定位群体的田间试验中使用我们新的根系表型工具包，该群体已经显示出营养吸收、产量和粮食品质的显著遗传变异。我们将确定新工具识别的qtl与已发表的小麦根系qtl之间的对应关系。我们将使用不同深度的土壤干燥数据来检验描述产量，深水提取，土壤强度和干燥浅层土壤根部放置之间关系的假设。这些信息对育种者来说是必不可少的：例如，仅仅知道哪些品种能产生更深的根是不够的；在对特定根系性状进行任何投资选择之前，还需要确认这样的根系系统在一系列环境中转化为更高的产量和产量稳定性。在项目开始时，我们将建立一个由育种者和其他行业成员组成的项目咨询小组，以帮助指导调查材料的选择。该项目将提供一种全新的测量方法，可应用于大型现场试验，以获得不同深度土壤水分随时间的空间地图。在项目顾问小组的帮助下，我们将确定现有的现场试验，可以用来测试我们的新方法。有许多实验室方法可用于在幼苗中对根系进行表型分析，这些方法已经发现了与各种根系性状相关的qtl。然而，这些qtl很少在现场条件下进行验证，因为目前在现场检测根的方法既耗时又昂贵。拟议的研究将填补这一空白，并可能补充NIAB的BBSRC-LINK项目对小麦根系的研究。

项目成果

Root growth in field-grown winter wheat: Some effects of soil conditions, season and genotype.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.eja.2017.09.014
• 发表时间: 2017-11
• 期刊: European journal of agronomy : the journal of the European Society for Agronomy
• 作者: Hodgkinson L;Dodd IC;Binley A;Ashton RW;White RP;Watts CW;Whalley WR
• 通讯作者: Whalley WR

The effects of compaction and soil drying on penetrometer resistance

• DOI: 10.1016/j.still.2012.07.006
• 发表时间: 2012-09-01
• 期刊: SOIL & TILLAGE RESEARCH
• 影响因子: 6.5
• 作者: Gao, W.;Watts, C. W.;Whalley, W. R.
• 通讯作者: Whalley, W. R.

The Use of Electromagnetic Induction to Monitor Changes in Soil Moisture Profiles beneath Different Wheat Genotypes

• DOI: 10.2136/sssaj2014.09.0360
• 发表时间: 2015-03-01
• 期刊: SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL
• 影响因子: 2.9
• 作者: Shanahan, Peter W.;Binley, Andrew;Watts, Christopher W.
• 通讯作者: Watts, Christopher W.

Deep roots and soil structure.

• DOI: 10.1111/pce.12684
• 发表时间: 2016-08
• 期刊: Plant, cell & environment
• 作者: Gao W;Hodgkinson L;Jin K;Watts CW;Ashton RW;Shen J;Ren T;Dodd IC;Binley A;Phillips AL;Hedden P;Hawkesford MJ;Whalley WR
• 通讯作者: Whalley WR