MAGIC Yield: Deploying MAGIC Populations for Rapid Development of Genetic Markers for Yield Improvement in Elite UK Winter Wheat

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Context:Wheat is the UK's major crop, covering 1.6 million hectares. Maintaining wheat yield is a critical component towards achieving economically and environmentally sustainable food security. To meet growing demand, wheat yields must increase; in the UK, this needs to take place against a background of unpredictable climate and reduced inputs. Delivering 'sustainable intensification' requires breeders to improve both yield and yield stability, in the face of unpredictable future environments. After a post-war period of sustained on-farm UK wheat yield increases, a result of both genetic and agronomic improvement, there has been no increasing trend in yield over the last fifteen years. Improved methods to increase the rate of genetic improvement represent a critical component of the solution. For the first time in UK wheat research, this project utilises a powerful combination of newly available approaches and resources, allowing detection of the genetic determinants of yield at high-precision, thus enabling rapid deployment of project outcomes within the six participating industrial partners. Central is the use of our unique Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population, which combines high genetic diversity (originating from eight UK wheat varieties), and high levels of genetic reshuffling ('genetic recombination', captured via multiple rounds of intercrossing, and the generation of the resulting 1,000 progeny lines).Project objectives: MAGIC Yield targets the genetic improvement of grain yield, the principle target for both breeders and farmers. It exploits the powerful union of high-density genetic marker coverage with a MAGIC population that captures high levels of genetic recombination and diversity, to:(1) Identify and characterise the genetic regions in wheat controlling yield, yield components and yield stability, at high precision.(2) Provide a molecular tool-kit with which wheat breeders can use in their breeding programs to deploy and track the regions of the wheat genome found to confer beneficial yield and yield stability.(3) Provide the participating breeders with analysis pipelines and resources with which they can independently carry out analysis of MAGIC datasets, both within and after project duration.(4) Use the novel molecular breeding methodology, Genomic Selection, to allow selection for yield and yield stability in the MAGIC lines, based on molecular data alone.(5) Provide resources centered around the MAGIC population, from which future studies targeting additional components of sustainable wheat production can be undertaken.(6) Develop and enhance interaction between the academic and industrial wheat R&D communities to ensure results and resources are effectively disseminated for the benefit of UK agriculture.Applications and benefits: The ability to apply modern molecular breeding approaches to precisely determine the determinants of yield and yield stability will lead to the development of new wheat varieties with improved performance. Such varieties would be of major benefit to the UK agronomy sector, helping increase wheat yields and protect against current and future threats to production from a changing climate. Promoting the UK's wheat R&D sector will help ensure the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, and support UK-based crop research and innovation. Ultimately, promoting stable and sustainable UK wheat production benefits the consumer in terms of food prices, and minimising the environmental impact of food production.