Selecting genes for function: Exploiting genetic diversity in grasses to manage the biophysical interactions in grassland soils

草地是英国重要的土地用途，占所有土地覆盖的35%，占耕地的70%以上。草地的用途正变得越来越多功能，越来越需要考虑草地管理的关键作用，在河流流域走廊和他们的作用，径流过程中，有重大影响的洪水。最近已经观察到植被增加大孔隙度和影响土壤水力特性的能力。然而，很少有人知道草地管理如何影响土壤剖面水力特性和更大规模的径流过程。草地不仅应该在潮湿时期自由排水，而且可持续的草需要能够在干燥的夏季提取储存在深层的水。一个独特的收集草，具有不同的一套基因x环境的相互作用将被用来连接深生根和水分利用效率与它们的功能的遗传。这里使用的基因定位方法将同时确定生根性状和水分利用效率的基因，在英国的草种和其他单子叶作物物种，包括模式单子叶作物水稻，从而促进信息交流的利益与单子叶作物的可持续性。为了实现从育种草和选择具有预定功能的基因的草的好处，有必要了解在田间和集水区尺度的含义。这就是说，我们需要从微观和径流小区实验到集水尺度。将评估物种内和草种之间植物根系生长的变化，以便更准确地预测草生根行为对土壤水力特性的影响。这将为积极的草地管理提供一个基础，这种管理有可能通过增加土壤剖面的渗透和减少地表水径流来控制生产力（即通过水的供应）和环境服务。本项目的最终目标是开发一个模型，整合新的知识，使该项目的产出可以推广，并用于减少洪水风险的景观尺度。

Grassland is an important land use in the UK, accounting for 35% of all land cover and more than 70% of farmed land. Grassland utility is becoming more multifunctional with an increasing need to consider the pivotal role of grassland management in river basin corridors and their role in rainfall-runoff processes, which have a significant influence on flooding. The ability of vegetation to increase macro-porosity and to influence soil hydraulic properties has been recently observed. However, little is known about how grassland management influences soil profile hydraulic properties and larger scale rainfall-runoff processes. Not only should grasslands be freely draining in wet periods, but sustainable grasses need to be able to extract water stored in deep layers during dry summer periods. A unique collection of grasses that have a diverse set of gene x environment interactions will be used to link the genetics of deep rooting and water use efficiency with their function. The gene mapping approach used here will simultaneously identify genes for rooting traits and water-use-efficiency both in UK grass species and in other monocot crop species including the model monocot crop rice, thereby facilitating information exchange for the benefit of all concerned with monocot crop-sustainability. To realize the benefits from breeding grasses and selecting grass with genes for predetermined function it is necessary to understand the implications at the field and catchment scales. This is to say that we need to up-scale from microcosm and runoff plot experiments to the catchment scale. The variation in plant root growth within species and between grass species will be assessed to enable more accurate model predictions of the influence of grass rooting behaviour on soil hydraulic properties. This will provide a basis for active grassland management that has the potential to manipulate both productivity (i.e. through water availability), and environmental services through increased infiltration into the soil profile and decreased surface water run-off. The final objective of this project is to develop a model that integrates the new knowledge such that the outputs of the project may be generalized and used to reduce flood risk at the landscape scale.