Ontario Grain Farmer February 2021

ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 27 FEBRUARY 2021 This article features research funded by Grain Farmers of Ontario. WINTER WHEAT’S ABILITY TO ACCLIMATE AND SURVIVE THROUGH THE WINTER MAKES THE CROP UNIQUE AND THE REASON WHY A PORTION OF THIS PROJECT WAS DEDICATED TO APPLYING THE GENOMIC MODELING TO THE SURVIVABILITY OF THE CROP. “Ultimately genomic research will continue to support plant breeders, equipping them with new tools and information to develop varieties to meet the needs of growers across Canada,” says Dr. Francois Belzile, Université Laval professor and SoyaGen Project co-leader. “The end result should allow growers to make more informed decisions, like the ability to purchase varieties that protect against a specific strain of disease or pest in their field.” Belzile reflects on the advances genomic research has recently made in field crop research and breeding, highlighting four areas — foundational information, genotyping tools, powerful approaches for trait discovery and editing and more efficient selection tools to breed new varieties. “The foundational information on crop genomes is equivalent to an encyclopedia that contains all the genetic information about a specific crop,” he explains. “The new tools can identify desired breeding lines that can be edited to control desired traits and all of this new information can be combined to identify the most promising combinations of plant parents to cross together. Collectively, genomic tools will reduce the time and resources needed to perform large scale field testing, delivering new varieties into the hands of growers faster.” GENOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS Parana 8 Delta OAC9-35C Morris Woodstock OSG005 Lucan Gretna OSG008 OSG010 4004P4J OSG004 Supra 5146 41j Venus SECAN9-18 Carman Klondike Cormoran Medallion Eramosa Walton OAC1 26 Bright Prodigy OAC9-22C SECAN9-31 OAC9-01C OSG044 Merit MapleBelle Evans Ohgata 4006P12N Frisquet Toki X5095-8-3 OT11-08 OT10-02 X5331-3B X5331-9B X52891101 X52911141 X5181-100 X5116-7-4 Alta Rodeo X5191-110 X5217-3B X5193-32B X5331-17B X5331-6B X5193-8B X5195-30B X5191-40B X5191-69B X5195-41B X5215-7B X5191-85B X5191-54B X5172-63B OT11-01 OSG043 447X1753 X5396-25 OT94-47 Harosoy OT89-17 OT02-18 881231 5-191 d Paranagoi 0.02 genomic modeling to the survivability of the crop.” She explains that using the genomic selection tools developed, the researchers were able to select breeding lines based on historical and environmental data, enabling breeders to amalgamate years of environmental variables to predict how new winter wheat breeding lines will perform. “This can shave off years of breeding trials, delivering growers more successful, resilient varieties they can have confidence in.” Ficht approached this genomic selection research from a broad perspective, focusing on the winter wheat crop as a whole, rather than a specific problem or trait. This method was meant to establish a foundation for future genomic-focused research. “And the results will continue to pay off,” she says. “We’ve already learned so much, and our models can be applied to the University of Guelph wheat breeding program.” The SoyaGen project was funded in part by Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, and other producer and industry partners (please see soyagen.ca/en/soyagen-team/ partners/ for a complete listing) The genomics-based winter-wheat breeding project (‘Application of genomic-based technologies to improve the rate of genetic gain in Ontario winter wheat breeding’) was funded in part through the Ontario Regional Priorities Partnership Program (ON-RP3), a collaborative initiative between the Agricultural Adaptation Council (adaptcouncil.org ), Ontario Genomics (www.ontariogenomics.ca) , and the Government of Canada through Genome Canada (www.genomecanada.ca ). l