Project Number: 5440-21000-031-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Feb 25, 2013
End Date: Feb 24, 2018

Objective:
Objective 1: Identify and develop winter wheat germplasm having novel quality traits, including modified starch composition, enhanced gluten strength, and enhanced mineral element concentration. Sub-objective 1.A.: Identify waxy wheats with grain yield equal in magnitude and stability to that of current wheat cultivars. Sub-objective 1.B.: Develop new waxy wheat breeding lines for germplasm and cultivar release. Sub-objective 1.C.: Develop winter wheats with elevated grain protein content and elevated Fe, Zn and available P concentrations via genetics and breeding. Objective 2: Determine the effects of altered grain composition on gluten extraction from waxy wheat and the effects of the absence of grain polyphenol oxidase on flour quality. Sub-objective 2.A.: Determine the factors governing the efficiency of gluten extraction from waxy wheats. Sub-objective 2.B.: Determine the relationship between super-low (nil) grain polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and product quality; determine the environmental stability of the nil PPO trait. Sub-objective 2.C.: Develop adapted hard white winter wheat germplasm with nil levels of grain PPO. Objective 3: Identify and develop winter wheat germplasm having resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus, stem rust, and pre-harvest sprouting. Sub-objective 3.A.: Pyramid genes for resistance to stem rust and Wheat streak mosaic virus with genes conditioning quality traits, including nil PPO and tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting. Sub-objective 3.B.: Identify, evaluate and exploit sources of tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting. Sub-objective 3.C.: Coordinate the Hard Winter Wheat Regional Nursery Program and use the nurseries to: 1) determine the yield potential and stability of newly developed hard winter wheat germplasm, and 2) distribute germplasm to Great Plains breeding programs.

Approach:
The project will combine classical breeding with the modern genetic tools of transformation and DNA marker technology to develop wheat germplasm and cultivars with traits of economic importance. Multi-location field trials will be used to assess the stability of advanced waxy wheat breeding lines relative to those of the most commonly grown current NE and SD cultivars. The project also will expand the selection of waxy wheat cultivars via breeding and selection. Cereal chemistry techniques will be used to determine the relationships between gluten extraction of waxy wheat and easily scored classical indicators of gluten strength, the mixograph, and high-molecular-weight (HMW) glutenin composition, and to determine if over-expressed HMW glutenin subunits can improve gluten extraction efficiencies. Recombinant inbred lines will be used to determine whether, in the presence of low phytate mutants, the high protein gene GPC-B1 can be used to simultaneously elevate grain protein, Fe and Zn concentrations, and whether such effects result in pleiotropic effects on grain yield. This project will alleviate deficiencies in the current hard white wheat gene pool by developing wheats with low levels of grain polyphenol oxidase, tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting, and resistance to wheat stem rust and Wheat streak mosaic virus. Genes for these traits will be pyramided using traditional mating approaches, and fixed in resultant germplasm via direct phenotypic selection, and DNA marker evaluations.