Location: Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research
Project Number: 3042-21500-001-002-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2026
End Date: Oct 31, 2029
Objective:
1. Determine the population structure of a locally adapated switchgrass breeding population across two successive selection cycles through analyses of genotyping-by-sequencing data.
2. Identify genomic regions and markers associated with switchgrass fungal rust resistance, biomass composition, and biomass yield through genomic selection (GS) and genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses.
Approach:
Cooperator will use existing genotyping-by-sequence data to map the sequence polymorphisms from the individuals a locally adapted switchgrass breeding population representing two successive selection cycles to the switchgrass reference genome. The Cooperator will develop association with genomic regions and markers that identify putative loci associated with the traits of fungal rust resistance, biomass composition, and biomass yield based on multiple years of field assessments of genotyped plants.