Research

Background

Alberta produces just over 50% of western Canada’s barley, and beef cattle production is the largest end use of feed barley. While a barley is still a significant crop in western Canada, it has been losing acreage to other feed grain crops, such as corn. Developing newer varieties with improved yields, increased disease resistance, higher feed quality, and reduced lodging will help to keep barley competitive with other crops.

Plant breeding techniques have seen some notable advances over the past decade. The use of genomic information to identify superior breeding lines earlier in the evaluation process shortens the time between development and market release, reduces phenotyping costs, and can increase the genetic gain in each selection cycle.

Objectives

The objectives of this project are to:

• Conduct a pilot to evaluate genotyping approaches, assess the training population and evaluate the structure of the Western Crop Innovations’ (WCI) germplasm population
• Collect yield, height, maturity, disease resistance, lodging, kernel plumpness, test weight, and kernel weight data from three years of field trials in three locations in Alberta
• Genotype the breeding lines
• Predict the genomically-enhanced breeding value (GEBV) of each line, integrating phenotypic and genomic data

Implications of the Research

This project will create a genomic selection model that will be incorporated into WCI’s breeding program to increase rate of genetic gain, selection intensity, and allow breeders to make decisions on advancing promising lines earlier in the breeding cycle.