GrainsWest Fall 2020

Fall 2020 grainswest.com 49 BY DAVID SIMBO Improving wheat tolerance to field sprouting Started April 1, 2020, ending March 31, 2023 Belay Ayele, professor, University of Manitoba, Department of Plant Science GW: How does the project address pre-harvest sprouting? BA: This research, by taking advantage of recent advances in wheat genomic resources, will perform in-depth genetic and genomic analysis of pre-harvest sprouting in order to identify genes, and thereby generate genomic tools that can enhance the breeding of sprouting tolerance into elite commercial wheat cultivars. GW: What is unique about the project? BA: The project is focused on studying a unique collection of germplasm consisting of highly diverse wheat lines including Canadian and international wheat breeding lines. It integrates the application of a variety of cutting-edge physiological, genetic and genomic approaches to identify novel genes and molecular markers that can speed up wheat breeding for improved tolerance to sprouting. GW: How may this research project benefit farmers? BA: Severity of sprouting damage and the associated financial losses are expected to increase. The market share for high-quality Canadian wheat continues to increase significantly. Increasing the tolerance of wheat to field sprouting will enable Canadian wheat producers to provide high-yield and high-quality wheat for domestic and international markets, thereby enhancing their competitive advantage. T HE PRO J E C T S Integration of newmolecular markers to develop pre-harvest sprouting tolerant cereals To start May 1, 2021, ending November 2024 Jaswinder Singh, associate professor and director, Genome Editing for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability, McGill University Plant Science Department GW: How does the project address pre-harvest sprouting? JS: We have discovered a gene that is associated with pre-harvest sprouting in barley and wheat. We thought if we can develop some of the genetic markers based on the gene, it will be very valuable for farmers. You can get a leaf sample and check whether that particular gene is present or not. Then you know this particular plant will be resistant and this plant susceptible. When we develop those varieties, we have to screen millions of plants, and this way, we will end up with an excellent variety that will be tolerant or resistant to pre-harvest sprouting. GW: What is unique about the project? JS: Generally, people think about pre-harvest sprouting as related to germination and dormancy, which is true, and that is regulated by hormones. We think this particular complex problem actually involves epigenetics [modification of the way genes express themselves as opposed to alteration of the plant’s DNA]. There is a great possibility that when we complete our project, we may discover this problem is not associated with hormones. I can’t say it with surety, but it’s a possibility there are other pathways by which this is happening. GW: How may this research project benefit farmers? JS: Globally we lose more than $1 billion a year on pre-harvest sprouting. Tolerant or resistant varie- ties will help farmers economically. Second, it will help develop high-quality barley and wheat varieties. The third thing is it can create a new product for the export market. For example, many Asian markets like white wheat but we don’t grow much because it is very, very susceptible to pre-harvest sprouting.