Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

COLORADO In fall 2013, hard white wheat experimental line CO09W293 (KS01HW152-6/HV9W02-267W pedigree) was advanced for foundation seed production to enable release as a new cultivar in fall 2014. In two years of testing in the CSU Elite Trial (18 location-years), dryland yield of CO09W293 was 102% of trial average, compared to 109% for Byrd, 101% for Antero, 97% for Hatcher, 92% for Thunder CL, and 88% for Snowmass. CO09W293 has average test weight and straw strength, and is moderately susceptible to stripe rust and susceptible to leaf rust. Pre-harvest sprouting tolerance and L-DOPA polyphenol oxidase activity of CO09W293 are both similar to Hatcher, Snowmass, and Antero. DNA marker analysis showed that CO09W293 was heterogeneous for the overexpressed Bx7 (Bx7OE) high molecular weight glutenin subunit from HW9W02-267W. Breeder seed of CO09W293 was produced in Yuma AZ using a headrow purification for Bx7OE based on DNA marker analysis. Among 360 progeny rows from individual heads selected from CO09W293, 190 were homogeneous for Bx7OE and, based on observations in Yuma AZ, 93 were bulked to form the breeder seed. Dough strength of the un-purified CO09W293 appears to be intermediate to Antero and Snowmass. If released, CO09W293 will be positioned as a complement to Snowmass, Thunder CL, and Antero in the CWRF-ConAgra Ultragrain Premium Program. Routine screening in 2012-2013 included 4500 SKCS tests, 2000 Mixographs, 1000 PPO tests, and 500 Quadrumat Senior milling and pup-loaf bake tests. Included among these were 116 variety trial samples and these data were reported in the CSU variety trial summary. In 2013, we continued quality-related research, including field and laboratory evaluation of near-isogenic line (NIL) selections for Glu-B1 and Glu-D1 alleles and genomic selection model development for end-use quality characteristics (including pre-harvest sprouting tolerance). These research projects form the basis for a PhD dissertation of graduate student Jessica Cooper. MONTANA SPRING WHEAT Approximately 3 million acres of hard red spring wheat were seeded in 2013. A dry spring caused some planting issues, but rainfall during the early summer resulted in a good crop for most of the state. The leading variety in Montana was Vida, which has high yield potential related to its ability to maintain green leaves for an extended period after heading. This trait originated in the North Dakota variety Reeder. Vida has also been observed to have some resistance to the wheat stem sawfly. A new variety named Duclair was first marketed as Foundation Seed in 2013. Major agronomic objectives for the program are excellent yield potential in the harsh Montana environments and resistance to the wheat stem sawfly. An additional objective is for resistance to the orange wheat blossom midge. End-use quality targets for all varieties remain excellent bread-making properties, including selection for high grain protein, strong gluten, good water absorption, and large loaf volume. MONTANA WINTER WHEAT Montana harvested winter wheat acreage for 2013 was 1.90 million acres averaging ~43 bu/acre (total production ~81.7 million bushels). Leading varieties were Yellowstone (23.5%), Genou (14.0%), AP503CL2 (6.9%), Decade (6.0%), CDC Falcon (5.1%), Rampart (4.5%), erry (4.4%) and Ledger (3.6%),. The winter wheat program emphasizes on-farm productivity characteristics and quality characteristics to compete in a global market place. Specific objectives include productivity, adaptation (cold tolerance, maturity, stress tolerance), pest resistance (wheat stem sawfly, wheat streak mosaic virus, stem rust), and dual-purpose end-use quality. End-use quality goals are high grain protein and gluten strength, high flour extraction and low ash content, good dough mixing and bread baking quality, and superior noodle color and textural characteristics. David May, M.S. student, continues a research project to transfer root lesion nematode resistance into adapted winter wheat cultivars. MONTANA SMALL GRAIN QUALITY Starch synthase I (SSI) II (SSII) and III (SSIII) are involved in amylopectin synthesis. Durum wheats were screened to identify genotypes that had a null allele at one or more of these starch synthase genes. Two genotypes were identified that had the null allele for SSIIa-A locus indicated by the lack of SGP-A1 (starch granule protein A1). Both sources of the null mutation had the same 29 bp deletion in the first exon of SSIIa-A. These were both crossed to Mountrail, an adapted durum wheat to create populations segregating for the SSIIa-Aa wild type and SSIIa-Ab null alleles. The SGP-A1 nulls were crossed with the durum variety ‘Mountrail’ and F5 derived SGP-A1 null progeny lines were treated with EMS. From each EMS population, one SGP-B1 null mutation was recovered with each being a missense mutation. Each of the SGP-1 nulls was found to have large increases in amylose content and reduced binding of SGP-2 and SGP-3 to the interior of starch granules. RNA-Seq was used to examine the impact the loss of SGP-1 has upon other starch biosynthetic genes. Significant increases in transcript levels of several starch biosynthetic genes were observed in SGP-1 nulls relative to Mountrail. The resultant high amylose durums may prove useful in the creation of value added pasta with increased firmness and reduced glycemic index. Pina and Pinb genes exist as single-copy genes only on chromosome 5D. Four additional copies of Pinb-like genes ( Pinb-2v1 to Pinb-2v4) have been reported that map to group 7 chromosomes. RNA sequencing was used to accurately measure transcript levels of Pina, Pinb, and each of the four Pinb-2 variants in developing wheat seeds. All four Pinb-2 variants showed expression levels from 1 to 7.6% that of Pinb. Given the relative low expression levels of each Pinb-2, it is unlikely that they substantially contribute to grain hardness variation. Molecular markers for the red grain color (R) loci controlling seed color and the polyphenol oxidase (Ppo-A1) locus controlling polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity in seed have recently been developed. These markers provided the opportunity to convert the hard red spring wheat cultivars Choteau and Hank to white-seeded versions with high and low PPO levels, respectively. These sets of near-isogenic lines provided material to test the effects of seed color and PPO activity on a range of end-use quality traits. We tested recurrent parents Choteau and Hank, along with nearisogenic derivatives with white seed, in two replicated trials in Bozeman, Montana, for end-use quality parameters. The white-seeded lines consisted of both high- and low-PPO near-isogenic lines. The primary impact of white seed was the production of whole wheat bread with a perceived sweeter taste relative to the red-seeded lines. Noodle color was not consistently impacted by the level of PPO variation despite relatively large reductions in PPO level. These results suggested that hard white low-PPO hard spring wheat would be advantageous in terms of conferring brighter color to Asian noodles and a sweeter taste to whole wheat bread. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS Drought tolerance: We completed a genetic study characterizing different regions of the rye chromosome 1RS introgressed into common wheat and determined that the most distal segment of this chromosome is critical for drought tolerance. We are now combining this rye 1RS segment associated with improved drought tolerance with the stripe rust resistance genes Yr15 and the strong gluten allele 7Bx-over-expressor (7BxOEthat are all located in the same chromosome. Stripe rust: We are also combining slow rusting genes, which are effective at the adult plant stage and do not provide a complete protection against the pathogen but are more durable. In this are we continue the introgression of Yr18, Yr36 and Yr48. We continued our efforts to identify novel sources of resistance. We screened 1,000 accessions for the NSGC wheat core collection for stripe rust resistance and genotyped these lines with a chip including 9,000 molecular markers. Using association mapping, we identified seven regions of the wheat genome are associated with high levels of resistance. Increased resistant starch: To increase amylose and resistant starch content in both hexaploid and tetraploid wheat we generated mutants for the Starch branching Enzyme II (SBEIIa) that is responsible for the addition of the starch branches. We obtained mutants for the 2 copies of the SBEIIb and the SbeIIa genes, and generated double SBEIIa-SBEIIb mutants in tetraploid wheat. The double mutant shows a 7-fold increase in resistance starch. UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO – ABERDEEN In 2013, we evaluated a total of 18,862 yield plots from 31 spring wheat and 22 winter wheat trials over four winter and four spring wheat locations. We also evaluated a total of 20,089 headrows over two environments in Aberdeen, ID. In addition, we produced breeder seed for two hard white spring wheat lines IDO694C and IDO1203S, and one hard red spring wheat line IDO862E, planted breeder seed headrows for two hard white winter lines IDO1101 and IDO1209DH, and two soft white winter lines IDO1108DH and IDO1004. We have proposed to release IDO694C, IDO1203S, and IDO1108DH in 2014. One PhD student Junli Zhang graduated this summer and took a post doctorate position at University of California Davis. Another PhD student Brian Bowman and MS student Santosh Nayak are anticipating graduating in spring of 2014. We hired a new field technician this spring and a new MS student this fall. We filed a PVP invention disclosure for UI Stone soft white spring wheat cultivar released in 2012. The exclusive license of UI Stone was signed with Lima Grain Cereal Seeds (LCS) to market this cultivar in Idaho and some areas in PNW. We have established a joint quality testing program with private companies to market hard white wheat cultivars such as UI Silver. We have successfully integrated di-haploid (DH) system in the breeding program. The soft white winter line IDO1108DH was developed using wheat by maize DH system in 2008. This line showed very good performance in regional trials and being evaluated in 2014 PNW QC. We obtained additional 300 DH lines to speed up hard white winter releases for irrigated production. We are currently assessing bread baking quality of these new DH lines via molecular markers. As result of the previous screenings we identified high level of FHB resistance in UI Stone. Through single seed decent method we developed a mapping population from UI Stone x Alturas. This population has been evaluated for FHB resistance in three greenhouse experiments and is currently being genotyped with SSR, SNP, and GBS markers. One MS student Santosh Nayak leads this project and he is expecting to graduate in May of 2014. As a major participant of TCAP we are responsible for phenotyping water and nitrogen use efficiency (WUE and NUE) and yield in materials from National Small Grain Collection (NSGC) using a high throughput method (canopy spectral reflectance). We are also responsible for identifying novel germplasm, molecular markers associated with high WUE and NUE and yield using SNP in association mapping. In 2013, we completed phenotypic evaluation of 540 winter wheat accessions under three water/nitrogen treatments. We also repeated an assessment for 200 spring wheat accessions under terminal drought condition. We are currently in the processing of two manuscripts from this and the previous evaluations. As an expanded evaluation, we assessed 110 hard white spring wheat accessions for alpha amylase damage (a quality defect) and identified several chromosomal locations controlling this genetic defect. One manuscript derived from this project has been tentatively accepted by Crop Science for publication. We have established a screening protocol in growth chamber for late maturity alpha amylase (LMA) and obtained useful information for LMA resistance or susceptibility in some of widely grown cultivars and new experimental lines. We also assessed falling number for a mapping population and 76 elite lines harvested from four diverse environments Kimberly, Tetonia, Aberdeen irrigated, and Aberdeen terminal drought. We confirmed the 2012 findings on environmental and genetic effects. WASHINTON STATE UNIVERSITY WINTER WHEAT Two new cultivars were approved for release by WSU in 2013, Puma (SWW) and Sprinter (HRW). Puma is targeted to the high rainfall zones and has excellent yield potential and disease resistance, whereas Sprinter is targeted to late-planted areas of the state and has very high grain protein content. Our program continues to develop wheat cultivars for Washington. We have promising lines on increase for potential release in 2014. We continue to focus a large effort on end-use quality in the breeding program and have recently brought on two new graduate students to assist in identifying genetic markers linked to end-use quality traits. We continually screen all material for diseases that impact the state. Our breeding locations span the state to account for different disease pressures and rainfall zones, and agronomic data is collected on all locations. This fall we had crusting rain at harvest in the deep-furrow areas of the state and gained valuable information on the emergence of lines in the breeding program. We continue to couple our doubled-haploid program with marker assisted selection and have advanced lines to various testing locations across the state. We are finishing up research using hyperspectral imaging data to select for yield potential, agronomic traits, and disease resistance, and will begin implementing that technology in the breeding program in 2014. Lines carrying two-gene resistance to Imazamox are in various stages of testing in the program and are being considered for release potential. Overall, we continue to develop methods of selection to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the breeding program in order to deliver cultivars to growers to meet their production demands. WESTERN WHEAT QUALITY LAB • New research on how the house mouse shaped the evolutionary trajectory of wheat. • Statistical analysis on the experimental design using the house mouse to determine grain feeding preferences. • Collaboration on the segregation analysis of Puroindoline b-2 variants 2 and 3, and their association with grain texture in wheat. • Collaboration on molecular characterization and diversity of Puroindoline b-2 variants in cultivated and wild diploid wheat. • Identified how wheat arabinoxylan structure provides insight into function. • Completed a comprehensive survey of soft wheat grain quality in United States germplasm. • Assisted in the registration of two new wheat varieties “Cara” and “Otto”. • Each year Doug Engle and Dr. Morris organize the Pacific Northwest Wheat Quality Council, with attendance of approximately 80, there are 22 collaborators which included ADM Milling, Agri-Pro/Syngenta, Central Milling, Cereal Foods Processors, ConAgra, Horizon Milling, Kraft/Nabisco, Continental Mills, Pendleton Flour Milling, USDA-GIPSA-FGIS, WestBred LLC, and others. Engle and Morris also organize the Overseas Varietal Analysis Project, Soft White & Club Wheats for U.S. Wheat Associates. WHEAT MARKETING CENTER • Education o Conducted 11 week-long baking short courses to participants from around the world o Conducted two week-long Asian noodle technology short courses o Conducted 37 wheat quality workshops for farmers, students, grain trades, state wheat commissions, government officials, U.S. Wheat Associates board members, etc. o Conducted two elevator operator trainings (Managing wheat inventory to maximize profits • Research - Published eight scientific papers in international journals on various subjects • US wheat crop quality survey - Analyzed U.S. soft white and hard white crop quality and developed reports