Lewis Farming Co

Jessica Rutkoski – Genomic Selection for Rust Resistance in Wheat, Challenges for Mainstreaming GS


Description given on Youtube:
Gain from genomic selection (GS) for quantitative stem rust resistance in wheat, and challenges for mainstreaming GS in a large-scale wheat breeding program.

Genomic selection (GS) could increase rates of genetic gain for quantitative traits by enabling a reduction in the breeding cycle duration, an increase in the selection intensity, and/or an increase in selection accuracy. We implemented GS and phenotypic selection for quantitative stem rust resistance in wheat and compared the outcomes in terms of genetic gain and changes in inbreeding and genetic variance. We found that while GS and PS lead to equal rates of short-term gain, GS reduced genetic variance more rapidly. The implications of these results for breeding are discussed. In addition, opportunities and challenges for mainstreaming GS for multiple traits in the CIMMYT wheat breeding program are outlined, especially in light of high-throughput phenotyping based approaches for increasing genetic gain.