Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T20:11:47.865Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Utilization of plant genetic resources in breeding for sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2007

M. O. Humphreys*
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth SY23 3EB, UK
*

Abstract

UK agriculture is undergoing significant change with reduced subsidies for food production, increasing consumer demands for food safety and traceability, and environmental concerns including climate and demographic change. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture adopted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation supports the use of genetic resources for research and breeding. Mining genetic resources for useful genetic variation is perceived as a major benefit of genebanks. However, utilization by breeders may be constrained by poor characterization of genetic resources, a widening gap between improved and unimproved material, and the disruption of well- adapted genotypes during introgression. Breeders working with grasses and forage legumes for sustainable agriculture are fortunate in the wealth of genetic variation available both within the primary species of interest and among related species. New DNA technologies allow more targeted approaches to the use of these genetic resources. Possibilities for gene transfer between related species using conventional techniques expand the available gene pools while potential use of genetic transformation extend these even further.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © NIAB 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abberton, MT, Michaelson-Yeates, TPT, Marshall, AH, Holdbrook-Smith, K and Rhodes, I (1998) Morphological characteristics of hybrids between white clover Trifolium repens L, and Caucasian clover, Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb. Plant Breeding 117: 494496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abberton, MT, Marshall, AH, Michaelson-Yeates, TPT, Williams, TA, Thornley, W, Prewer, W, White, C and Rhodes, I (2000) An integrated approach to introgression breeding for stress tolerance in white clover. In: Parente, G and Frame, J (editors) Proceedings of the Final COST Action 814 Conference PordenoneItaly10–13 May 2000Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, pp. 311314.Google Scholar
Ansari, HA, Ellison, NW, Reader, SM, Badaeva, ED, Friebe, B, Miller, TE and Williams, WM (1999) Molecular cytogenetic organization of 5S and 18S-26S rDNA loci in white clover Trifolium repens L. and related species. Annals of Botany 83: 199206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borrill, M (1976) Temperate grasses. In: Simmonds, NW (editor) Evolution of Crop Plants. London: Longman, pp. 137142.Google Scholar
Borrill, M, Tyler, BF and Kirby, M (1972) The evaluation and development of cocksfoot introductions. Report of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station for 1972. Aberystwyth: Welsh Plant Breeding Station, pp. 3742.Google Scholar
Borrill, M, Tyler, BF and Kirby, M (1974) Progress in breeding digestible hybrid cocksfoot. Report of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station for 1974. Aberystwyth: Welsh Plant Breeding Station, pp. 1315.Google Scholar
Borrill, M, Kirby, M and Morgan, WG (1977) Studies in Festuca 11. Interrelationships of some putative diploid ancestors of the polyploid broad-leaved fescues. New Phytologist 78: 661674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casler, MD and Hugessen, PM (1988) Performance of tetraploid progeny derived from 2x−4x intersubspecific crosses in Dactylis glomerata L. Genome 30: 591596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnison, IS, O'Sullivan, D, Thomas, AM, Canter, PH, Thomas, H, Edwards, KJ, Thomas, HM and King, IP (2002) Construction of a Festuca pratensis BAC library for map based cloning in Festulolium introgression lines. http://www.intl-pagorg/pag/10/abstracts/PAGX_W165html. Abstracts, Plant Alien Introgression Workshop Plant Animal & Microbial Genomes X Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 12–16 January 2002.Google Scholar
Henry, RJ (2001) Plant Genotyping—The DNA Fingerprinting of Plants. Wallingford: CABI Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphreys, MO, Thomas, H and Tyler, BF (1989) The potential of Lolium multiflorum £ Festuca gigantea hybrids. In: Desroches, R (editor) Proceedings of the XVI International Grassland Congress NiceFranceAssociation Française pour la Production Fourragère, pp. 253254.Google Scholar
Humphreys, MW and Thomas, H (1993) Improved drought resistance in introgression lines derived from Lolium multiflorum £ Festuca arundinacea hybrids. Plant Breeding 111: 155161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphreys, MW, Thomas, HM, Morgan, WG, Meredith, MR, Harper, JA, Thomas, H, Zwierzykowski, Z and Ghesquiere, M (1995) Discriminating the ancestral progenitors of hexaploid Festuca arundinacea using genomic in situ hybridisation. Heredity 75: 171174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hussain, SW, Williams, WM, Mercer, CF and White, DWR (1997) Transfer of clover cyst nematode resistance from Trifolium nigrescens Viv. to T. repens L. by interspecific hybridisation. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 95: 12741281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jadas-Hecart, J, Poisson, C, Scehovic, J and Zwierzykowski, Z (1992) Potential of tetraploid hybrids between Lolium mul- tiflorum and Festuca arundinacea var glaucescens. In: Veronesi, F, Bullitta, S and Caredda, S (editors) Ploidy and Chromosome Manipulation in Forage Breeding. Alghero, Italy, pp. 145147.Google Scholar
Joks, W, Zwierzykowski, Z, Joks, E and Nowak, T (1995) Agronomic value of Festulolium Festuca pratensis £ Lolium multiflorum strains. In: Reheul, D and Ghesquiere, A (editors) Breeding for Quality. Proceedings of 19th Eucarpia Fodder Crops Section Meeting, Bruge, Belgium, pp. 265266.Google Scholar
Jones, ES, Mahoney, NL, Hayward, MD, Armstead, IP, Jones, JG, Humphreys, MO, King, IP, Kishida, T, Yamada, T, Balfourier, F, Charmet, G and Forster, JW (2002) An enhanced molecular marker-based genetic map of perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne L. reveals comparative relationships with other Poaceae genomes. Genome 45: 282295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, K and Borrill, M (1962) Chromosomal status, gene exchange and evolution in Dactylis. 3 The role of the inter-ploid hybrids. Genetica 32: 296322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, MLl and Humphreys, MO (1993) Progress in breeding interspecific hybrid ryegrasses. Grass and Forage Science 48: 1825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearsey, MJ and Farquhar, AGL (1998) QTL analysis in plants; where are we now? Heredity 80: 137142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, J, Armstead, I, Donnison, I, Thomas, HM, Jones, N, Kearsey, M, Roberts, L, Thomas, A and King, I (2002) Introgression map- ping in the grasses Lolium perenne and Festuca pratensis. http://www.intl-pagorg/10/abstracts/PAGX_W241html. Abstracts, Plant Alien Introgression Workshop Plant, Animal & Microbial Genomes X ConferenceSan Diego, CA, USA12–16 January 2002.Google Scholar
Kingston-Smith, AH, Bollard, AL, Humphreys, MO and Theodorou, MK (2002) An assessment of the ability of the stay-green phenotype in Lolium species to provide an improved protein supply for ruminants. Annals of Botany 89: 731740.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Longland AC (2001) Plant carbohydrates, analytical methods and nutritional implications for equids. Proceedings of the 17th Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society Symposium, pp. 173175.Google Scholar
Lumaret, R (1988) Cytology, genetics and evolution in the genus Dactylis. CRC Critical Review of Plant Science 7: 5591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, AH, Holdbrook-Smith, K, Michaelson-Yeates, TPT, Abberton, MT and Rhodes, I (1998) Growth and reproduc- tive characteristics in backcross hybrids derived from Trifolium repens L £ T nigrescens Viv. interspecific crosses. Euphytica 104: 6166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, LA, Moorby, JM, Davies, DR, Humphreys, MO, Scollan, ND, Macrae, JC and Theodorou, MK (2001) Increased concen- tration of water-soluble carbohydrate in perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne L. Milk production from late-lactation dairy cows. Grass and Forage Science 56: 383394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rafalski, JA (2002) Novel genetic mapping tools in plants, SNPs and LD-based approaches. Plant Science 162: 329333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rioux, JD, Daly, MJ, Silverberg, MS, Lindblad, K, Steinhart, H, Cohen, Z, Delmonte, T, Kocher, K, Miller, K, Guschwan, S, Kulbokas, EJ, O'Leary, S, Winchester, E, Dewar, K, Green, T, Stone, V, Chow, C, Cohen, A, Langelier, D, Lapointe, G, Gaudet, D, Faith, J, Branco, N, Bull, SB, McLeod, RS, Griffiths, AM, Bitton, A, Greenberg, GR, Lander, ES, Siminovitch, KA and Hudson, TJ (2001) Genetic variation in the 5q31 cytokine gene cluster confers susceptibility to Crohn disease. Nature Genetics 29: 223228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roderick, HW, Thorogood, D and Adomako, B (2000) The expression of resistance to crown rust infection in perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne L. Plant Breeding 119: 9395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rumball, W (1982) Grasslands Kara cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata L. New Zealand Journal of Experimental Agriculture 10: 4950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skøt, L, Thorogood, D, Humphreys, MO and Sackville-Hamilton, NR (2002) Linkage disequilibrium analysis in natural plant populations for high-resolution gene mapping. Proceedings of AAB Conference ‘Genotype-Phenotype, Narrowing the Gaps‘, Cirencester, December 2002.Google Scholar
Thomas, H and Humphreys, MO (1991) Progress and potential of interspecific hybrids of Lolium and Festuca. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 117: 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorogood, D (1996) Varietal colour of Lolium perenne L. turfgrass and its interaction with environmental conditions. Plant Varieties and Seeds 9: 1520.Google Scholar
Tyler, BF (1988) Description and distribution of natural variation in forage grasses. Natural Variation and Breeding for Adaptation. Lusignan: INRA, pp. 1322.Google Scholar
Webb, KJ, Abberton, MT and Young, SR (2003) Molecular genetics of white clover. In: Jaiwal, JK and Singh, RP (editors) Focus on Biotechnology: Applied Genetics of Leguminosae Biotechnology, Vol. 10B. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 263279.Google Scholar
Wilkins, PW and Lovatt, JA (1989) Genetic improvement of yield of nitrogen of Lolium perenne pastures. Euphytica 43: 259262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D, Abdullah, IB and Trickey, SA (1980) Variation in transpiration rate in Dactylis. In: Wojahn, E and Thons, H (editors) Proceedings XII International Grassland Congress, Leipzig. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, pp. 207210.Google Scholar
Winters, A and Minchin, F (2002) The effect of PPO on the protein content of ensiled red clover. In: Gechie, LM and Thomas, C (editors) The XIIIth International Silage Conference, SAC, Auchincruive, AyrUKSeptember 2002.Google Scholar
Witty, JF and Mytton, LR (2001) Soil quality, manifestations, mechanisms and measurement. IGER Innovations 5: 5457.Google Scholar
Woodfield, DR and Brummer, EC (2001) Integrating molecular techniques to maximise the genetic potential of forage legumes. In: Spangenberg, G (editor) Molecular Breeding of Forage Crops. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium, Molecular Breeding of Forage Crops, Lorne and Hamilton, Victoria, Australia. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 5165.Google Scholar
Xu, WW and Sleper, DA (1994) Phylogeny of tall fescue and related species using RFLPs. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 88: 685690.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xu, WW, Sleper, DA and Hoisington, DA (1991) A survey of restriction fragment length polymorphisms in tall fescue and its relatives. Genome 34: 686692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zohary, D and Nur, U (1959) Natural triploids in the orchardgrass, Dactylis glomerata L., polyploid complex and their significance for gene flow from diploid to tetraploid levels. Evolution 13: 311317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar