Silva Perez, Viridiana
Description
The world population is rising, placing increasing
demands on food production. One way to contribute to food
security is by improving yields of staple crops like wheat. Yield
can be calculated from the product of plant biomass and harvest
index (the ratio of grain yield to above ground biomass). Since
harvest index of wheat has already reached its maximum biological
limit in some environments, attention is now focused on
increasing crop biomass. Efficient...[Show more] interception of
photosynthetically active radiation and effective photosynthetic
sugar production underpin yield, however, little breeding has
been done for photosynthetic performance. Exploiting existing
genetic variation for important photosynthetic traits such as
photosynthetic capacity (Pc) and photosynthetic efficiency (Peff)
will help to improve wheat yield. CO2 assimilation rate, which is
a commonly measured parameter for assessing photosynthetic
performance, is found to vary across wheat genotypes. Two
additionally important parameters are Rubisco activity (Vcmax)
and electron transport rate (J). There is much less information
reported regarding genetic variation of these two latter
parameters because measurements of CO2 response curves with gas
exchange used to derive Vcmax and J are slow and unsuitable for
rapid screening of many genotypes in the field. The two main
objectives of this project were firstly, to find out if there is
genetic variation for these important photosynthetic traits in
wheat, and secondly, to develop a rapid method for screening
photosynthetic and leaf attributes in different wheat genotypes.
To deal with variable leaf temperatures in the field and
accurately estimate Vcmax and J, improved values for the
temperature dependence of several Rubisco kinetic parameters were
needed. These temperature-dependencies were derived from
measurements made under controlled conditions. A method for
rapidly estimating variation in Pc components Vcmax and J and in
other photosynthetic traits was developed based on calibration of
leaf reflectance spectra against photosynthetic parameters
derived using conventional gas exchange, morphological (leaf mass
per unit area, LMA) and chemical (nitrogen and chlorophyll per
unit area) measurements of 76 wheat genotypes screened in several
different environments. When observed data were compared against
predictions from reflectance spectra, correlation coefficients
(R2 values) of 0.62 for Vcmax25, 0.71 (J), 0.89 (LMA) and 0.93
(Narea), were obtained. Reflectance spectra from an additional
458 elite and landrace wheat genotypes were measured to further
assess variation in photosynthetic traits. There were significant
differences between wheat genotypes in Vcmax25 per unit N, which
is a good measure of Peff. Environment presented interaction with
genotypes for Pc and Peff when measurements performed in
glasshouse & field or in Australia & Mexico were compared. In
future, linking genotypic variation for photosynthetic traits to
DNA-based genetic markers will permit even faster selection of
genotypes in breeding. Reflectance spectra should be a good tool
to accelerate identification and selection of wheat genotypes and
detection of important genomic regions for photosynthetic
capacity and efficiency in wheat.
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