Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T15:19:50.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Breeding crop varieties for low-input agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Gary N. Atlin  and
Kenneth J. Frey
Gary N. Atlin
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Science, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, P.O. Box 550, Truro, N.S., CanadaB2N 5E3.
Kenneth J. Frey
Affiliation:
C. F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
Get access

Abstract

Few plant breeding programs involve attempts to develop varieties specifically adapted to low-input cropping systems. Plant breeders generally select varieties in highly fertile, weed-free, densely seeded environments. However, alleles needed for achieving maximum yield in low-input environments often differ from those required in highinput conditions. Thus, when effective selection can be undertaken under low-input conditions, breeding programs specifically targeted at low-input environments should produce the best varieties for those environments. Experimental protocols for identifying such situations are described in this review. These involve (a) testing breeding lines under low- and high-input conditions, (b) estimating both the degree to which yields from the two types of environment are controlled by the same alleles and the relative accuracy with which superior genotypes can be identified in low- and high-input environments, and (c) predicting the direct and indirect responses to selection at each input level. On the basis of published data, it seems feasible to develop corn hybrids specifically adapted to production with lower rates of N application than are now commonly used in the United States.

Keywords

stress environmentsgenotype x environment interactioncorn breedingnitrogen usespecific adaptation
Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 53 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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

1.Allan, A. Y., and Darrah, L. L.. 1978. Effects of three cycles of reciprocal recurrent selection on the N and plant population responses of two maize hybrids in Kenya. Crop Science 18:112–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Allen, F. L., Comstock, R. E., and Rasmusson, D. C.. 1978. Optimal environments for yield testing. Crop Science 18:747–751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Atlin, G. N., and Frey, K. J.. 1990. Predicting the relative effectiveness of direct versus indirect selection for oat yield in three types of stress environment. Accepted in Euphytica.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Balko, L. G., and Russell, W. A.. 1980. Effects of rates of nitrogen fertilizer on maize inbred lines and hybrid progeny. I. Prediction of yield response. Maydica 25:65–79.Google Scholar
5.Brinkman, M. A., and Rho, Y. D.. 1984. Response of three oat cultivars to N fertilizer. Crop Science 24:973–977.Google Scholar
6.Brown, J. G., Clark, R. B., and Jones, W. E.. 1977. Efficient and inefficient use of phosphorus by sorghum. Journal of the Soil Science Society of America 41:747–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Brun, E. L., and Dudley, J. W.. 1989. Nitrogen response in the USA and Argentina of corn populations with differing proportions of flint and dent germplasm. Crop Science 29:565–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Byth, D. E., Caldwell, B. E., and Weber, C. R.. 1969. Specific and non-specific index selection in soybeans, Glycine max L. (Merrill). Crop Science 9:702–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Caradus, J. R. 1982. Genetic differences in the length of root hairs in white clover and their effect on phosphorus uptake. In Scaife, A. (ed.). Plant Nutrition 1982. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau, Slough, U.K. pp. 84–88.Google Scholar
10.Carlone, M. R., and Russell, W. A.. 1987. Response to plant densities and nitrogen levels for four maize cultivars from different eras of breeding. Crop Science 27:465–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Castleberry, R. M., Crum, C. W., and Krall, C. F.. 1984. Genetic yield improvement of U.S. maize cultivars under varying fertility and climatic conditions. Crop Science 24:33–36.Google Scholar
12.Daday, H., Binet, F. E., Grassia, A., and Peak, J. W.. 1973. The effect of environment on heritability and predicted selection response in Medicago sativa. Heredity 31:293–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Falconer, D. S. 1952. The problem of environment and selection. American Naturalist 86:293–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Frey, K. J. 1964. Adaptation reaction of oat strains selected under stress and non-stress environmental conditions. Crop Science 4:55–58.Google Scholar
15.Gabelman, W. H., and Gerloff, G. C.. 1983. The search for and interpretation of genetic controls that enhance plant growth under deficiency levels of a macronutrient. Plant and Soil 72:335–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Gardener, C. J., and Rathjen, A. J.. 1975. The differential response of barley genotypes to nitrogen application in a Mediterranean-type climate. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 26:219–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Gerloff, G. C. 1987. Intact-plant screening for tolerance of nutrient deficiency stress. In Gabelman, W. H. and Loughman, B. C. (eds.). Genetic Aspects of Plant Mineral Nutrition. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts, pp. 55–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Hammond, J. 1947. Animal breeding in relation to nutrition and environmental conditions. Biological Revue 22:195–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Johnson, G. R., and Frey, K. J.. 1967. Heritabilities of quantitative attributes of oats (Avena sp.) at varying levels of environmental stress. Crop Science 7:43–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Mederski, H. J., and Jeffers, D. L.. 1973. Yield response of soybean varieties grown at two soil moisture stress levels. Agronomy Journal 65:410–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Muruli, B. I., and Paulsen, G. M.. 1981. Improvement of nitrogen use efficiency and its relationship to other traits in maize. Maydica 26:63–73.Google Scholar
22.Pederson, D. G., and Rathjen, A. J.. 1981. Choosing trial sites to maximize selection response for grain yield in spring wheat. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 32:411–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Plucknett, D. L., and Smith, N. G. L.. 1982. Agricultural research and Third World food production. Science 217:215–220.Google Scholar
24.Robertson, A. 1959. The sampling variance of the genetic correlation coefficient. Biometrics 15:469–485.Google Scholar
25.Rumbaugh, M. D., Asay, K. H., and Johnson, D. A.. 1984. Influence of drought stress on genetic variances of alfalfa and wheatgrass seedlings. Crop Science 24:297–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Sanchez, P. A., and Benitez, J. R.. 1987. Lowinput cropping for acid soils of the humid tropics. Science 238:1521–1527.Google Scholar
27.Via, S. 1984. The quantitative genetics of polyphagy in an insect herbivore. II. Genetic correlations in larval performance within and among host plants. Evolution 38:896–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28.Vose, P. B. 1983. Effects of genetic factors on nutritional requirements of plants. In Vose, P. B. and Blixt, S. (eds.). Crop Breeding: A Contemporary Basis. Pergamon Press, Oxford. Chapter 4, pp. 67–114.Google Scholar
29.Whiteaker, G., Gerloff, G. C., Gabelman, W. H., and Lindgren, D.. 1976. Intraspecific differences in growth of beans at stress levels of phosphorus. Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science 101:472–475.Google Scholar
30.Yamada, Y. 1962. Genotype by environment interaction and genetic correlation of the same trait under different environments. Japanese Journal of Genetics 37:498–509.Google Scholar