The home field advantage of modern plant breeding.
Since the mid-20th century, crop breeding has driven unprecedented yield gains. Breeders generally select for broadly- and reliably-performing varieties that display little genotype-by-environment interaction (GxE). In contrast, ecological theory predicts that across environments that vary spatially...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0227079&type=printable |
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| author | Patrick M Ewing Bryan C Runck Thomas Y J Kono Michael B Kantar |
| author_facet | Patrick M Ewing Bryan C Runck Thomas Y J Kono Michael B Kantar |
| author_sort | Patrick M Ewing |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the mid-20th century, crop breeding has driven unprecedented yield gains. Breeders generally select for broadly- and reliably-performing varieties that display little genotype-by-environment interaction (GxE). In contrast, ecological theory predicts that across environments that vary spatially or temporally, the most productive population will be a mixture of narrowly adapted specialists. We quantified patterns of broad and narrow adaptation in modern, commercial maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids planted across 216 site-years, from 1999-2018, for the University of Illinois yield trials. We found that location was the dominant source of yield variation (44.5%), and yearly weather was the smallest (1.7%), which suggested a benefit for reliable performance in narrow biophysical environments. Varieties displayed a large "home field advantage" when growing in the location of best performance relative to other varieties. Home field advantage accounted for 19% of GxE and provided a yield increase of 1.01 ± 0.04 Mg ∙ ha-1 (7.6% relative to mean yield), yet was both smaller than predicted by a null model and unchanged across time. This counterfactual suggests that commercial breeding programs have missed an opportunity to further increase yields by leveraging local adaptation. Public breeding programs may pursue this opportunity by releasing specialist varieties that perform reliably in narrow environments. As seed sources are increasingly privatized and consolidated, this alternate strategy may compliment private breeding to support global food security. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b9ecfeae3771440d8dd856296cd42cd9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-b9ecfeae3771440d8dd856296cd42cd92025-08-20T02:55:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-011412e022707910.1371/journal.pone.0227079The home field advantage of modern plant breeding.Patrick M EwingBryan C RunckThomas Y J KonoMichael B KantarSince the mid-20th century, crop breeding has driven unprecedented yield gains. Breeders generally select for broadly- and reliably-performing varieties that display little genotype-by-environment interaction (GxE). In contrast, ecological theory predicts that across environments that vary spatially or temporally, the most productive population will be a mixture of narrowly adapted specialists. We quantified patterns of broad and narrow adaptation in modern, commercial maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids planted across 216 site-years, from 1999-2018, for the University of Illinois yield trials. We found that location was the dominant source of yield variation (44.5%), and yearly weather was the smallest (1.7%), which suggested a benefit for reliable performance in narrow biophysical environments. Varieties displayed a large "home field advantage" when growing in the location of best performance relative to other varieties. Home field advantage accounted for 19% of GxE and provided a yield increase of 1.01 ± 0.04 Mg ∙ ha-1 (7.6% relative to mean yield), yet was both smaller than predicted by a null model and unchanged across time. This counterfactual suggests that commercial breeding programs have missed an opportunity to further increase yields by leveraging local adaptation. Public breeding programs may pursue this opportunity by releasing specialist varieties that perform reliably in narrow environments. As seed sources are increasingly privatized and consolidated, this alternate strategy may compliment private breeding to support global food security.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0227079&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Patrick M Ewing Bryan C Runck Thomas Y J Kono Michael B Kantar The home field advantage of modern plant breeding. PLoS ONE |
| title | The home field advantage of modern plant breeding. |
| title_full | The home field advantage of modern plant breeding. |
| title_fullStr | The home field advantage of modern plant breeding. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The home field advantage of modern plant breeding. |
| title_short | The home field advantage of modern plant breeding. |
| title_sort | home field advantage of modern plant breeding |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0227079&type=printable |
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