Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom - TAIR

Exploiting model species to increase biomass
yield in energy crops
There is an urgent need to generate higher yielding energy crops in order to
mitigate fossil fuel usage whilst minimising competition with food production. In
contrast with model species, there is very little known about these novel crops.
Molecular breeding relies on good understanding of the interaction between the
genotype and the phenotype, so a combination of molecular approaches and
intense phenotyping are required in order to achieve improved genotypes in the
near future.
Miscanthus is a tall grass from South East Asia, which can grow to over 3m and
produce yields of up to 14t/ha in the UK. Current plantings consist of a single
sterile genotype M.x giganteus. The collection based at IBERS, Aberystwyth,
comprises several hundred different genotypes comprising a wealth of diversity,
which is ideal for genetic studies and forms the basis of the Miscanthus breeding
program.
A number of key traits have been identified for increasing biomass yield,
including spring emergence, light interception, stem morphology and flowering
time. Genetic information from other species is used to select candidate genes
for use in association studies using the Aberystwyth collection. Linking genotype
to phenotype provides fundamental understanding of how a giant perennial plant
develops. Using this knowledge to generate molecular markers for alleles
conferring desirable traits will accelerate the breeding cycle and thereby allow
more rapid development of lines adapted for their environments and end usage.
95
C44
Saturday 15:00 - 15:15
Bioenergy
Kerrie Farrar
Sarah Hawkins
Elaine Jensen
Paul Robson
Ruth Sanderson
John Clifton Brown
Iain Donnison
IBERS
Aberystwyth University
UK