Accelerating breeding for biomass yield in short rotation coppice willow by exploiting knowledge of shoot development in Arabidopsis

Completed

Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Other bio-energy)

Basic and strategic applied research

BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor H M O Leyser
Biology
University of York

Research Grant

BBSRC

01 January 2011

31 May 2012

17 months

£118,553

Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Yorkshire & Humberside

Crop Science Initiative (CSI)

Professor H M O Leyser, Biology, University of York

This grant is linked to BB/E007007/1, BB/E006833/1.

The UK Government is committed to increasing renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the contribution of biomass crops has been recognised. Willows are among the most advanced biomass crops. They are grown as short-rotation coppice (SRC), in which planted cuttings are cut back after one year and the cut stumps (stools) allowed to re-sprout. The coppice shoots are harvested 3 years later and the SRC cycle continued for 20 years. To be economic, sufficiently high yields are essential from only minimal inputs and yield improvement is the main objective of the Defra-funded SRC genetic improvement network BEGIN. Robust yield QTL have been identified but there is little understanding of the genetic control of underlying developmental processes. Diversity occurs among willows in coppicing ability but the genetic basis of this is not known. Willows with more thin stems and with few thick stems can both produce high yield. Yield-related traits of stem diameter and height do not co-associate with the same QTL as shoot number, suggesting these may be under separate control. Limited studies indicate that coppicing ability relates to the number, position and outgrowth of pre-existing buds kept dormant by apical dominance. In Arabidopsis the regulation of bud formation and activity is well investigated and evidence exists for conservation of regulatory mechanisms. Our preliminary research showed that MAX genes, which affect shoot branching in Arabidopsis, and TCP which affects branching in maize, map to willow yield QTL which co-associate with stem diameter and height. Using genetics and developmental studies, this project will test: (i) that MAX & TCP are involved in regulating bud behaviour in coppicing (ii) that bud number and behaviour are under separate control (iii) that, through Arabidopsis, other genes influencing coppicing can be identified and (iv) that the identification of genes for coppicing can accelerate breeding for high biomass yield.

30/09/13