Nitrogen use efficiency in

old and modern barley genotypes

Ari Rajala* Pirjo Peltonen-Sainio*, Marja Jalli*, Teija

Tenhola-Roininen● and Outi Manninen■

*MTT Crop Production Research ● MTT Biotechnology and Food Research

■ Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd

Content of presentation

  Materials and methods   Definitions   Results   Conclusions   Acknowledgements

Materials and methods   195 barley genotypes

  72 NordGen genotypes + 123 cultivars (from 1930’s till 2010)   2 nitrogen rates: 35 and 70 kg N/ha

  3 replicates   9 unfertilized genotypes

  Observations   heading, maturity, canopy height, lodging

  Plant samples (50 plants per plot)   at heading → biomass and N content   at maturity → biomass, grain yield, N content, HI, NHI

  Harvesting   grain yield (kg/ha)   NUE, NUTE, NUPE

  SNP genotyping   1536 SNP-markers (UCLA)   Associate mapping: N use indices, disease resistance

Rajala, MTT

35 kg N

Unf

ertil

ized

plo

ts

Definitions NUE: nitrogen use efficiency

kg grain/kg available N (fertilizer N + soil N) kg grain/kg fertilizer N

Subcomponents of NUE: NUPE: nitrogen uptake efficiency

kg plant N/kg available N (fertilizer N + soil N) NUTE: nitrogen utilization efficiency

kg grain/kg plant N (straw + grain N)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Yiel

d kg

/ha

Decade of cultivar release

Mean grain yield (kg/ha)

35 N

70 N

Grain yield (kg/ha) 2011+12

NGB-material SGW +

Grain number +

Harvest index (HI) +

Stem length –

Lodging –

Breeding effect

?

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000

6500

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Yiel

d kg

/ha

Decade of cultivar release

Min-max grain yield (kg/ha)

35 N

70 N

Min-max grain yield (kg/ha) 2011+12

NGB-material

Mean grain yield (kg/ha) 2011 vs12

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

0   1000   2000   3000   4000   5000   6000   7000  

Mea

n yi

eld

(kg/

ha)

2012

Mean yield (kg/ha) 2011

Grain yield 2011 vs 2012

cultivars

NGB-material

Fertilizer N use efficiency: 2011+12

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

NU

E kg

yie

ld/k

g ap

llied

fert

lizer

N

Decade of cultivar release

Mean ferilizer NUE (kg yield/kg applied fertilizer N)

35 N

70 N

Fertilizer NUE + 30% NGB-material

N use efficiency 2011 soil N = mean plant N uptake in unfertilized plots

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1880   1900   1920   1940   1960   1980   2000   2020  

NU

E

Decade of release

NUE : kg grain/kg soil N (estimated) + fert N

NUE 35N

NUE 70N NGB-material

NUE + 30%

N utilization efficiency NUTE: 2011

NGB-material

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1880   1900   1920   1940   1960   1980   2000   2020  

NU

TE

Decade of cultivar release

NUTE : kg grain/kg plant N

NUTE 35N

NUTE 70N

NUTE + 10-15%

Min-max NUTE: 2011

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1880   1900   1920   1940   1960   1980   2000   2020  

NU

TE

Decade of cultivar release

Min-max NUTE : kg grain/kg plant N

NUTE 35N

NUTE 70N

NGB-material

Some of the NGB genotypes in top NUTE-ranking

High NUTE has a price!

NUTE and grain N: 2011

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

20   25   30   35   40   45  

grai

n N

(%)

NUTE

NUTE: kg grain/kg plant N (grain + straw) and grain N (%)

N 35

N 70

Grain N (%): 2011 Not a major concern in barley, but in bread wheat, yes

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

1880   1900   1920   1940   1960   1980   2000   2020  

grai

n N

(%)

Decade of release

grain N (%)

N 35

N 70

NUPE: 2011 soil N = mean plant N uptake in unfertilized plots

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1880   1900   1920   1940   1960   1980   2000   2020  

NU

PE

Decade of release

NUPE : kg plant N/kg soil N (estimated) + fert N

NUPE 35N

NUPE 70N

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1880   1900   1920   1940   1960   1980   2000   2020  

NU

PE

Decade of release

NUPE : kg plant N/kg soil N + fert N

NUPE 35N

NUPE 70N

Min-max NUPE: 2011

Some of the NGB genotypes in top NUPE-ranking

NGB-material

NUPE and NUTE 2011 NUTE (kg yield/kg plant N) ja NUPE (kg plant N/kg soil + fert N)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0   0,2   0,4   0,6   0,8   1   1,2   1,4  

NU

TE (k

g yi

eld

/ kg

plan

t N)

NUPE (kg plant N/ kg soil + fert N)

NUTE and NUPE

N 35

N 70

Slight negative correlation between NUTE and NUPE

Conclusions

  Breeding has greatly improved agronomic traits and yielding

capacity   Modern cultivars outperformed the land races in N use efficiency   However, some of the landraces had high N utilization or uptake

efficiency → potential crossing material for breeding programmes   Some DNA-markers (SNP) associated with N use efficiency indices.

These markers may fasten the backcrossing process in plant breeding

Acknowledgements

  Funding: Ministry of Agriculture and forestry   Collaboration: Boreal Plant Breeding, KESKO   People involved

Aino, Aleksi, Ari, Arto, Elina, Esra, Eren, Jaana, Juan, Jose, Kauko, 2 x Lauri, Leena, Maarit, Marja, Marja-Leena, Martina, Matti, Merja, Niko, 2 x Outi, Pirjo, Riitta, Sakari, Teija, Tiina… All together over 30 people

Thank you!