Publikationen und Medien

@article{WOS:001593332300001,

title = {Tillering plasticity of drought-stressed barley genotypes under  different re-watering regimes},

author = {Sahel Soleimani and Philip Wichmann and Klaus Pillen and Kerstin Neumann and Andreas Maurer},

doi = {10.1186/s12870-025-07504-8},

issn = {1471-2229},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-10-01},

urldate = {2025-10-01},

journal = {BMC PLANT BIOLOGY},

volume = {25},

number = {1},

abstract = {Background One future challenge of agriculture will be maintaining food 

 security in times of climate change. Future plant breeding, therefore, 

 has to account for the genotypes\' survival during drought and a good 

 recovery ability after rainfall events. We aimed at investigating the 

 re-tillering behavior of selected barley genotypes (cultivars and wild 

 barley introgression lines) in different drought and re-watering 

 scenarios, which were applied in a high-throughput phenotyping facility. 

 Re-tillering describes the activation of additional tillers after 

 post-stress irrigation. Results Twenty-three selected genotypes of the 

 barley NAM population HEB-25, along with three control genotypes, were 

 evaluated in four replicates under five distinct treatment conditions. 

 In this experiment, re-tillering was particularly pronounced in an 

 alternating watering and stress treatment, where the resumption of 

 irrigation post-stress enabled full recovery of the plants. However, it 

 was noted that while re-watering after a stress period promotes tiller 

 activation and the development of fertile ears, it also tends to 

 increase the number of sterile ears. The degree of sterile ear formation 

 varied significantly among different genotypes, highlighting the 

 critical role of genetic factors in modulating plant responses to 

 re-tillering and post-stress irrigation. It is important to note that 

 excessive re-tillering has been shown to exhibit a negative correlation 

 with fertile ear weight. Conclusions The impact of focusing on tiller 

 number and re-tillering behavior in future barley breeding may be 

 significant, particularly in the context of climate change. By selecting 

 for genotypes with appropriate tillering plasticity, breeders can 

 develop barley varieties that are more resilient to stress conditions 

 such as drought.},

keywords = {Drought tolerance, Genotype, Plant Breeding, Quantitative trait},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{WOS:001513545300001,

title = {New loci and candidate genes in spring two-rowed barley detected through  meta-analysis of a field trial European network},

author = {Francesc Montardit-Tarda and Ana M. Casas and William T. B. Thomas and Florian Schnaithmann and Rajiv Sharma and Salar Shaaf and Chiara Campoli and Joanne Russell and Luke Ramsay and Micha M. Bayer and Stefano Delbono and Marko Jaaskelainen and Maitry Paul and Frederick L. Stoddard and Andrea Visioni and Andrew J. Flavell and Klaus Pillen and Benjamin Kilian and Andreas Graner and Laura Rossini and Robbie Waugh and Luigi Cattivelli and Alan H. Schulman and Alessandro Tondelli and Ernesto Igartua},

doi = {10.1007/s00122-025-04934-8},

issn = {0040-5752},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-07-01},

urldate = {2025-07-01},

journal = {THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS},

volume = {138},

number = {7},

abstract = {Key messageA dense genome-wide meta-analysis provides new QTLs, reveals 

 breeding history trends and identifies new candidate genes for yield, 

 plant height, grain weight, and heading time of spring 

 barley.AbstractThis study contributes new knowledge on quantitative 

 trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes for adaptive traits and yield in 

 two-rowed spring barley. A meta-analysis of a network of field trials, 

 varying in latitude and sowing date, with 151 cultivars across several 

 European countries, increased QTL detection power compared to 

 single-trial analyses. The traits analysed were heading date (HD), plant 

 height (PH), thousand-grain weight (TGW), and grain yield (GY). Breaking 

 down the analysis by the main genotype-by-environment trends revealed 

 QTLs and candidate genes specific to conditions like sowing date and 

 latitude. A historical look on the evolution of QTL frequencies revealed 

 that early selection focused on PH and TGW, likely due to their high 

 heritability. GY selection occurred later, facilitated by reduced 

 variance in other traits. The study observed that favourable alleles for 

 plant height were often fixed before those for grain yield and TGW. Some 

 regions showed linkage in repulsion, suggesting targets for future 

 breeding. Several candidate genes were identified, including known genes 

 and new candidates based on orthology with rice. Remarkably, the 

 deficiens allele of gene Vrs1 appears associated with higher GY. These 

 findings provide valuable insights for barley breeders aiming to improve 

 yield and other agronomic traits.},

keywords = {Agricultural Genetics, Drought tolerance, Genotype, Plant Breeding, Quantitative trait},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{WOS:001220771900001,

title = {Investigating the genetic control of plant development in spring barley  under speed breeding conditions},

author = {Nicola Rossi and Wayne Powell and Ian J. Mackay and Lee Hickey and Andreas Maurer and Klaus Pillen and Karen Halliday and Rajiv Sharma},

doi = {10.1007/s00122-024-04618-9},

issn = {0040-5752},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-05-01},

urldate = {2024-05-01},

journal = {THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS},

volume = {137},

number = {5},

abstract = {Key message This study found that the genes, PPD-H1 and ELF3, control 

 the acceleration of plant development under speed breeding, with 

 important implications for optimizing the delivery of climate-resilient 

 crops.Abstract Speed breeding is a tool to accelerate breeding and 

 research programmes. Despite its success and growing popularity with 

 breeders, the genetic basis of plant development under speed breeding 

 remains unknown. This study explored the developmental advancements of 

 barley genotypes under different photoperiod regimes. A subset of the 

 HEB-25 Nested Association Mapping population was evaluated for days to 

 heading and maturity under two contrasting photoperiod conditions: (1) 

 Speed breeding (SB) consisting of 22 h of light and 2 h of darkness, and 

 (2) normal breeding (NB) consisting of 16 h of light and 8 h of 

 darkness. GWAS revealed that developmental responses under both 

 conditions were largely controlled by two loci: PPDH-1 and ELF3. Allelic 

 variants at these genes determine whether plants display early flowering 

 and maturity under both conditions. At key QTL regions, domesticated 

 alleles were associated with late flowering and maturity in NB and early 

 flowering and maturity in SB, whereas wild alleles were associated with 

 early flowering under both conditions. We hypothesize that this is 

 related to the dark-dependent repression of PPD-H1 by ELF3 which might 

 be more prominent in NB conditions. Furthermore, by comparing 

 development under two photoperiod regimes, we derived an estimate of 

 plasticity for the two traits. Interestingly, plasticity in development 

 was largely attributed to allelic variation at ELF3. Our results have 

 important implications for our understanding and optimization of speed 

 breeding protocols particularly for introgression breeding and the 

 design of breeding programmes to support the delivery of 

 climate-resilient crops.},

keywords = {Cereal Crops, Developmental Genetics, Plant Breeding, Plant genetics, Quantitative trait},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}