Search

Wheat is considered an established crop with a long breeding history. Its varieties are being developed with differential breeding targets, e.g. high grain yield or high grain protein content. The different breeding targets strongly influence performance in the targeted traits, but may also influence non-target traits related to grain quality, biofortification potential, and nutrient accumulation. This influence of non-targeted traits may, in turn, affect the environmental performance and ecological sustainability of the crop. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between breeding target traits such as grain yield and grain quality, and non-target traits for three groups of spring wheat varieties differing in breeding targets, i.e. high yield (I), organic high protein (II), and intermediate (III) wheat types. Data from a field trial with nine spring wheat varieties grown under two soil compaction treatments over two years with contrasting weather were used. We found that wheat type affected most target and non-target traits with partly large effect sizes (0.874≤ηp 2≤0.173), but not nitrogen (N) uptake efficiency ( ηp 2=0.006), which reflects the potential N resource requirement of the crop. Associations shown between target and non-target traits will be advantageous for wheat breeding programs. Wheat type and environment had similarly sized effects on grain yield and quality traits. Grain concentrations of various macro- and micro-nutrients were frequently, but not always, correlated, indicating that the biofortification potential varied between wheat types and was affected by environmental conditions. The grain and starch yields per accumulated plant N were higher in the wheat varieties bred for high grain yields than those bred for high grain protein content; whilst the protein yield per accumulated whole-plant N was similar across all wheat types despite much higher grain N concentrations in the high-protein varieties. Additionally, most of the evaluated traits tended to preserve their static stability across environments. The results link grain yield and grain quality traits to crop nutrient accumulation aspects relevant for the environmental performance and ecological sustainability of the crop. Future breeding strategies should consider the non-target effects in traits that influence the environmental performance of the crop.

• Increased growth under control conditions was often not transferrable to field conditions. • Variation in non-target traits in transgenics did not exceed variation in a natural population. • Risk evaluation of transgenic trees should not focus on unintentional variation in non-target traits. Genetically modified hybrid aspens (Populus tremula L. x P. tremuloides Michx.), selected for increased growth under controlled conditions, have been grown in highly replicated field trials to evaluate how the target trait (growth) translated to natural conditions. Moreover, the variation was compared among genotypes of ecologically important non-target traits: number of shoots, bud set, pathogen infection, amount of insect herbivory, composition of the insect herbivore community and flower bud induction. This variation was compared with the variation in a population of randomly selected natural accessions of P. tremula grown in common garden trials, to estimate how the "unintended variation" present in transgenic trees, which in the future may be commercialized, compares with natural variation. The natural variation in the traits was found to be typically significantly greater. The data suggest that when authorities evaluate the potential risks associated with a field experiment or commercial introduction of transgenic trees, risk evaluation should focus on target traits and that unintentional variation in non-target traits is of less concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]