Plant breeders work to improve the characteristics of plants, especially those related to productivity. The most important productivity traits are yield (the quantity of a given useful product, such as grain) and yield stability (the ability of plants to maintain high yields under stressful conditions).

Most crops are exposed to stresses such as drought or high temperatures, often combinations of several types of stress at the same time. Indeed, this is one of the main challenges associated with climate change. It is relatively simple to select plants for high yield, but much more difficult to select for yield stability because genetic progress is masked by the effect of environmental conditions on the phenotype, a phenomenon known as the genotype x environment (GxE) interaction. The more genetic information we have, the easier it becomes to understand GxE interactions and how to select for yield stability.

Flagship Project 1 is developing genomic and digital solutions to probe the genetic basis of physiological factors affecting yield and yield stability, as well as quality traits (such as seed protein and oil). We have generated specialized structured populations of wheat, canola and lentil that we can test under controlled environments and in the field, and by combining these assets with genotyping datasets, digital phenotyping and data modelling from field environments, we can finally dissect the genetic factors responsible for yield stability under stress. The project will deliver richly-annotated phenotype datasets (phenomics) to support genetic dissection and breeding (genomics), allowing the association of genotypes with phenotypes, ultimately delivering novel genomic and digital phenotyping tools to breeders to support the prediction of crop performance under stress.