Research Project: Screening Diverse Carrot Germplasm for Improved Germination and Seed Characteristics

Location: Vegetable Crops Research

Project Number: 5090-21000-073-061-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement

Start Date: Jun 15, 2021
End Date: Jun 14, 2023

Objective:
1) Measure variance of seed size within and between carrot accession, and map associated loci with GWA analysis 2) Calculate correlation between seed size and germination-percentage, time-to-germination and consistency in non-salt-stressed and salt-stressed germination conditions. 3) Test if larger seed size results in faster or greater growth carrot growth in field environments.

Approach:
1) Seed increase of 700 carrot accessions in controlled environment 2) Next-gen sequencing to generate genotypes for 700 carrot accessions 3) Digitally measure seed size and complete GWA analyses 4) Petri-dish germination assays for 700 carrot accessions and complete GWA analyses 5) Grow subset of lines in field to compare controlled environment and field results.