Developing Solutions for Seed Shattering in Cover Crops: Targeting Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa Roth)

Authors: MONTEROS, MARIA - Noble Research Institute; HERNANDEZ, TIM - Noble Research Institute; KROM, NICK - Noble Research Institute; MONTES, CHRISTY - Noble Research Institute; Kissing Kucek, Lisa; SHAHJAHAN, ALI - Noble Research Institute; BHAMIDIMARRI, SURESH - Noble Research Institute; Riday, Heathcliffe

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/13/2019
Publication Date: 11/13/2019
Citation: Monteros, M.J., Hernandez, T.D., Krom, N.D., Montes, C.M., Kucek, L.K., Shahjahan, A., Bhamidimarri, S., Riday, H. 2019. Developing Solutions for Seed Shattering in Cover Crops: Targeting Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa Roth). ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. 11/13/2019.

Interpretive Summary: Cover crop legumes provide ground cover to reduce soil erosion, can improve soil structure and are capable of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Although seed dispersion or shattering is essential for the distribution of wild plants, seed shattering in many crop legumes including hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) is undesirable because it results in seed yield losses. Molecular markers are useful to identify genetic variation for key traits that will confer an advantage in terms of pod retention and seed yield. The objectives of this project are to develop molecular markers targeting pod retention to use for genomics-based breeding and selection approaches to develop enhanced cover crop cultivars. Complementary approaches include leveraging the genome sequences of model and crop legumes to mine conserved regions of candidate genes and transcription factors associated with pod retention traits, genome-wide association studies and mining transcriptomic datasets to identify differentially expressed genes between high and low seed shattering vetch genotypes. Hairy vetch accessions contrasting for seed shattering traits under field evaluations at three locations (Maryland, New York and Wisconsin) were genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). A total of 49,369 SNPs and 26,916 indels between seed shattering and non-seed shattering hairy vetch plants were identified. Gene-based functional markers targeting gene sequences associated with pod retention will enable efficient integration of pod retention traits to address the challenges with seed shattering affecting many cover crop legumes as part of a pipeline to enhance the resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems.

Technical Abstract: Hairy vetch, Vicia villosa (Roth), is a cover crop that does not exhibit a typical domestication syndrome. Pod dehiscence reduces seed yield and creates weed problems for subsequent crops. De novo domestication efforts aim to reduce pod dehiscence in hairy vetch. To understand pod dehiscence in the species, we screened pod dehiscence among 477 lines of hairy vetch. Lines with very high and very low shatter were screened for differences in candidate genes. Genotypes of hairy vetch exhibited wide variation in pod dehiscence, from completely indehiscent to completely dehiscent ratings. Potential genetic markers were identified to select against pod dehiscence in hairy vetch.