The carrot SCRI project taps into carrot diversity to develop genetic and genomic resources, evaluate nutrient bioavailability, and assess factors influencing grower and consumer decisions

Authors: Simon, Philipp; Rolling, William; Senalik, Douglas; DAWSON, JULIE - University Of Wisconsin; TANUMIHARDJO, SHERRY - North Carolina State University; SPALDING, EDGAR - University Of California, Davis; IORIZZO, MASSIMO - University Of California, Davis; VAN DEYNZE, ALLEN - University Of California, Davis; HILL, THERESA - University Of California, Riverside; SUMNER, DANIEL - Washington State University; GOODRICH, BRITTNEY - Washington State University; ULLMAN, KATHARINA - Organic Seed Alliance; ROBERTS, PHILIP - University Of California - Cooperative Extension Service; DU TOIT, LINDSEY - University Of California - Cooperative Extension Service; WATERS, TIMOTHY - Washington State University; COLLEY, MICAELA - Organic Seed Alliance; MCKENZIE, LAURIE - Organic Seed Alliance; SIDHU, JASPREET - University Of California - Cooperative Extension Service; DIAZ, JAIRO - University Of California - Cooperative Extension Service; MENG, YU - University Of California - Cooperative Extension Service

Submitted to: Acta horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2023
Publication Date: 4/11/2024
Citation: Simon, P.W., Rolling, W.R., Senalik, D.A., Dawson, J., Tanumihardjo, S., Spalding, E., Iorizzo, M., Van Deynze, A., Hill, T., Sumner, D., Goodrich, B., Ullman, K., Roberts, P., du Toit, L., Waters, T., Colley, M., McKenzie, L., Sidhu, J., Diaz, J., Meng, Y. 2024. The carrot SCRI project taps into carrot diversity to develop genetic and genomic resources, evaluate nutrient bioavailability, and assess factors influencing grower and consumer decisions. Acta Horticulturae. 1393:277-286. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1393.36.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1393.36

Interpretive Summary: A major goal of plant breeding is to improve traits or characteristics of a crop to better serve the needs of the agricultural industry and the consuming public. To ascertain those needs, a survey of carrot growers, breeders, researchers, and processors revealed traits of importance to those stakeholders. With that, a project was funded in the USDA-NIFA-SCRI program, and a team of researchers was assembled to address those needs. A collection of around 700 carrot cultivars was evaluated by that team, and new sources of genes for important traits have been identified. Genes controlling many of those traits have been discovered, to date. This research is of interest to the vegetable production, processing and seed industries, as well as the consuming public.

Technical Abstract: With vegetable consumption in the U.S. significantly lower than that recommended by nutritionists, and growers facing increasing production challenges, a survey of carrot stakeholders was conducted to develop a plan for addressing these challenges as they pertain to carrot. The survey revealed that the carrot industry needs breeding stocks and genomic tools to develop carrots with improved field performance, including disease and pest resistance and abiotic stress tolerance, to meet growing market demands; and improved flavor and nutritional quality to better meet consumer needs. To address these needs, the carrot Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI) Project was proposed and funded by the USDA-NIFA. We have screened the national germplasm collection of around 700 diverse cultivated carrot accessions and identified new sources of traits for improving carrot productivity and quality, expanding product development, and strengthening economic viability. Improved cultivars with these traits will provide a cost-effective, environmentally favorable means to deliver an improved carrot crop to growers, processors, and consumers. However, carrot breeders need tools to track genes for improving the crop, and will need tested breeding stocks to develop superior cultivars more efficiently. The goals of this project are to: 1) develop cost-effective genomic tools to advance carrot breeding populations with the economically and nutritionally significant traits identified by stakeholders; 2) map genes underlying economically important traits so breeders can effectively deploy these traits in cultivars for growers, processors, and consumers; 3) evaluate bioavailability of nutrients in carrots with varying nutrient composition that may influence nutritional impact; and 4) evaluate the market value and impact of carrot traits on grower and consumer decisions.