Using phenotyping techniques to predict and model grain yield: translating phenotyping into genetic gain

Publication date: 27/06/2022
Extent: 26 pages

Contributions by: Thomas Vatter and José L. Araus, University of Barcelona and AGROTECNIO (Center for Research in Agrotechnology), Spain

Chapter synopsis: Recent models predict population to peak in 2064 at around 9.7 billion, and then will likely decline to about 8.8 billion by 2100. This requires to increase crop production significantly. Precise phenotyping of the large breeding populations under diverse environments is required to harness the full potential of modern breeding techniques, and has become the new bottleneck in breeding programs. Development and application of advanced cost and time efficient phenotyping techniques on a large scale will have a major impact on achievable genetic gain in general and grain yield in specific. Traditional phenotyping techniques applied are generally time consuming and labor intense. This puts an upper limit on the size of the screening population. As such, the role of high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) techniques that allow fast and accurate phenotyping of large breeding populations in the field cannot be understated in its role for achieving higher grain yields.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2022.0102.16