Prediction of Genotypic Estimated Breeding Value of Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinate Link) using a Genome-Wide Procedure

Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinate Link) is a warm season, C4 perennial grass native to most of North America.  Prairie cordgrass has been used in conservation practices for stream bank stabilization and riparian vegetation and also has been recently gaining attention as a dedicated energy crop grown on marginal land due to its excellent tolerance to abiotic stresses. The effectiveness of breeding programs for prairie cordgrass can be challenged due to the length of breeding cycle and constant phenotypic assessment of biomass yield related traits. In this study, we are able to explore the genetic variance and genotypic estimated breeding value of bi-parental prairie cordgrass populations. Bi-parental lines were created by crossing among 7 diverse natural prairie cordgrass populations. A total of 255 F1 progenies were established in a research nursery at Energy Farm, Urbana, IL, in 2013. Individual plants were phenotyped over two years, and genotyped using an Illumina Hi-Seq 2000 platform. Our phenotypic results indicated that there is a considerable breeding potential among the F1 progenies. A genomic selection by predicting the genotypic estimated breeding value was perused to increase the breeding cycle in prairie cordgrass, particularly for biomass yield related traits such as tiller weight, tiller length, and tiller number. Progenies with high estimated breeding value will be used for future breeding programs of developing prairie cordgrass as a biofuel feedstock.