Genetic and environmental drivers of legume cover crop performance: Hairy vetch

Abstract Among 50 environments in the United States, we screened 35 hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa Roth.) lines for traits of interest to cover cropping. We analyzed the influence of genotype, environment, and the genotype‐by‐environment interaction (G × E) on biomass, vigor, winter survival, emergence, flowering time, and nitrogen fixation. To explore how environments and G × E impacted each trait, we associated environment predictions and G × E loadings with weather and soil parameters. Environment had the largest influence on all traits, representing more than half of the variance. Environment predictions were significantly associated with weather and/or soil parameters for each trait. Biomass was associated with growing degree days, winter survival with freezing degree days without snow cover, growth stage with shortwave radiation, and emergence with soil texture. The G × E interaction was larger than genotypic variance for all traits except for winter survival and flowering time. The G × E interaction loadings were associated with soil sand content for biomass, air temperature for fall vigor and emergence, and snow cover for winter survival. Although it represented the smallest proportion of total variance, genetic effects were significant for all traits except for emergence, Ndfa, %N, and C:N. New hairy vetch breeding lines were superior to all commercially available lines for biomass and winter survival. Biomass harvest timing did not significantly change line rank, indicating that top‐performing lines can be used in diverse management systems. To select for high nitrogen contribution to subsequent crops, breeding programs can indirectly select for biomass rather than expensively evaluating symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Crop Science
Published
2024-09-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21318
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.80

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article

Genetic and environmental drivers of legume cover crop performance: Hairy vetch

Heidi Hillhouse, Katherine E. Muller, John Englert, Nancy Ehlke et al.
3 citations
Crop Science
Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies
1.80
article

Genetic and environmental drivers of legume cover crop performance: Hairy vetch

Heidi Hillhouse, Katherine E. Muller, John Englert, Nancy Ehlke, Allen N. Burke, John Hendrickson, Richard Barrett, Twain J. Butler, Amy Bartow, Ryan Crawford, Valerie Bullard, Dustin R. Wiggans, Virginia Moore, Rebecca J. McGee, Joel Douglas, Sarah Krogman, Sandra Wayman, Shahjahan Ali, David Walter Archer, Matthew R. Ryan, Heathcliffe Riday, John A. Guretzky, Laurie E. Drinkwater, Christopher Bernau, Mathew Humphrey, Prasanna Ayyaru Thevar, Lisa Kissing Kucek, B. J. Carr, Chris Reberg‐Horton, Sarah Seehaver Eagen, Kerry Clark, Steven Brian Mirsky, Lais Bastos Martins, Annie Marion, Ian Silvernail, Margaret Smither‐Kopperl, Holly A. Johnson, Esleyther Henriquez Inoa, Nicholas McGhee, Steven Lee, Allen Casey, Kimberly Griffin, Nick P. Wiering
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Abstract Among 50 environments in the United States, we screened 35 hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa Roth.) lines for traits of interest to cover cropping. We analyzed the influence of genotype, environment, and the genotype‐by‐environment interaction (G × E) on biomass, vigor, winter survival, emergence, flowering time, and nitrogen fixation. To explore how environments and G × E impacted each trait, we associated environment predictions and G × E loadings with weather and soil parameters. Environment had the largest influence on all traits, representing more than half of the variance. Environment predictions were significantly associated with weather and/or soil parameters for each trait. Biomass was associated with growing degree days, winter survival with freezing degree days without snow cover, growth stage with shortwave radiation, and emergence with soil texture. The G × E interaction was larger than genotypic variance for all traits except for winter survival and flowering time. The G × E interaction loadings were associated with soil sand content for biomass, air temperature for fall vigor and emergence, and snow cover for winter survival. Although it represented the smallest proportion of total variance, genetic effects were significant for all traits except for emergence, Ndfa, %N, and C:N. New hairy vetch breeding lines were superior to all commercially available lines for biomass and winter survival. Biomass harvest timing did not significantly change line rank, indicating that top‐performing lines can be used in diverse management systems. To select for high nitrogen contribution to subsequent crops, breeding programs can indirectly select for biomass rather than expensively evaluating symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

Crop ScienceVol. 64(6)
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US), University of Minnesota (US), North Carolina State University (US), Cornell University (US), New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (US), Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (US), Noble Research Institute (US), Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory (US), U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center (US), Plant (United States) (US), University of Missouri (US)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies
1.80
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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