Selection of genotypes with high N-use efficiency, weed competition and allelopathy in breeding materials of wheat and barley for organic farming

Summary

The project is an implementation of new knowledge and methods obtained and
developed in earlier SLF and SJFR projects. The methods based on hydroponic
selection for N-use efficiency and weed competition and a bioassay for allelopathy
selections have now been used in an on-going project for selection of new breeding
lines in wheat and barley, to identify new gene sources for allelopathy and to
improve the gene pools. The efforts will continue in the new project with special
emphasis on allelopathy where the new gene sources will be used to improve weed
competition in wheat. Parallel with traditional selection using the bioassay, gene
markers will also be looked for. Effective markers will facilitate incorporations
of genes from less adapted cultivars. In the on-going project several interesting
breeding lines have been produced. These and new selected lines will be further
evaluated in organic yield trials. The hydroponic screening is here an effective
method to select the most interesting lines for organic production out of several
hundred from the conventional breeding programme.