Insights into the Genetic Architecture of Phenotypic Stability Traits in Winter Wheat

Examining the architecture of traits through genomics is necessary to gain a better understanding of the genetic loci affecting important traits to facilitate improvement. Genomewide association study (GWAS) and genomic selection (GS) were implemented for grain yield, heading date, and plant height to gain insights into the genetic complexity of phenotypic stability of traits in a diverse population of US Pacific Northwest winter wheat. Analysis of variance using the Additive Main Effect and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) approach revealed significant genotype and genotype by environment interactions. GWAS identified 12 SNP markers distributed across 10 chromosomes affecting variation for both trait and phenotypic stability, indicating potential pleiotropic effects and signifying that similar genetic loci could be associated with different aspects of stability. The lack of stable and major effect loci affecting phenotypic variation supports the complexity of stability of traits. Accuracy of GS was low to moderate, between 0.14 and 0.66, indicating that phenotypic stability is under genetic control. The moderate to high correlation between trait and trait stability suggests the potential of simultaneous selection for trait and trait stability. Our results demonstrate the complex genetic architecture of trait stability and show the potential for improving stability in winter wheat using genomic-assisted approaches.