Identificação de marcadores moleculares associados à produtividade da forragem em capim elefante (Cenchrus purpureus)

• Grant number: 24/00769-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy
• Principal Investigator: Anete Pereira de Souza
• Grantee: Rafaella Lima Oliveira de Magalhães
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Company: Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Embrapa Sede
• Associated research grant: 22/04006-2 - Center for Plant Molecular Breeding (CeM²P), AP.PCPE

Abstract

Brazil stands out in the world's meat and milk production, being an example of sustainable production and with the capacity to expand production without increasing area. Brazil's almost 170 million hectares of pastures reveal their economic, social and environmental importance. Despite the importance of tropical forages, their improvement is recent worldwide, and there is a lack of modern tools to assist in developing new cultivars. Among the most used forage species, mainly in dairy cattle farming, elephant grass (Cenchrus purpureus) stands out. The species attracts a lot of interest due to its short harvest cycle, high photosynthetic efficiency, longevity, persistence, wide adaptation, and the capacity for biological nitrogen fixation. The general problem identified within the elephant grass breeding program is the long time required to develop and launch new cultivars, with low annual genetic gains, complex target phenotypes and long selection cycles. Assisted selection and genomic selection tools are not applied and could contribute to reducing selection cycles and consequently increasing genetic gain rates. Therefore, this proposal aims to develop advanced genomic resources for elephant grass, establishing the necessary foundations for boosting the genetic improvement program underway at Embrapa. Phenotypic data from evaluations already carried out in the active elephant grass germplasm bank will be used for characteristics such as determination of acid and neutral detergent fibres; cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content; plant height; in vitro digestibility of dry matter; green, dry biomass production and dry matter concentration. All germplasm bank accessions will be genotyped using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) method, which will allow the estimation of the allelic dosage of many markers. Different approaches in association analysis are expected to identify markers and genes associated with forage quality and productivity that will contribute to developing new elephant grass cultivars.