Work Package Number: 1.1
Running Title: Barley Genetics
Policy Context
Almost 1m ha in Scotland is under arable production of which cereals account for 45%. The dominant cereal crop grown in Scotland is spring barley and this contributes 30% to the UK barley area. The Scottish barley crop tends to be low in protein and particularly suited for distilling and brewing. It is also used for animal feed. Thus the crop makes an important contribution to key aspects of Scottish life. Discussions in the recent strategy review highlighted two main issues. There was concern over Scotland’s reliance on a relatively small number of spring barley varieties and there was a recognition that if Scottish farmers are to remain competitive in an enlarged, decoupled Europe, they will need to produce a high quality product capable of capturing a premium value. It was recognised that barley tends to be treated as a minority crop by the large breeders and that in order to ensure the production of new varieties of value to Scotland, SEERAD investment was necessary. The outputs from appropriately targeted genetics and genomics research should help address some of these issues.
Research in this workpackage will need to be integrated with relevant work in other packages, most notably under PO2 “Plant Pathology for Sustainable Crop Production”, PO3
“Designing Crops for Sustainable Production” and PO7 “Building More Sustainable Farming
Systems” to ensure coherence of final outputs.
Required Outputs

Tools (genes, markers, bioinformatics, knowledge) which allow the production of improved barley varieties which help Scottish farmers to remain competitive in an enlarged Europe.

Identification of tools (genes, markers, bioinformatics, knowledge) to allow breeders to select crop varieties suitable for future Scottish climates.
 Increased emphasis on developing crops with enhanced nutritional quality.

Improved understanding of factors contributing towards product quality including the identification of markers for key traits and genes for use by breeders.

Explore the potential for extended season (early cropping): Science to deliver barley varieties with earlier maturation.
Impacts of Research
The outputs from this research need to help Scottish farmers remain competitive in an enlarged, decoupled Europe.
Linkages Anticipated

Integration of cereal genomics, cereal genetics, bioinformatics and with appropriate input of social sciences.

Linkage with other plant and crop science groups in Scotland.

Co-ordination with other UK public research teams supporting the genetic improvement of cereals.
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
Linkage with the cereal industry.

Linkage with the supply chain.
Suggested Movement From Current Position
 Increased focus of research to meet Scottish needs for high quality varieties.

Need to see evidence that right traits have been identified i.e. that industry want and that there is feed through of research outputs to delivery of new products.
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1.1 Title of SEERAD programme Profitable and Sustainable Agriculture - Plants
1.2 Title of work package Barley Genetics
1.3 Work package reference number 1.1
1.4 Work package manager details
Title Dr
Forename Bill
Thomas Surname
Organisation Name
Department or Division
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
Town/City
Country
E-mail
Telephone
Fax
Scottish Crop Research Institute
Invergowrie
Dundee DD2 5DA
Scotland, UK bill.thomas@scri.ac.uk
01382 568535
01382 568507
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1.5 Organisations involved in work package and percentage contribution
Organisation name % Total WP cost
Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) 91.56
Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) 0.75
Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland
(BioSS)*
7.68
* All costs for the BioSS research area ‘Statistical Bioinformatics’ have been assigned to WP 1.1.
1.6 Total work package cost (£K GBP)
1.7 Duration of work package
9,357.482
60 months
1.8 Start date (dd/mm/yy) 01/04/06
1.9 End date (dd/mm/yy) 31/03/11
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Outline of Programme and Work Package Management Structure
Definition of terms used and remits.
Programme Group
The remit of the overarching Programme Group is as defined by SEERAD i.e. it will maintain an advisory role with regard to strategy development, science evolution, work package delivery and implementation of KT.
Work Packages
These represent the major delivery platforms for SEERAD commissioned research. Each work package has a nominated manager and each work package contains specific projects/modules/strands of work led by principal investigators.
Work Package Advisory Groups/Advisory Committee
These are groups designed to provide specific advice relevant to the science and KT portfolio of the work package in question and will provide, for example, a commodity focus in WPs
1.1 to 1.5. The Programme Group as defined above remains the key vehicle for advising on higher level operational/strategic/overview issues.
Programmes (SCRI)
At the SCRI, Programmes have been set up as part of its internal management system. The
Programmes are: a.
Genetics (GEN) b.
Plant Pathology (PP) c.
Quality Health & Nutrition (QHN) d.
Environment Plant Interactions (EPI)
Each Programme has a senior scientist as its leader. No Programme Leader is also a Work
Package Manager. Whilst Work Package Managers are challenged with delivery of the
SEERAD commissioned science, Programme Leaders have a wider remit. They will be responsible for positioning the SCRI with regard to emerging external funding opportunities, will provide leadership and communication within the generic areas defined in (a-d) above, drive important cross-discipline interactions, develop strategies for staff development and take part in Senior Management Board meetings to help formulate strategy for Institute development and operational issues. Other MRPs will no doubt have a different internal management system.
What is described above is a basic matrix management system.
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Please note: Section 2 is designed to allow assessment of the strategic, policy and end-user relevance of the proposed work package by non-scientists. The information provided in this section should be written in a style that someone with a standard level education in science would find informative and accessible.
2.1 Overview
(Summarise in approximately 500 works the proposed work and indicate how it will address the required outputs, including the relevance of the proposed work to SEERAD policy, end-user(s), relevant sector(s) and to Scotland).
This work package describes a multi-faceted approach to translate knowledge of plants, plant genes and genetics into tangible outputs such as genes, markers, germplasm, databases and knowledge that will facilitate the ongoing development of improved barley cultivars for Scotland. The work package is organised to provide a pipeline for delivery of the required outputs of the SEERAD strategy. The focus on delivery will drive the translation of knowledge and information into these outputs. With contributions from
SCRI and SAC, the work package will conduct underpinning research necessary to identify specific target genes and understand how they function within the context of a desired phenotype. The policy issues of generating new barley varieties, varieties with high quality characteristics which command premium and varieties for sustainability will be addressed in the work package. It will also develop bioinformatics and biostatistics approaches to interpret, integrate and display its various research outputs.
The work package has been formulated from on-going discussions and input from endusers. Through dialogue and already funded links with end-user organisations (e.g.
MAGB, SWRI, HGCA, DEFRA etc), WP 1.1 will investigate how new genotypes could be developed to maintain or improve malting quality in a genetic background suitable for
Scotland. It will use genetic markers as tools to improve the efficiency and reliability of a selection of high quality barley varieties and will search for new genes or phenotypes in germplasm collections for potential incorporation into Scottish (and UK) germplasm. By using a combination of biotechnological and molecular breeding approaches it will assess the impact of new alleles or phenotypes in an adapted background with the aim of releasing advanced breeding lines to commercial breeders for timely development into new cultivars.
A prioritised set of objectives will focus on the need to produce earlier maturing barley cultivars and to reduce the environmental footprint of production. These will require a fundamental knowledge of the genes that regulate flowering and their relationship to yield and malting quality, and of the factors that enable plants to respond to less intensive cultivation and to tolerate biotic and abiotic stresses. These issues will be addressed by isolating genes and alleles (or markers linked to them) that impact these plant characteristics and investigating how they exert their effects. An understanding of socioeconomic factors peculiar to the Scottish situation will frame and inform further development of the work package throughout its duration.
An important aspect of the work package is dissemination and uptake of knowledge, tools, advanced lines etc. This will be managed through our existing and new interactions with relevant organisations (industry, levy bodies etc).
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The relevance of the research in the work package to Scotland is greatly enhanced by national and international interactions. SCRI is already engaged in many national and international collaborations (e.g. the Cross Institute Program (CIP) on cereal genetics, the
Small Grain Cereals Network, the Wheat Genetic Improvement Network (WGIN),
BarleyGenomeNet, COST Action 851 (‘Molecular breeding for crop improvement’) and
COST Action 860 (SUSVAR; Sustainable low-input cereal production: required varietal characteristics and crop diversity) and BioExploit) that complement the proposed research program and thus provide synergy. Sharing knowledge and resources gained from these collaborative networks will assist in meeting WP 1.1’s key objectives and maintain a significant Scottish presence in the international barley research community.
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2.2 Outcomes
(Describe the specific outcomes intended to arise from the proposed work and explain how these will meet the ‘Required Outputs’ given in the work package specification. Outcomes could include products and technologies, advice, recommendations, guidelines, protocols, IP and products, software and technology as well as scientific knowledge).
The delivery pipeline for any plant breeding programme is governed by the phases taken up by (1) selection and development of a uniform stock of value, (2) official testing, and
(3) multiplication of sufficient quantity to take a significant market share. For cereals, the three phases take at least 8-10 years. Therefore the germplasm development in the work package will be delivered in the medium- to longer-term. Tools (such as markers for use in selection) and knowledge will be delivered in the short- to long-term such that there will be a flow of deliverables for at least 10 years. See also Section 2.4 on KT and the relationship to IP generated from this project.
The specific outcomes and timescales of the different areas of the work-package map onto the SEERAD Required Outputs as follows:
Required Output 1: Tools (genes, markers, bioinformatics, knowledge) which allow the production of improved barley varieties which help Scottish farmers to remain competitive in an enlarged Europe.

Review of the business environment (including social, economic, policy, technological and environmental components) and malting industry context within which the
Scottish malting barley industry operates ( 1-3 years ).

New scientific knowledge and understanding and associated IP ( 1-5 years ).

Advanced pre-breeding lines coupled with diagnostic markers and selection protocols facilitating the development of elite cultivars ( 5-10 years ).
Required Output 2: Identification of tools (genes, markers, bioinformatics, knowledge) to allow breeders to select crop varieties suitable for future Scottish climates.

Validated genetic markers, linked to desirable traits, for deployment in marker-assisted selection (MAS; based on improved ability to phenotype, improved mapping populations, gene discovery, genetic mapping, marker development) ( 1-3 years ).

Publicly accessible databases populated with genetic and genomic information, integrating the research programme at SCRI with developments in other groups ( 1-3 years ).

New, modern and efficient selection and breeding systems to increase speed of delivery of advanced lines and cultivars (e.g. by deploying marker-assisted selection
(MAS)) ( 3-5 years ).

Genes, markers and advanced breeding lines released to breeders for enhanced selection ( 3-5 years ).

Diagnostic markers specifically targeted to enhance the official trialling system ( 3-5 years ).

Natural or induced gene variants of key genes ( 3-5 years ).

Molecular markers for tracking mutant alleles in practical selection schemes ( 3-5 years ).
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
Increased knowledge and characterisation of genetic variation in wide germplasm collections (potentially including novel disease resistance) ( 3-5 years ).

Research infrastructure to underpin the longer-term viability of barley production and associated industries in the context of changing environmental and economic pressures
( 5-10 years ).
Required Output 3: Increased emphasis on developing crops with enhanced nutritional quality.

Relevant and appropriate genetic mapping populations ( 1-3 years ).

Improved phenotyping technologies for target traits ( 1-3 years ).

Increased knowledge and characterisation of genetic variation in wide germplasm collections ( 1-3 years ).
Required Output 4: Improved understanding of factors contributing towards product quality including the identification of markers for key traits and genes for use by breeders.

Improved understanding of factors contributing to product quality in spring barley cultivars (e.g. malting quality), early maturation, resilience and, in particular, yield stability, under changing environmental conditions (biotic and abiotic stress) ( 1 3 years ).

Intellectual property from diagnostic markers and protocols and public good from their application in germplasm enhancement ( 15 years ).

Key genes involved in the development of malting quality and their relationship to genetic background ( 3-5 years ).

Advanced breeding lines with improved characteristics (e.g. nitrogen use efficiency, disease resistance, malting quality, flowering time and architecture) that will underpin active Scottish and UK barley breeding endeavours ( 5-10 years ).

Defined approaches for functional analysis of variant candidate gene alleles ( 5-10 years ).
Required Output 5: Explore the potential for extended season (early cropping): Science to deliver barley varieties with earlier maturation.

Key genes involved in flowering time and inflorescence architecture ( 3-5 years ).

Development and testing of pre-breeding early maturing lines to test their value in
Scottish agriculture ( 3-10 years )
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2.3 Benefits
(Describe and if possible quantify the benefits which may arise from this research through the application of the intended outcomes described in Section 2.2. How will the results/outcomes be used and who will benefit? The likely policy, socio-economic and environmental impacts arising from this work should be identified).

New advanced breeding lines will aid the competitiveness of Scottish and UK barley variety production and help underpin sustainable rural economies in Scotland, in particular those in the farming, malting, whisky and associated industries. The combination of advanced pre-breeding lines and new rapid selection protocols will aid production of elite lines by breeders, to increase the number of varieties adapted to
Scottish conditions and generate varieties with potential for premium capture for use by farmers growing for targeted end-user markets.

Discovery of genes in processes underpinning the identified priority traits will provide the most appropriate markers for MAS and a template for future discoveries aimed at tailoring the crop to specific end uses or cultivation in a changing environment. They will be used by breeders, biotechnologists and scientists to improve barley as a crop, and to advance our understanding of biological processes that are key to continued, successful crop improvement.

The discovery of genes and development of genetic markers for different traits throughout the next 5 years will enhance our ability to generate advanced pre-breeding lines that will benefit breeding companies via efficiency gains in the selection process.

Genetic markers for key traits will help commercial breeders ensure that their selections meet market needs. Ultimately they may also be applied in the selection of appropriate candidates for official trials (e.g. lines that do not produce epiheterodendrin for the whisky industry).

Increased knowledge of the factors involved in complex traits will, in the long-term, provide a suite of genetic tools that will help ensure that Scottish (and UK) agriculture can rapidly respond to new challenges (e.g. the influx of new diseases or strains and changes in growth conditions brought about by climate change).

Release of lines to agriculture with improved biotic and abiotic stress tolerance will reduce the cost of production to the farmer and decrease the environmental footprint of cereal growing. Progress in this is difficult to quantify but, for instance, a 10% reduction in spray and fertiliser costs (which we believe is achievable) would equate to a saving of over £10/ha in production costs at current rates.

Improved understanding of how barley characteristics such as yield and malting quality are affected by altered and extreme environmental conditions (both biotic and abiotic stresses) will lead to the discovery of genes (and thus diagnostic markers) for resilience and yield stability in the face of unpredictable climate change. These targets will also be addressed through the pre-breeding programme of the work package providing a complete delivery pipeline from strategic research to product.

Improved seed quality linked to sustained yield levels will increase the marketability of
Scottish barley and impact the brewing and distilling industries. Malting barley and/or malt are exported for use in brewing. By engaging the end-user community, we will ensure that the needs of the major brewers are met, increasing the export potential of
Scottish barley and thereby sustain the crop.

Increased emphasis on the delivery of outputs will, through appropriate training, develop a new generation of personnel trained in contemporary plant breeding. This will provide the competencies to buffer the UK agronomic sector from commercial
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withdrawal or failure.

The unique combination of traditional genetic and breeding approaches with state-ofthe-art genomics capabilities will continue to keep barley research and development in
Scotland at the front of the international arena thereby contributing significantly to
Scotland’s international reputation and impact.

Improved understanding and scientific knowledge will allow the development of innovative ways to address the priority traits listed in the ‘Overview’ above.
Communicating advances in scientific knowledge and understanding to the wider community through peer-reviewed publications will promote widespread benefits to the global community.

A world class barley research programme and associated infrastructure will promote increased interactions with researchers in Scottish and UK universities and institutes and translation of discoveries from models (e.g. Arabidopsis) into value in crops and associated sectors.

New technologies enhance the rate of discovery and subsequent application.
Maintaining a position at the leading edge of technology development and application will enable us to rapidly transfer any accrued benefits into the research program and outward to our direct customers and other end-users.
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2.4 Knowledge and technology transfer
(Describe plans for knowledge and technology transfer. Provide details of mechanisms, routes and timings of and audiences for knowledge and technology transfer activities. Include brief details of dialogues with end-user(s) who have helped plan/focus the work).
Mechanisms and routes of, and audiences for, knowledge and technology transfer activities
The strategy for knowledge transfer for WP 1.1 is based on the framework outlined in the document “Programme for Management and Transfer to Deliver SEERAD’s Strategy for
Research on the Environment, Biology and Agriculture”. This framework identifies key audiences including policy makers and implementers, the general public and school children, the national and international scientific community, commercial business and farmers/land-based industries. It should be stressed that knowledge transfer will be a twoway process and that the views and opinions of key stakeholders will be taken into consideration by the Work Package Management Committee.
The majority of information generated by the WP will be related to improved knowledge and understanding and will be disseminated through publication in the scientific literature as well as the routes identified in Table 1 below. In cases where information has been identified as having significant commercial potential, this information will be protected
(e.g. by patent or plant variety rights) and licensed to third parties to generate income for the MRPs. This intellectual property (IP) will be owned by the MRP contributing the most to the development of that IP, but with benefit-sharing to all contributing MRPs. Licences will be limited to the field of use, appropriate territory and for a finite period and the MRPs will retain the right to use the IP in their own research programmes.
See also covering letter and annexes.
The main research providers (MRPs, in this case SCRI and SAC) have established mechanisms for transferring knowledge and technology to and from all stakeholders and will further develop these as part of WP 1.1.
Several vehicles are used for knowledge transfer (KT) activities. These include hosting national and international visitors from industry, academia, government and the general public, hosting public events, attending international and national conferences, trade shows and exhibitions, developing a wide range of publicity material, websites, software and active involvement in relevant networks and forums. Stakeholders do not only include cereal growers and processors but also the general public, school children and academics, and it is essential that they receive information in an appropriate format and that it is a twoway process. Table 1 below summarises some of the main KT mechanisms to be employed in WP 1.1.
MRPs together with their commercial subsidiaries (e.g. MRS Ltd) also have a very strong record of working with industry, not only growers and processors but also multiple retailers. Scientists have face to face contact with Scottish barley growers through the
Scottish Society of Crop Research and the events that they host. SAC regularly hold field days in collaboration with HGCA and we will work with both organisations to include
SCRI as a host site for events to present how our research is translated into products. We
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have been proactive in getting all UK barley breeders together to discuss research strategy via a series of meetings since 2003. These meetings will be continued in WP 1.1.
We will form a targeted user-group community encompassing all facets of this supply chain to ensure that our upstream targets are continually updated to current and future needs and that our outputs are reaching through to end-users.
Dialogue with end users
Work described in this package largely reflects an on-going dialogue between the main PIs and end-users from all sectors of the barley industry. Extended discussions and negotiations held over the development of two substantial LINK projects (GreenGrain and
AGOUEB) one which has just started and one in funding negotiation phase have been particularly important in this respect. Together all sectors of the barley industry (e.g.
Home Grown Cereals Authority, all UK barley breeders, Malting Association of Great
Britain, Crop Evaluation Limited, Scottish Whisky Research Institute, Brewing Research
Institute) are involved in these projects. They will thus provide an official and organised vehicle (regular six-monthly meetings) for ongoing dialogue over the next four years at least and will, we anticipate, lead to additional industry led projects. Having representatives from all sectors of the barley industry in the same meeting is rare and these will therefore be an important forum for discussion about our up-to-date outputs and emerging priorities within the industry. Consultation over WP 1.1 with stakeholders by letter and work programme summaries has in general provided strong support. For example, HGCA state
“We recognise the SCRI as the UK centre of excellence for barley genetics work and are strongly supportive of the proposal”
. Additional links through the
DEFRA funded Wheat Genetic Improvement Network, BBSRC funded Small Grain
Cereals Network and Cereal Genomics Consortium the Cross Institute Program on Cereal
Genetics/Genomics and the upcoming Innovations in Crop Science Initiative will enhance links that cross cut the entire research and development community and work towards an integrated cereals research strategy with SCRI playing a major role in UK barley (and wheat) research.
WP 1.1 staff are members of EU COST Action 860 (SUSVAR: Sustainable low-input cereal production: required varietal characteristics and crop diversity) which has several objectives that parallel those in WP 1.1 and the organised meetings will ensure cooperation and dissemination of information across Europe and other COST countries. Both
SAC and SCRI will actively participate in the Scottish Society for Crop Research (SSCR) and the Grains Innovation Centre (GIC), both based at SCRI; both are KT organisations that function by proactively maintaining connection to the cereals industry which will facilitate research-industry links and knowledge dissemination. Members of WP 1.1 sit on the management board of GrainGenes and Gramine, two internationally recognised cereal genetics databases, on the overseeing committee of the International Triticeae Mapping
Initiative, on the board of the EU BarleyGenomeNet and Scientific Board of BioExploit.
These important roles in the international community will keep WP 1.1 science abreast of current international trends and ensure that the research programme benefits by remaining contemporary and state-of-the-art. Knowledge will be disseminated through peer-reviewed scientific journals thus targeting both applied and academic discipline sectors, ensuring good connection and contribution to the science base of the work, and attracting complementary research funding. Presentations at national and international scientific conferences and workshops will form a significant component of knowledge dissemination and exchange plan.
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Table 1. Some of the main KT mechanisms to be employed in WP 1.1.
Audience
Industry (growers and processors).
Academics
(including university and college students).
Policy makers.
General public.
Events @ SCRI
SSCR meetings.
Tailored visits.
Cereals Solutions, an anuual barley field day (in collaboration with
SAC & HGCA).
External Events
Royal Show.
Cereals.
Crop Protection in
Northern Britain.
ScotCrop.
Small Grain Cereal
Network meetings.
Conferences, seminars and training courses.
Visits and lectures.
Small Grain
Network meetings.
International conferences.
Lecture courses.
Open days (every
4 years).
Open days.
Visits.
Science Stroll.
Science in the
Parliament.
BIA
Government days.
Dundee Food and
Flower Festival.
Royal Show.
Royal Highland
Show.
Publications Software / Website
HGCA fact sheets.
Articles in Scottish
Farmer and
Farmers Weekly. www.scri.ac.uk
www.mrsltd.com
http://www.scri.ac.uk/sscr/index.php
HGCA specialist groups e.g. e-clubs.
Maltsters Association of Great
Britain.
Scottish Whisky Research Institute.
Brewing Research International.
British Society of Plant Breeders.
BIA.
BioDundee.
IATC.
Annual Report.
Scientific publications and posters.
Annual Report.
Reports to
SEERAD.
Press releases.
General leaflets. www.scri.ac.uk
www.scri.ac.uk
www.scri.ac.uk
Scotland Europa.
BIA.
Networks
BarleyGenomeNet.
BBSRC committees.
EU committees.
ERA-PG, EPSO, USDA, NSF &
GRDC.
Dundee Chamber of Commerce.
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School children. School visits.
Open days.
Education authorities school science festivals and events.
Visits to schools.
Living Cell
(video).
Leaflets on DNA, living field garden and plant diseases
(2).
Living Field (CD plus website).
General education website 5-18.
STEM.
ISE 5-14 project team.
SSERC.
SAPS.
Tayside Science Education
Consortium.
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2.5 Contribution to cross-cutting themes
(Describe how the proposed work will contribute to the three cross-cutting themes set out in the
SEERAD SRG Research Strategy: Responding to Climate Change; Protecting Biodiversity and
Environmental; and Social and Economic Sustainability of Rural Scotland).
See also covering letter and annex.
WP 1.1 will contribute to CCT1 to CCT3 as outlined below:
CCT1: Climate change
The work package will address climate change by developing cultivars able to maintain yield and quality characteristics under variable or extreme conditions. This will require understanding of responses to environmental conditions and development of totally new phenotyping and monitoring systems, marker, breeding and agronomic approaches. Given the unpredictability of impact of global warming on the Scottish climate, the development of resilient lines rather than specialists may have to be considered to sustain predictable production levels.
CCT2: Protecting biodiversity
WP 1.1 will increase our knowledge and understanding of the biodiversity present in elite barley cultivars, advanced lines, landraces (including Scottish Heritage material such as
Bere barleys), wild barley and Triticeae species in general at the phenotypic, genotypic and genetic level. Where relevant, this information and knowledge will feed into strategies for the development of future cultivars suited to the Scottish and UK environments and demands for end-use quality and sustainability attributes.
The successful completion of the work plan proposed in WP 1.1 will make a number of major contributions to CCT2. In doing so it will provide resources and information relevant to both the Scottish Executive and the UK Government’s commitments and obligations under the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) and related treaties and agreements (e.g. the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture (ITPGRFA)).
The characterisation and evaluation of barley germplasm and the resulting potential for the adoption of biodiversity friendly agricultural practices is of particular relevance to CBD and ITPGRFA.
CBD:

Article 8. Ex-situ Conservation.

Article 10. Sustainable Use of Components of Biological Diversity.

Article 15. Access to Genetic Resources.
ITPGRFA:

Article 5. Conservation, Exploration, Collection, Characterisation, Evaluation and
Documentation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Article 6. Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources.

Article 7. National Commitments and International Co-operation.

In addition, through the provision of evaluation information and the systematic conversion of more exotic barley germplasm into pre-breeding barley lines well adapted to Scottish agricultural practices, the research proposed in WP 1.1 will provide a mechanisms for the sustainable use of barley genetic approaches which will both maximise the benefit to
Scottish and UK agriculture as well as breeding and processing companies and meet obligations under both CBD and ITPGRFA.
WP 1.1 is consistent with the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS) which has been developed by a number of interested parties to help enable the Scottish Executive meet its obligations under CBD and, in particular, is directly relevant to the following objectives:

Objective 1. Species & Habitats: To halt the loss of biodiversity and continue to reverse previous losses through targeted action for species and habitats.

Objective 3. Landscapes & Ecosystems: To restore and enhance biodiversity in all our urban, rural and marine environments through better planning, design and practice.

Objective 4. Integration & Co-ordination: To develop an effective management framework that ensures biodiversity is taken into account in all decision making.

Objective 5. Knowledge: To ensure that the best new and existing knowledge on biodiversity is available to all policy makers and practitioners.
In addition the wealth of technologies and information on intra-specific diversity which is now becoming uniquely available in well studied crop species such as barley will provide valuable information and technologies that may be utilized to develop optimum biodiversity management strategies for less well studied species in the natural environment.
CCT3: Environmental, social and economic sustainability of rural Scotland
The work planned within WP 1.1 will enable SCRI to play a major role in the production chain that will advance key traits from both the cultivated and more exotic barley gene pools into a form that can be incorporated into commercial UK breeding programmes.
This will help to ensure the continuity of the production of barley varieties well adapted to
Scottish growing conditions.
Increasingly important factors for barley growers will be the need to minimise the environmental footprint of the Scottish barley crop whilst at the same time ensuring that they have the genetic potential to respond to both biotic challenges from new pests and diseases and the unpredictable abiotic stresses that will result from the growing impact of climate change. The strategies that we propose: providing more robust routes to advance key traits from exotic germplasm into the cultivated genepool; reducing the length of the breeding cycle; and developing a pipeline for deployable genetic markers, will help ensure that varieties are available to enable Scottish barley growers to meet this challenge. Both directly, and through interaction with work packages 1.4 and 1.7, this will, in turn, help to maintain the local communities that are dependant on the Scottish barley crop both through agricultural incomes and indirectly through the malting, brewing and whisky industries.
1.1
WP 1.1 research programme
The programme in WP 1.1 is divided into six areas:
A.
Plant technologies and pre-breeding

B.
Genetics and marker development
C.
Biodiversity
D.
Gene discovery
E.
Platform technologies.
F.
Socio-economics
The last two activities cross all of the other areas. The alignment of sub-topics within each of these areas with cross-cutting themes is outlined in Table 2.

CCT1 Responding to climate change
CCT2 Protecting biodiversity
A Plant technologies and pre-breeding
A.1 Pre-breeding
A.2 Plant technologies
A.4 Marker:trait packages
A.1 Pre-breeding
CCT3
Envionmental, social and economic sustainability of rural Scotland
A.2 Plant technologies
A.4 Marker:trait packages
Table 2.
Alignment of sub-topics.
B Genetics &
Marker
Development
B.2 Genotypic analysis
B.3 Priority trait gene map
B.4
Rhynchosporium resistance
B.5 Semi-dwarf
B.6 Trait score database
B.7 Gene isolation
B.1 Multicross mapping matrix
(MCMM)
B.2 Genotypic analysis
B.3 Priority trait gene map
B.4
Rhynchosporium resistance
B.6 Trait score database
B.7 Gene isolation
C Biodiversity
C.2 Novel resistance
C.4 Association
Genetics
C.1 Functional
Biodiversity
C.3 Understanding biodiversity
C.1 Functional
Biodiversity
C.2 Novel resistance
C.3 Understanding biodiversity
C.4 Association
Genetics
D Gene Discovery F Socio Economics
D.1 Plant development
D.2 Abiotic stress
D.1 Plant development
D.2 Abiotic stress
D.3 Product Quality

2.6 Contribution of work package to programme
(Describe how this work package contributes and adds value to the overall programme of which the work package is a part. If applicable, briefly state how the proposed work adds value to other SEERAD programmes).
The work package contributes to Programme 1 by the production of advanced barley prebreeding lines, markers linked to major traits and MAS systems for accelerated crop improvement. Through its forward-looking research it will address sustainable crop production in Scotland in changing climatic, political and economic environments. The work package is an integral part of a co-ordinated interaction with breeders, growers and processors, which underpins Scottish industries including the malting and whisky industries.
WP 1.1 will add value to Programme 1 through resource and insight sharing with other work packages. In particular, the success of barley pathology WP 1.4, depends upon the genetic resources, technologies and implementation strategies being deployed in WP 1.1.
In addition, the focus on barley as a model for the study of resilience in WP 1.7 depends on the input of WP 1.1 barley genetics. These links are reciprocal: the phenotyping of barley germplasm for disease resistance (WP 1.4) and resilience (WP 1.7) will provide essential information on genotypes and phenotypes to be incorporated in WP 1.1 pre-breeding programmes compatible with sustainable Scottish barley production. Themes and approaches of broader utility, such as progress with high-throughput marker development, association genetics and the development of functional genomics resources, will be shared with the potato (WP 1.2) and soft fruit (WP 1.3) genetics work packages via regular crosswork package research seminars. The close physical proximity of the majority of researchers engaged in these distinct work packages will facilitate this scientific exchange.
The success of WP 1.1 knowledge transfer activities depends on the input of WP 1.4 and
WP 1.7 and we will move to incorporate these activities to present coherent open days for the engagement of end users of barley genetics research. Therefore, the inter-linking of
WP 1.1 with other work packages adds value to, and will synergise and unify, Programme
1 outputs.