Spring wheat is the largest agricultural crop grown in Kazakhstan with an annual sowing area of 12 million hectares in 2016. Annually, the country harvests around 15 million tons of high quality grain. Despite environmental stress factors it is predicted that the use of new technologies may lead to increases in productivity from current levels of 1.5 to up to 3 tons per hectare. One way of improving wheat productivity is by the application of new genomic oriented approaches in plant breeding projects. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) are emerging as powerful tools for the understanding of the inheritance of complex traits via utilization of high throughput genotyping technologies and phenotypic assessments of plant collections. In this study, phenotyping and genotyping data on 194 spring wheat accessions from Kazakhstan, Russia, Europe, and CIMMYT were assessed for the identification of marker-trait associations (MTA) of agronomic traits by using GWAS. Field trials in Northern, Central and Southern regions of Kazakhstan using 194 spring wheat accessions revealed strong correlations of yield with booting date, plant height, biomass, number of spikes per plant, and number of kernels per spike. The accessions from Europe and CIMMYT showed high breeding potential for Southern and Central regions of the country in comparison with the performance of the local varieties. The GGE biplot method, using average yield per plant, suggested a clear separation of accessions into their three breeding origins in relationship to the three environments in which they were evaluated. The genetic variation in the three groups of accessions was further studied using 3245 polymorphic SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers. The application of Principal Coordinate analysis clearly grouped the 194 accessions into three clades according to their breeding origins. GWAS on data from nine field trials allowed the identification of 114 MTAs for 12 different agronomic traits. Field evaluation of foreign germplasm revealed its poor yield performance in Northern Kazakhstan, which is the main wheat growing region in the country. However, it was found that EU and CIMMYT germplasm has high breeding potential to improve yield performance in Central and Southern regions. The use of Principal Coordinate analysis clearly separated the panel into three distinct groups according to their breeding origin. GWAS based on use of the TASSEL 5.0 package allowed the identification of 114 MTAs for twelve agronomic traits. The study identifies a network of key genes for improvement of yield productivity in wheat growing regions of Kazakhstan.

Despite the importance of winter wheat in Central Asian countries, there are limited reports describing their diversity within this region. In this study, the population structures of 115 modern winter wheat cultivars from four Central Asian countries were compared to germplasms from six other geographic origins using 10,746 polymorphic single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. After applying the STRUCTURE package, we found that in terms of the most optimal K steps, samples from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were grouped together with samples from Russia, while samples from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were grouped with samples from Afghanistan. The mean value of Nei’s genetic diversity index for the germplasm from four groups from Central Asia was 0.261, which is comparable to that of the six other groups studied: Europe, Australia, the USA, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Russia. The Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) showed that samples from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were close to samples from Turkey, while Kazakh accessions were located near samples from Russia. The evaluation of 10,746 SNPs in Central Asian wheat suggested that 1006 markers had opposing allele frequencies. Further assessment of the physical positions of these 1006 SNPs in the Wheat Ensembl database indicated that most of these markers are constituents of genes associated with plant stress tolerance and adaptability. Therefore, the SNP markers identified can be effectively used in regional winter wheat breeding projects for facilitating plant adaptation and stress resistance.

The main purposes of the study were (i) to develop a mapping population, (ii) to construct its genetic map for further identification of genes associated with important agronomic traits. To the best of our knowledge this is the first segregating population and genetic map developed for Kazakh bread wheat. The work is an example of how plant breeding programs in Kazakhstan have started successfully using next generation plant breeding methods to carry out systematic plant breeding to enhance final grain harvest. The KASP technology and SNP DNA-markers have been exploited to genotype and build a genetic map. The total length of the map was 1376 cM. A total 157, which spanned A, B and D subgenomes, out of the initial 178 SNP markers used formed 26 linkage groups leaving 1 duplicated and 20 unassigned markers. As threshold distance between markers was set ≤30 cM, two linkage groups were obtained for chromosomes such as 2А, 2В, 2D, 3A, 5A, 6B and 7A. Kosambi mapping function was employed to calculate recombination units. RILs were developed through SSD method up to F4 generation. Almost 97% of identified alleles were useful in evaluating the population’s genetic diversity; the remaining 3% showed no outcome. As a result, 77 DNA markers were mapped for A, 74 for B and 27 for D genomes. The mapping population will be genotyped using a high marker density array platform such as Illumina iSelect to obtain a genetic map with a relatively high coverage. Then, the population and high-resolution genetic map will be used to identify genes influencing wheat adaptation in Kazakhstan.

Introduction: Speed Breeding (SB) has become an essential tool for rapid breeding pipeline. However, the practical implementation of existing wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) SB protocols is largely constrained by a dependence on specialized plant care facilities. This study provides detailed instructions for growing wheat under SB conditions that can be implemented by institutions lacking dedicated technical support departments. Methods: The first Central Asian SB facility was established at Zhetysu University named after Iliyas Zhansugurov. For the identification of an effective plant growing substrate, sixteen treatments were developed. The nutrient management of the most suitable potting mix included two steps: i) identification of the importance of Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium (NPK) supplementation, and ii) identification of optimal timing and nutrient dosage. Fertilizers were supplied at 4 different time intervals. Plants were supplemented with a foliar spray of calcium nitrate and copper and were hand-watered once a day. The plant material included seven wheat genotypes. Developmental dynamics and grain yield were evaluated under two, 1.5-and 2.0-meter, light-to-bench distances. A germination test was conducted at different time points after flowering. Results: In this study, we report the establishment of the first SB facility in Central Asia. The developed cost-effective potting mix contained 65% FFPM, 18% perlite, 12% sand, and 7% bio humus per L ^-1 . An additional NPK supplementation under the 21d_L time interval significantly increased effective tiller number (ETN, p=1x10 ^-5 ), number of kernels per plant (NKP, p=1x10 ^-8 ) and grain weight per plant (GWP, p=2x10 ^-5 ) compared to non-fertilized control (NF). The ETN of plants grown under the 1.5 m treatment was significantly higher (p=3x10 ^-4 ) than that of in 2.0 m condition. This resulted in an 83.3% increase in ETN (p=2x10 ^-4 ), 145% in NKP (p=8x10 ^-3 ) and 127% in GWP (p=6x10 ^-3 ) without compromising thousand grain weight (TGW, p=8x10 ^-1 ), highlighting a potential positive effect of proximity to a 1.5 m light-bench under SB conditions. The light intensities in the range of 500–700, depending on the developmental stage, supported healthy wheat growth under SB conditions. Discussion: This study findings support sustainable regional and global wheat breeding programs aiming to incorporate the speed breeding technique into their breeding schemes, specifically in underrepresented regions.

Common bunt (CB), caused by Tilletia caries and Tilletia laevis, poses a significant threat to wheat grain quality and yield. In organic farming, the development of resistant genotypes is the most effective way to combat the pathogen. This study aimed to identify new resistance sources against CB in international nurseries: Winter Wheat Nursery from Central Asia (WWN-CA) and International Common Bunt Resistance Nursery (CBUNT-RN), for strengthening winter breeding programs in Kazakhstan. Germplasm panels were evaluated against CB under artificial infection conditions in southeastern Kazakhstan and genotyped with KASP markers associated with QTLs (QBt.ifa-1AL, QBt.ifa-1BS, QBt.ifa-7AL and QBt.ifa-7DS) conferring bunt resistance. Results of immunological experiments and genotyping revealed 7 and 11 genotypes in WWN-CA and CBUNT-RN, respectively, and resistance to CB. CB incidence negatively correlated with SL (r = −0.23), NSS (r = −0.31), NKS (r = −0.41), and GWS (r = −0.44) (all p ≤ 0.01), in WWN-CA. ANOVA confirmed these findings, in which a pronounced reduction in these yield components was observed between inoculated and control HS groups (p ≤ 0.05). The QTL QBt.ifa-1AL on chromosome 1A shows promise for MAS against CB. The novel genetic knowledge and resistant resources identified here represent a valuable tool to enrich Central Asian germplasm with new alleles of resistance genes to advance organic farming in Kazakhstan.