IMPROVING BREEDING EFFICIENCY OF BIOMASS WILLOWS USING MOLECULAR MARKER TECHNOLOGY

IACR- Long Ashton Research Station, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bristol, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9AF, UK

The Salicaceae, comprising the genera Populus (poplar) and Salix (willow), contain a number of species of great value as biomass crops and efforts are underway to breed and produce cultivars with higher biomass yields. Molecular marker technologies can accelerate the efficiency of breeding programs by helping to locate genes controlling agronomic traits and providing markers for marker-assisted selections. In order to identify such markers we are currently constructing a genetic map of a full-sib cross of Salix viminalis, onto which 582 AFLP and 19 SSR loci have been mapped to date. In addition, two reference families each comprising 1000 progeny, have been established for assessment of different agronomic traits in both the field and the laboratory (including yield, pest and pathogen resistance). The combination of map and trait data will be integrated for QTL analyses, resulting in the identification of markers linked to genes of interest. Bulked Segregant Analysis will also be used for identifying such markers. Furthermore, in an attempt to merge the mapping efforts of willow with poplar, the ability of poplar SSR primer sets to amplify corresponding loci in willow has been exploited.