Australian wheat breeders engage in a continuous and rigorous process of crossbreeding to develop wheat varieties with desired quality, yield and agronomic traits. This results in a large number of lines that require comprehensive grain quality testing according to industry standards. Limitations arise in this process as a result of low seed availability, resources and time requirements for seed multiplication and grain quality testing, including the cost of a full bake test.

Consequently, breeders require a tool capable of swiftly and accurately predicting wheat grain and dough quality in a cost-effective manner. This tool would facilitate early-stage selection of high-quality wheat lines, streamlining their progression to full bake tests. It would also provide flexibility for various end-use testing and providing quality genetic information in the initial stages to feed back into the crossing blocks.

To overcome the aforementioned limitations, current practices in grain quality testing labs involve a three-stage approach. In Stage 1, only physical grain tests are conducted from which undesirable lines are discarded. After seed multiplication, Stage 2 testing is conducted, this includes physical grain testing and wet dough testing. Undesirable lines are discarded, and promising/elite lines are progressed to Stage 3 where with enough seeds (~3kg) full bake tests are conducted. This approach allows time to accumulate enough seeds for testing and reduces the number of lines at each stage to reach a limited number of promising lines for the full bake test. Notably, each breeding company has their own variation to this method of processing to overcome limitations.

If breeders could identify lines requiring full bake tests or the alternative, eliminate lines that don’t meet the quality threshold in Stage 1, this would have multiple benefits. Implementation of a high throughput phenotyping (HTP) technology as a solution would mean breeders can identify lines that meet quality standards in stage 1 and fast track these to full bake tests in stage 3, thus, removing stage 2 and freeing up resources that would have been invested in producing grains and quality testings in Stage 2. Using the quality trait information in Stage 1 breeders can also identify lines earlier with promising traits and put them back into crossing blocks, which would have a cumulative effect on genetic gain. This approach would also ensure a thorough examination of every line, minimizing the risk of oversight and ensuring earlier release of wheat by class.

Beyond time, labour, and resource considerations, early pre-breeding and breeding lines face limitations in terms of seed availability. Employing non-destructive analysis methods would offer much-needed information without removing seeds from the breeding program.

Please consider the following in designing proposals:

• The development of a HTP tool that integrates with Genomic selection as it is currently used by breeders for grain quality trait selection and has the potential to significantly improve wheat breeding for quality.
• The investment model should address key knowledge gaps, including establishing correlations between gluten/gliadin content and dough rheology, exploring HTP approaches like Raman and MRI imaging techniques for assessing grain and dough traits, and developing models for predicting dough rheology with at least 80% accuracy.
• Collaborations are highly encouraged with experts from diverse fields including but not limited to breeders, grain biochemists, spectrology experts, and overseas research organisations.
• Co-investment from research partners will be highly valued and GRDC is seeking a 1:1 cash co-contribution ratio for this contract. There is potential for time bound exclusivity on the use of project outputs dependent on levels of breeder contribution and co-investment. Please see the budget template for definitions of cash and in-kind contribution.