S01 - Session O8 - Genetic control of plasticity of cultivated strawberry for major agronomical traits

Authors: Alexandre Prohaska *, Béatrice Denoyes, Aurélie Petit, Iraida Amaya, José F. Sevilla, Luca Mazzoni, Bruno Mezzetti, Silke Lesemann, Klaus Olbricht, Agnieszka Masny, Sonia Osorio

Phenotypic plasticity is the phenotypic variation of a plant across different environments. Understanding its genetic basis is crucial for predicting and managing climate change effects on crops. Here we present the first attempt of dissecting the genetic architecture of plasticity in cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa . To understand the genotype-by-environment interactions (GxE) for major agronomical traits such as flowering date, we studied for two consecutive years a segregating population from a cross between two polymorph cultivars adapted to two contrasted areas, Southern and Northern Europe. The population of 120 progeny was grown in five contrasting locations with two different crop management practices: in France in a soil-less system and in Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain in soil systems. Different plasticity parameters were estimated by employing AMMI, FinlaynWilkinson and factorial regression models. These parameters were used together with genotypic means for quantitative trait locus (QTL) detection. Genotypes expressed substantial variance in plasticity behaviors, such as for temperature induced GxE. Few mean QTLs were similar between countries and/or between years, indicating a large role of the GxE. Plasticity QTLs were detected, contributing to the understanding of environment-specific adaptation mechanisms and breeding of climate-adapted cultivars. Together, these results raised questions about the best breeding strategy to balance performance, quality and reliable stability. This study was part of the 'GoodBerry' project (grant agreement number 679303) funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, which aims to improve the stability of high-quality traits of berry in different environments and cultivation systems for the benefit of European farmers and consumers ( https://goodberry-eu.eu ).