High buffering potential of winter wheat composite cross populations to rapidly changing environmental conditions

A winter wheat composite cross population (CCP), created in the UK in
2001, has been grown in Germany, Hungary and the UK since 2005 (F5
generation). In 2008/9 (F8), a cycling pattern for the populations was
developed between partners to test the effects of rapidly changing
environments on agronomic performance. One CCP was grown by eight partners
for one year and subsequently sent to the next partner, creating “cycling
CCPs” with different histories. In 2013, all eight cycling CCPs and the
three non-cycling CCPs (from Germany, Hungary and UK) were included in a
two-year experiment in Germany with three line varieties to compare
agronomic performance and morphological characteristics. Differing seed
weight of the F13 at sowing affected some agronomic parameters under
drought conditions in 2014/15, but not under less stressful conditions in
2013/14. In both experimental years, the CCPs were comparable to the line
varieties in terms of agronomic performance, with some CCPs outyielding
the varieties under drought conditions of 2015. The results highlight the
potential of CCPs to compete with line varieties while the overall
similarity of the CCPs based on their origin and cycling history for
agronomic traits indicate a high buffering potential under highly variable
environmental conditions.