Sparse phenotyping for wheat grain yield enabled by multiomics prediction

Abstract

Grain yield is a central target in wheat breeding, yet accurately predicting it remains challenging because it depends on many genes and responds strongly to environmental variation. Genomic selection (GS) has improved breeding efficiency by enabling genome-based prediction of genetic merit, but predictability (PA) for grain yield is often limited under stress environments. At the same time, advances in high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide phenomic data that capture environment-responsive plant performance and may complement genomic information. In this study, we evaluated genomic and phenomic models for predicting grain yield in elite bread wheat lines across irrigated, drought, and heat-stress environments. Using a sparse phenotyping framework, we compared parametric and non-parametric models. PA was evaluated within environments and under cross-environment sparse phenotyping scenarios. Genomic models provided a stable baseline and enabled effective information sharing across environments when phenotypic data were incomplete. Phenomics-only models captured environment-specific plant responses but were more sensitive to environmental context. Multiomics models that integrated genomic and phenomic information consistently achieved the highest PA, with the largest gains observed under stress conditions. Overall, our results demonstrate that integrating genomics and UAV-based phenomics within sparse phenotyping designs offers a practical and scalable approach to improve grain yield prediction in wheat.

Code and data availability

The paper's grain yield BLUEs, spectral wavelength BLUEs, and genotypic data are publicly deposited in the CIMMYT data repository (https://doi.org/10.71682/10549399), directly reproducing this paper's phenotyping measurements. No author analysis code with a public URL is stated; other URLs are generic tools/services.