Sustainable winter rapeseed production by breeding for nitrogen use efficiency and optimization of the production system

During recent decades, agricultural production involves the use of fertilizers to assure high productivity. Among them, Nitrogen (N) is the nutrient applied in higher quantities. The surplus of N leads to strong environmental concerns due to leakages as nitrous oxide into the atmosphere and leaching as nitrate into groundwater. Considering these aspects, we explore genetic variation in a collection of winter rapeseed F1-hybrids regarding yield performance under reduced N inputs. In multi-environment trials in Germany under nitrate- and ammonium-based fertilizers and variating cultivation systems, our specific objectives are to a) phenotype the hybrids in a non-invasive way via several types of imaging b) characterize genetic and physiological determinants of Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) related traits by joining several data sources: multispectral images from above and 360° images from within the canopy, near infrared spectrophotometry (NIRs) of the harvested seeds as well as genome wide marker data and c) assess genotype × environment × management interaction (G × E × M).