The incorporation of new sophisticated phenotyping technologies within a crop improvement program allows for a plant breeding strategy that can include selections for major root traits previously inaccessible due to the challenges in their phenotype assessment. High‐throughput precision phenotyping technology is employed to evaluate root ontogeny and progressive changes to root architecture of both novel amphiploid and introgression lines of Festulolium over four consecutive months of the growing season and these compared under the same time frame to that of closely related perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) varieties. Root imaging using conventional photography and assembled multiple merged images was used to compare frequencies in root number, their distribution within 0–20 and 20–40 cm depths within soil columns, and progressive changes over time. The Festulolium hybrids had more extensive root systems in comparison with L. perenne, and this was especially evident at depth. It was shown that the acquisition of extensive root systems in Festulolium hybrids was not dependent on the presence of an entire Festuca genome. On the contrary, the most pronounced effect on root development within the four Festulolium populations studied was observed in the introgression line Bx509, where a single small genome sequence from F. arundinacea had been previously transferred onto its homoeologous site on the long arm of chromosome 3 of an otherwise complete L. perenne genome. This demonstrates that a targeted introgression‐breeding approach may be sufficient to confer a significant improvement in the root morphology in Lolium without a significant compromise to its genome integrity. The forage production of Bx509 was either higher (months 1–3) or equivalent to (month 4) that of its L. perenne parent control demonstrating that the enhanced root development achieved by the introgression line was without compromise to its agronomic performance.

中文翻译：

---

根部成像显示新的羊茅种群和密切相关的多年生黑麦草品种的根部分布和个体发育比较。

将新的复杂表型技术纳入作物改良计划中，可以实现植物育种策略，其中可以包括对以前由于表型评估的挑战而无法获得的主要根性状的选择。采用高通量精密表型分析技术来评估新型双倍体和 Festulolium 基因渗入品系在生长季节的连续四个月内的根个体发育和根结构的渐进变化，并在同一时间范围内与密切相关的多年生黑麦草进行比较（L.perenne）品种。使用传统摄影和组合的多个合并图像进行根部成像，用于比较根部数量的频率、根部在土柱内 0-20 和 20-40 厘米深度的分布以及随时间的渐进变化。与多年生黑麦草相比， Festulolium杂交种具有更广泛的根系，这在深度上尤其明显。结果表明，羊茅杂种中广泛根系的获得并不依赖于整个羊茅基因组的存在。相反，在所研究的四个Festulolium群体中，在基因渗入系 Bx509 中观察到对根发育最显着的影响，其中来自F. arundinacea的单个小基因组序列先前已被转移到 3 号染色体长臂上的同源位点上一个完整的多年生黑麦草基因组。这表明，有针对性的基因渗入育种方法可能足以显着改善黑麦草的根形态，而不会显着损害其基因组完整性。Bx509 的草料产量要么高于其多年生黑麦草亲本对照（第 1-3 个月），要么相当于（第 4 个月），这表明渗入系实现的根系发育增强不会影响其农艺性能。