Genomic selection of juvenile height across a single-generational gap in Douglas-fir

Here, we perform cross-generational GS analysis on coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), reflecting trans-generational selective breeding application. A total of 1321 trees, representing 37 full-sib F(1) families from 3 environments in British Columbia, Canada, were used as the training population for (1) EBVs (estimated breeding values) of juvenile height (HTJ) in the F(1) generation predicting genomic EBVs of HTJ of 136 individuals in the F(2) generation, (2) deregressed EBVs of F(1) HTJ predicting deregressed genomic EBVs of F(2) HTJ, (3) F(1) mature height (HT35) predicting HTJ EBVs in F(2), and (4) deregressed F(1) HT35 predicting genomic deregressed HTJ EBVs in F(2). Ridge regression best linear unbiased predictor (RR-BLUP), generalized ridge regression (GRR), and Bayes-B GS methods were used and compared to pedigree-based (ABLUP) predictions. GS accuracies for scenarios 1 (0.92, 0.91, and 0.91) and 3 (0.57, 0.56, and 0.58) were similar to their ABLUP counterparts (0.92 and 0.60, respectively) (using RR-BLUP, GRR, and Bayes-B). Results using deregressed values fell dramatically for both scenarios 2 and 4 which approached zero in many cases. Cross-generational GS validation of juvenile height in Douglas-fir produced predictive accuracies almost as high as that of ABLUP. Without capturing LD, GS cannot surpass the prediction of ABLUP. Here we tracked pedigree relatedness between training and validation sets. More markers or improved distribution of markers are required to capture LD in Douglas-fir. This is essential for accurate forward selection among siblings as markers that track pedigree are of little use for forward selection of individuals within controlled pollinated families.