Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a widely consumed staple crop and essential component of a healthy whole-grain diet. One component of wheat, fructans, is known to serve physiological roles in the plant and confer health benefits to humans. Fructans serve as reserve carbohydrates and osmotic regulators against stresses (i.e., drought, cold temperatures, and salinity) that affect grain yield in the wheat plant. For humans, fructans are prebiotics that promote growth of healthy gut bacteria, aid in immune support, reduce colon cancer incidence, and support bone health. Given the roles of fructans in plant and human physiology, breeding for wheat grain fructan content would produce climate resilient, nutritionally improved varieties.

To determine the feasibility of breeding for wheat grain fructan content, a multi-environment trial was designed to examine the impacts of genotype-by-environment interactions on grain fructan content. Based on the results of the trial, genomic selection (GS) was implemented with two selection methodologies in a population of winter wheat. Total realized gain in wheat grain fructan content was significant over two cycles of selection with no significant difference observed in gains between selection methodologies. The use of an optimum contribution selection (OCS) methodology did not adequately control inbreeding relative to truncation selection; however, genetic variation was better conserved in OCS populations. While further research is needed to develop methods to adequately control inbreeding in populations developed with GS, the results of this research support the hypothesis that GS can be utilized for breeding nutritionally improved, climate resilient varieties.