Data from: A trait‒environment relationship approach to participatory plant breeding for organic agriculture

The extent of intraspecific variation in trait‒environment relationships is an open question with limited empirical support in crops. In organic agriculture, with high environmental heterogeneity, this knowledge could guide breeding programs to optimize crop attributes. We propose a three-dimensional framework involving crop performance, crop traits, and environmental axes to uncover the multidimensionality of trait‒environment relationships within a crop. We modeled instantaneous photosynthesis (Asat) and water-use efficiency (WUE) as functions of four phenotypic traits, three soil variables, five carrot (D. carota) varieties, and their interactions in a national participatory plant breeding program involving a suite of farms across Canada. We used these interactions to describe the resulting 12 trait‒environment relationships across varieties. We found one significant trait‒environment relationship for Asat (taproot tissue density‒soil phosphorus), which was consistent across varieties. For WUE, we found that three relationships (petiole diameter‒soil nitrogen, petiole diameter‒soil phosphorus, and leaf area‒soil phosphorus) varied significantly across varieties. As a result, WUE was maximized by different combinations of trait values and soil conditions depending on the variety. Our three-dimensional framework supports the identification of functional traits behind the differential responses of crop varieties to environmental variation and thus guides breeding programs to optimize crop attributes from an eco-evolutionary perspective.作物性状-环境关系的种内变异程度，是一个在作物领域尚未获得充足实证支撑的开放性科学问题。在环境异质性较高的有机农业体系中，此类认知可指导育种项目优化作物性状。本研究提出一套涵盖作物表现、作物性状与环境维度的三维分析框架，以解析单一作物内性状-环境关系的多维特性。依托加拿大全国范围内覆盖多家农场的参与式植物育种项目，本研究以4种表型性状、3种土壤变量、5个胡萝卜（D. carota）品种及其交互项为自变量，构建了瞬时光合速率（Asat）与水分利用效率（WUE）的预测模型。基于上述交互项，本研究刻画了不同品种间共计12组性状-环境关系。针对瞬时光合速率，我们发现一组显著的性状-环境关联（直根组织密度-土壤磷含量），且该关联在所有供试品种间保持一致。针对水分利用效率，我们发现三组性状-环境关联（叶柄直径-土壤氮含量、叶柄直径-土壤磷含量以及叶面积-土壤磷含量）在不同品种间存在显著差异。据此，不同品种的水分利用效率最大化所需的性状值与土壤条件组合各不相同。本三维分析框架可助力解析作物品种对环境变异产生差异化响应背后的功能性状，进而从生态-进化视角为育种项目优化作物性状提供科学指导。