Environmental factor exploration
To evaluate possible environmental drivers of G x E, we used a
regression-based approach. Here, we evaluated yearly mean temperature,
annual total rainfall, day length (photoperiod), and yearly average
solar radiation as possible drivers of QTL x E for each of the six QTL
with site interactions. Overall, the main drivers of the QTL x E
identified in this study are yearly mean temperature and photoperiod,
with impacts on eight QTL (Table 5). Rainfall was also identified as a
driver of the QTL x E for the QTL 6N@54.19 of LEN and 5K@14.06 of PBN,
and solar radiation as a driver of the QTL x E for the QTL 9K@51.96 of
SBN (Table 5). We failed to identify candidate environmental factors for
some of the QTL x E. This is likely related to the fact that not all the
environmental factors (such as soil) were accounted for in our analyses.