March 17, 2006

US consortium working to improve wheat varieties

A consortium of public wheat breeders and scientists have been awarded US $5 million from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement breeding technologies enabling breeders to produce higher quality, disease-resistant wheat.

These technologies will accelerate development of US varieties that are durable to plant diseases, more productive, and of better end use quality, said Carl Griffey, professor of crop and soil environmental sciences in Virginia Tech and consortium project coordinator.

US researchers will be looking at wheat traits of critical importance in the Mid-Atlantic region where diseases such as powdery mildew, leaf rust, stripe rust, and fusarium head blight result in losses each year. Each year, as much as 10 percent to 30 percent of the crop may be lost to these diseases.

Researchers also will be identifying genes that represent superior milling and baking qualities. They will work with USDA laboratories to provide molecular analyses to deploy the targeted genes into breeding lines. The genetic information will be stored in national databases and seed stocks deposited in USDA's Small Grain Collection, providing public access to genetic information for wheat breeders and researchers.

Public sector researchers are primarily responsible for providing new wheat varieties to domestic wheat growers. These wheat varieties accounted for 78 percent of the 2001-2003 wheat production in the United States.