Three scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been included in the Highly Cited Researchers list for 2021, published by the Web of Science Group.
The list recognizes researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their field, or across fields, through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.
Called a âwhoâs whoâ of influential researchers, the list draws on data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate, the company which publishes the list.
This year, the three CIMMYT scientists listed are:
Ravi Singh, head of global wheat improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the 2021 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to protecting wheat from new races of some of agricultureâs oldest and most devastating diseases.
The current focus in nutritional circles on micronutrient malnutrition and unhealthy eating habits has raised questions about continuing to invest in research on energy-rich cereal crops and related farming systems.
In this new paper in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, development scientists make the case that cereal foods are an important vehicle for enhanced nutrition â with additional improvement possible through plant breeding and interventions in processing, manufacturing and distribution. It also explains cereals are a rich source of both dietary fiber and a range of bioactive food components that are essential for good health and well-being.
The authors suggest a balanced, integrated research approach to support the sustainable production of both nutrient-rich crops and the basic cereals used in humanityâs most widely consumed and popular foods.
Dave Hodson, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) senior scientist delivered a large-scale overview of the current global wheat rust situation and the state of disease surveillance systems. He underscored the importance of comprehensive early warning systems and promising new detection tools that help to raise awareness and improve control. A new assessment of the early warning system for rust In Ethiopia showed a real impact on farmersâ interest, awareness, and farming practices to control the disease, as well as high-level policy changes.
Alison Bentley, CIMMYT Global Wheat Program director, described cutting-edge tools and methods by CIMMYT and, in particular, the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project to increase wheat productivity in the face of changing climates. In addition to the new approaches on the supply side, she argued, we also need increased research on the demand side to better understand why farmers will choose a new variety, the role of markets and gender, and how we can scale up these systems. Bentley emphasized the criticality of supporting public and private sector efforts to get more improved germplasm into farmersâ fields in less time.
Philomin Juliana, CIMMYT Global Wheat Program associate scientist highlighted the pivotal role that data plays in breeding decisions and line advancements in CIMMYTâs wheat breeding program. This has been facilitated by improvements in how data sets, like genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs), are shared with breeders. âCIMMYT has adopted a holistic, data-driven selection approachâ that leverages phenotypic data, genomic-estimated breeding values (GEBVs) and selection indices, Juliana explained.
In an interview with The Land, Alison Bentley, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), emphasized the importance of developing drought-tolerant wheat varieties to see better yields in tough seasons.
CIMMYT senior scientist and cropping systems agronomist Nele Verhulst (left) shows the benefits of conservation agriculture to visitors at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Texcoco, Mexico. (Photo: Francisco AlarcĂłn/CIMMYT)
High-level representatives of the Carlos Slim Foundation and Mexico’s National Agriculture Council (CNA) visited the global headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) outside Mexico City on October 18, 2021, to learn about innovative research to promote sustainable production systems in Mexico and the world.
Carlos Slim Foundation and CNA representatives agreed that public and private sectors, civil society and international research organizations like CIMMYT must collaborate to address the challenges related to climate change, forced migration and rural insecurity.
“It is necessary to give more visibility to and make use of CIMMYT’s world-class laboratories and research fields, to enhance their impact on sustainable development and the 2030 agenda,” said Juan Cortina Gallardo, president of the CNA.
The tour included a visit to CIMMYT’s germplasm bank, where the world’s largest collections of maize and wheat biodiversity are conserved. Visitors also toured the laboratories, greenhouses and experimental fields where cutting-edge science is applied to improve yield potential, adaptability to climate change, resistance to pests and diseases, and nutritional and processing quality of maize and wheat.
Representatives of the Carlos Slim Foundation and Mexico’s National Agriculture Council (CNA) stand for a group photo with CIMMYT representatives at the organizationâs global headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico. (Photo: Francisco AlarcĂłn/CIMMYT)
From Mexico to the world
“CIMMYT implements Crops for Mexico, a research and capacity building project building on the successes and lessons learned from MasAgro, where smallholder farmers increase their productivity to expand their market opportunities and can, for example, join the supply chain of large companies as providers and contribute to social development of Mexican farming,” Cortina Gallardo said.
CIMMYT carries out more than 150 integrated development projects related to maize and wheat systems in 50 countries. They are all supported by first-class research infrastructure in CIMMYTâs global headquarters, funded by the Carlos Slim Foundation.
“Our goal is to put CIMMYT’s laboratories, greenhouses and experimental fields at the service of farmers and both public and private sectors as needed,â said Bram Govaerts, director general of CIMMYT. âAccelerating the development of sustainable agricultural practices and more nutritious and resilient varieties contributes to transforming agricultural systems around the world, strengthening global food security and reducing the impact of agriculture on climate change.”
At the launch event, workshop participants reviewed the ADAPT-Wheat projectâs objectives, outputs, activities, impact pathways, partners and management. (Photo: Enawgaw Sisay/CIMMYT)
The Adaptation, Demonstration, and Piloting of Wheat Technologies for Irrigated Lowlands of Ethiopia (ADAPT-Wheat) project was launched on October 19, 2021, with an inception workshop held in Adama, Ethiopia.
The project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), aims to transform the irrigated lowlands of Ethiopiaâs Awash valley from a cotton monoculture to a cotton-wheat rotation. This transformation will improve local wheat production and make important strides towards helping the country reach its goal of wheat self-sufficiency.
Wheat is the second most important staple crop in Ethiopia and a major pillar for food security. CIMMYT has a longstanding role in helping Ethiopiaâs wheat farmers adopt improved, high-yielding, and disease-resistant varieties. This close collaboration became evident in 2018, when DNA fingerprinting analysis showed that 87% of all wheat varieties grown in Ethiopia are CIMMYT-derived.
Thanks to improved farmer access to better varieties, the adoption of a number of agronomic practice recommendations, conducive marketing, and strong supply chains, domestic wheat production and productivity in Ethiopia have nearly doubled over the past 15 years. Nevertheless, due to population growth, higher incomes, and accelerated urbanization, the demand for wheat in Ethiopia is increasing faster than productivity.
Scientists believe wheat grain yields of four tons per hectare are possible in low land areasâwhich include the Afar and Oromia regionsâif wheat production is increased through appropriate mechanization, proven agronomic practices, and high-yielding, early-maturing, heat-tolerant, rust-resistant wheat varieties.
When the three-year ADAPT-Wheat project is fully implemented, it will contribute to Ethiopiaâs goal for wheat self-sufficiency by 2023.
Participants in the ADAPT-Wheat workshop record their attendance (Photo: Enawgaw Sisay/CIMMYT)
A space for discussion
At the launch event, participants gathered to share feedback and experiences, identify gaps, and clarify roles and responsibilities among the implementing partners. The meeting also allowed project leaders to confirm participating kebeles (small administrative units), and plan and endorse project activities.
âThe forum was a good opportunity to speak about irrigated wheat, get to know each other, and understand the role of each office and its contribution to the success of the project,â said Bekele Abeyo, wheat breeder and CIMMYTâs Country Representative for Ethiopia.
Participants in the workshop included scientists from a number of Ethiopian research institutes, representatives of public and private seed enterprises, heads of bureaus of Agriculture (including those of the Afar and Oromia regions), and local administrations, and representatives of Germanyâs Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
The discussion included an introduction of CIMMYT and an overview of its global impact, history, and current activities in Ethiopia. An overview of the ADAPT-Wheat projectâs objectives, outputs, activities, impact pathways, partners and management was also presented in the forum.
Participants also discussed the key agronomy, breeding, and mechanization activities that will be assessed, validated, scaled up, and scaled out during the project in seven districts, two in the Afar region and five in the Oromia region.
âThe inception and planning workshop has a common understanding on how to tackle the bottlenecks ahead of the implementation of the project. The forum was a good opportunity for implementing partners to make a commitment for the new project by realizing the contribution of lowland irrigated wheat in achieving the goal of wheat self-sufficiency by 2023,â Bekele said.
Wheat is the second most important staple crop in Ethiopia and a major pillar for food security. Based on fingerprinting analysis from 2018, about 87% of all wheat varieties grown in Ethiopia are CIMMYT-derived.
Domestic wheat production and productivity has nearly doubled over the past 15 years, due to improved farmer access to better varieties, agronomic practice recommendations and conducive marketing and supply chain policies. Nevertheless, due to population growth, higher incomes and accelerated urbanization, the demand for wheat in Ethiopia is increasing faster than productivity, with the demand for an additional 1.5 million tons of wheat per year satisfied through imports.
In 2018, the Government of Ethiopia set a policy to achieve wheat national self-sufficiency by 2023. Additional production would come primarily from the irrigated lowlands of the Awash valley, in the Afar and Oromia regions, where the current cotton mono-culture would be converted to a cotton-wheat rotation.
Preliminary yield trials conducted by Werer Agricultural Research Center and based on experiences in Sudan where climate conditions are similar, on-farm wheat grain yields of 4 tons per hectare can be achieved. The potential area for irrigated wheat-cotton is at present around 500,000 hectares, which, when fully implemented, has the potential to make Ethiopia self-sufficient for wheat production.
The challenges to develop the current lowland into productive farming systems are significant and include identifying high yielding, early maturing, heat-tolerant, rust-resistant wheat varieties with appropriate end-use quality.
Appropriate mechanization will be required to allow farmers to facilitate rapid preparation of fields for wheat sowing after harvesting cotton, as well as for mechanized harvesting. Tested packages of agronomic and land management practices will be needed to optimize the production systems while mitigating against soil salinization.
In coordination with the national research and extension systems, this project will evaluate and pilot wheat technologies and packages of practices to reach 1,000 smallholders and medium commercial farmers in the Awash valley, and enable them to use these technologies and practices on 10,000 hectares of irrigated land in the first year, following the conclusion of this project.
Objectives
Capacity of research and development practitioners working on irrigated lowland wheat developed.
Improved wheat elite lines evaluated, and pre-release seed multiplication initiated of variety candidates.
Tested package of agronomic practices are ready for scaling.
Demonstration and piloting of appropriate machineries (modern mechanization) for irrigated wheat production.
The IWGSC is an international, collaborative consortium of wheat growers, plant scientists, and public and private breeders dedicated to the development of genomic resources for wheat scientists and breeders to facilitate the production of wheat varieties better adapted to todayâs challenges â climate change, food security and biodiversity preservation. In 2018, the IWGSC published the first genome reference sequence of the bread wheat, an essential tool to identify more rapidly genes and regulatory elements underlying complex agronomic traits such as yield, grain quality, resistance to diseases, and tolerance to stress such as drought or salinity.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, known by its Spanish acronym, CIMMYT, is a non-profit international agricultural research and training organization focusing on two of the worldâs most important cereal grains: maize and wheat, and related cropping systems and livelihoods. CIMMYTâs maize and wheat research addresses challenges encountered by low-income farmers in the developing world including food and nutritional insecurity, environmental degradation, economic development, population growth and climate change.
CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program is one of the most important public sources of high yielding, nutritious, disease- and climate-resilient wheat varieties for Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CIMMYT breeding lines can be found in varieties sown on more than 60 million hectares worldwide.
âI am truly pleased that CIMMYT has re-joined the IWGSC. The current reference sequences have been absolutely essential, enabling us to design new trait-based markers for use in CIMMYT wheat breeding pipelines. There remains much to explore in characterizing wheat at the whole genome level,â said CIMMYT wheat molecular breeding laboratory lead, Susanne Dreisigacker.
Sponsors are an essential part of the IWGSC. They participate in IWGSC-led projects and, as members of the Coordinating Committee, they help shape the IWGSC priorities, strategic plans, and activities. Susanne Dreisigacker will represent CIMMYT in the IWGSC Coordinating Committee.
âCIMMYT is a leading force in developing wheat varieties for southern countries,â said Kellye Eversole, Executive Director of the IWGSC. âWe are thrilled that they are joining forces with the IWGSC to build the genomic tools and resources that will ensure growers around the world have access to resilient and highly productive wheat varieties.â
After release of the wheat genome reference sequence in 2018, the IWGSC entered Phase II with activities focused on developing tools to accelerate the development of improved varieties and to empower all aspects of basic and applied wheat science. The organization recently released versions 2.1 of the reference sequence assembly and annotation, and is continuing to work with the wheat community to improve the reference sequence by gap filling and integration of manual and functional annotation. The IWGSC also is focused on securing funding for a project that will ensure that âplatinum-qualityâ sequences, representing the worldwide wheat diversity of landraces and elite varieties, are available publicly for breeders.
About the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium
The IWGSC, with 3,300 members in 71 countries, is an international, collaborative consortium, established in 2005 by a group of wheat growers, plant scientists, and public and private breeders. The goal of the IWGSC is to make a high-quality genome sequence of bread wheat publicly available, in order to lay a foundation for basic research that will enable breeders to develop improved varieties. The IWGSC is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. To learn more, visit www.wheatgenome.org and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
CIMMYT distinguished scientist Ravi Singh conducts research on a wheat field while. (Photo: BGRI)
World-renowned plant breeder Ravi Singh, whose elite wheat varieties reduced the risk of a global pandemic and now feed hundreds of millions of people around the world, has been announced as the 2021 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Singh, distinguished scientist and head of Global Wheat Improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), endowed hundreds of modern wheat varieties with durable resistance to fungal pathogens that cause leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and other diseases during his career. His scientific efforts protect wheat from new races of some of agricultureâs oldest and most devastating diseases, safeguard the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the most vulnerable areas in the world, and enhance food security for the billions of people whose daily nutrition depends on wheat consumption.
âRaviâs innovations as a scientific leader not only made the Cornell University-led Borlaug Global Rust Initiative possible, but his breeding innovations are chiefly responsible for the BGRIâs great success,â said Ronnie Coffman, vice chair of the BGRI and international professor of global development at Cornellâs College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. âPerhaps more than any other individual, Ravi has furthered Norman Borlaugâs and the BGRIâs goal that we maintain the global wheat scientific community and continue the crucial task of working together across international borders for wheat security.â
In the early 2000s, when a highly virulent rust race discovered in East Africa threatened most of the worldâs wheat, Singh took a key leadership role in the formation of a global scientific coalition to combat the threat. Along with Borlaug, Coffman and other scientists, he served as a panel member on the pivotal report alerting the international community to the Ug99 outbreak and its potential impacts to global food security. That sounding of the alarm spurred the creation of the BGRI and the collaborative international effort to stop Ug99 before it could take hold on a global scale.
As a scientific objective leader for the BGRIâs Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat projects, Singh led efforts to generate and share a series of elite wheat lines featuring durable resistance to all three rusts. The results since 2008 include resistance to the 12 races of the Ug99 lineage and new, high-temperature-tolerant races of stripe rust fungus that had been evolving and spreading worldwide since the beginning of the 21st century.
âThanks to Ravi Singhâs vision and applied science, the dire global threat of Ug99 and other rusts has been averted, fulfilling Dr. Borlaugâs fervent wishes to sustain wheat productivity growth, and contributing to the economic and environmental benefits from reduced fungicide use,â Coffman said. âRaviâs innovative research team at CIMMYT offered crucial global resources to stop the spread of Ug99 and the avert the human catastrophe that would have resulted.â
An innovative wheat breeder known for his inexhaustible knowledge and attention to genetic detail, Singh helped establish the practice of âpyramidingâ multiple rust-resistance genes into a single variety to confer immunity. This practice of adding complex resistance in a way that makes it difficult for evolving pathogens to overcome new varieties of wheat now forms the backbone of rust resistance breeding at CIMMYT and other national programs.
Ravi Singh (center) with Norman Borlaug (left) and Hans Braun in the wheat fields at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, in Mexicoâs Sonora state. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The global champion for durable resistance
Ravi joined CIMMYT in 1983 and was tasked by his supervisor, mentor and friend, the late World Food Prize Winner Sanjaya Rajaram, to develop wheat lines with durable resistance, said Hans Braun, former director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program.
âRavi did this painstaking work â to combine recessive resistance genes â for two decades as a rust geneticist and, as leader of CIMMYTâs Global Spring Wheat Program, he transferred them at large scale into elite lines that are now grown worldwide,â Braun said. âThanks to Ravi and his colleagues, there has been no major rust epidemic in the Global South for years, a cornerstone for global wheat security.â
Alison Bentley, Director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program, said that âBuilding on Raviâs exceptional work throughout his career, deployment of durable rust resistance in widely adapted wheat germplasm continues to be a foundation of CIMMYTâs wheat breeding strategy.â
Revered for his determination and work ethic throughout his career, Singh has contributed to the development of 649 wheat varieties released in 48 countries, working closely with scientists at national wheat programs in the Global South. Those varieties today are sown on approximately 30 million hectares annually in nearly all wheat growing countries of southern and West Asia, Africa and Latin America. Of these varieties, 224 were developed directly under his leadership and are grown on an estimated 10 million hectares each year.
In his career Singh has authored 328 refereed journal articles and reviews, 32 book chapters and extension publications, and more than 80 symposia presentations. He is regularly ranked in the top 1% of cited researchers. The CIMMYT team that Singh leads identified and designated 22 genes in wheat for resistance or tolerance to stem rust, leaf rust, stripe rust, powdery mildew, barley yellow dwarf virus, spot blotch, and wheat blast, as well as characterizing various other important wheat genome locations contributing to durable resistance in wheat.
Singhâs impact as a plant breeder and steward of genetic resources over the past four decades has been extraordinary, according to Braun: âRavi Singh can definitely be called the global champion for durable resistance.â
As the calendar turns to October 16, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) celebrates World Food Day. This yearâs theme is âOur actions are our future.â
They cover the journey of food (for example, cereals, vegetables, fish, fruits and livestock) from farm to table â including when it is grown, harvested, processed, packaged, transported, distributed, traded, bought, prepared, eaten and disposed of. It also encompasses non-food products (for example forestry, animal rearing, use of feedstock, biomass to produce biofuels, and fibers) that constitute livelihoods, and all the people, as well as the activities, investments and choices that play a part in getting us these food and agricultural products.
The food we choose and the way we produce, prepare, cook and store it make us an integral and active part of the way in which an agri-food system works.
A sustainable agri-food system is one in which a variety of sufficient, nutritious and safe foods is available at an affordable price to everyone, and nobody is hungry or suffers from any form of malnutrition. The shelves are stocked at the local market or food store, but less food is wasted and the food supply chain is more resilient to shocks such as extreme weather, price spikes or pandemics, all while limiting, rather than worsening, environmental degradation or climate change. In fact, sustainable agri-food systems deliver food security and nutrition for all, without compromising the economic, social and environmental bases, for generations to come. They lead to better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.
Letâs fix the system
The contradictions could not be starker â millions of people are hungry or undernourished, while large numbers are chronically overweight due to a poor diet. Smallholder farmers produce more than one-third of the worldâs food, yet are some of the worst affected by poverty, as agriculture continues to be an unpredictable sector. Agri-food systems are major contributors to climate change, which in turn threatens food production in some of the worldâs poorest areas. Rampant food loss and waste, side by side with people relying on food banks or emergency food aid.
The evidence is there for all to see â there has never been a more urgent need to transform the way the world produces and consumes food.
This year, for World Food Day, we bring you four stories about CIMMYTâs work to support sustainable agri-food systems.
Better production
CGIAR centers present methodology for transforming resource-constrained, polluting and vulnerable farming into inclusive, sustainable and resilient food systems that deliver healthy and affordable diets for all within planetary boundaries.
CIMMYT scientists expect to sharply ramp up new wheat varieties enriched with zinc that can boost the essential mineral for millions of poor people with deficient diets. Newly-developed high-zinc wheat is expected to make up at least 80% of varieties distributed worldwide over the next ten years, up from about 9% currently.
A woman makes roti, an unleavened flatbread made with wheat flour and eaten as a staple food, at her home in the Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. (Photo: S. Mojumder/Drik/CIMMYT)
Better environment
Understanding the relationship between climate change and plant health is key to conserving biodiversity and boosting food production today and for future generations.
Assessing value chain developmentâs potential and limitations for strengthening the livelihoods of the rural poor, a new book draws conclusions applicable across the development field.
A researcher from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) demonstrates the use of a farming app in the field. (Photo: C. De Bode/CGIAR)
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With the past decade identified as the warmest on record and global temperatures predicted to rise by as much as 2 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels by 2050, the worldâs staple food crops are increasingly under threat.
A new review published this month in the Journal of Experimental Botany describes how researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and collaborators are boosting climate resilience in wheat using powerful remote sensing tools, genomics and big data analysis. Scientists are combining multiple approaches to explore untapped diversity among wheat genetic resources and help select better parents and progeny in breeding.
The review â authored by a team of 25 scientists from CIMMYT, Henan Agricultural University, the University of Adelaide and the Wheat Initiative â also outlines how this research can be harnessed on a global level to further accelerate climate resilience in staple crops.
âAn advantage of understanding abiotic stress at the level of plant physiology is that many of the same tools and methods can be applied across a range of crops that face similar problems,â said first author and CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds.
Abiotic stresses such as temperature extremes and drought can have devastating impacts on plant growth and yields, posing a massive risk to food security.
Harnessing research across a global wheat improvement network for climate resilience: research gaps, interactive goals, and outcomes.
Addressing research gaps
The authors identified nine key research gaps in efforts to boost climate resilience in wheat, including limited genetic diversity for climate resilience, a need for smarter strategies for stacking traits and addressing the bottleneck between basic plant research and its application in breeding.
Based on a combination of the latest research advances and tried-and-tested breeding methods, the scientists are developing strategies to address these gaps. These include:
Using big data analysis to better understand stress profiles in target environments and design wheat lines with appropriate heat and drought adaptive traits.
Exploring wheat genetic resources for discovery of novel traits and genes and their use in breeding.
Accelerating genetic gains through selection techniques that combine phenomics with genomics.
Crowd-sourcing new ideas and technologies from academia and testing them in real-life breeding situations.
These strategies will be thoroughly tested at the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Network (HeDWIC) Hub under realistic breeding conditions and then disseminated to other wheat breeding programs around the world facing similar challenges.
One factor that strongly influences the success and acceleration of climate resilience technologies, according to Reynolds, is the gap between theoretical discovery research and crop improvement in the field.
âMany great ideas on how to improve climate-resilience of crops pile up in the literature, but often remain âon the shelfâ because the research space between theory and practice falls between the radar of academia on the one hand, and that of plant breeders on the other,â Reynolds explained.
Translational research â efforts to convert basic research knowledge about plants into practical applications in crop improvement â represents a necessary link between the world of fundamental discovery and farmersâ fields and aims to bridge this gap.
Main research steps involved in translating promising technologies into genetic gains (graphical abstract, adapted from Reynolds and Langridge, 2016). Reprinted under licence CC BY-NC-ND.
The impacts of this research, conducted under HeDWIC â a project led by CIMMYT in partnership with experts around the world â will be validated on a global scale through the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN), with the potential to reach at least half of the worldâs wheat-growing area.
The results will benefit breeders and researchers but, most importantly, farmers and consumers around the world who rely on wheat for their livelihoods and their diets. Wheat accounts for about 20% of all human calories and protein, making it a pillar of food security. For about 1.5 billion resource-poor people, wheat is their main daily staple food.
With the world population projected to rise to almost ten billion by 2050, demand for food is predicted to increase with it. This is especially so for wheat, being a versatile crop both in terms of where it can grow and its many culinary and industrial uses. However, current wheat yield gains will not meet 2050 demand unless serious action is taken. Translational research and strategic breeding are crucial elements in ensuring that research is translated into higher and stable yields to meet these challenges.
Narain Dhar is a research fellow working with CIMMYTâs Global Wheat program and CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT). His recent work is on charaterization and evaluation of a unique set of germplasm lines for abiotic stress.
As wheat blast continues to infect crops in countries around the world, researchers are seeking ways to stop its spread. The disease â caused by the Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum â can dramatically reduce crop yields, and hinder food and economic security in the regions in which it has taken hold.
Researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other international institutions looked into the potential for wheat blast to spread, and surveys existing tactics used to combat it. According to them, a combination of methods â including using and promoting resistant varieties, using fungicides, and deploying strategic agricultural practices â has the best chance to stem the disease.
The disease was originally identified in Brazil in 1985. Since then, it has spread to several other countries in South America, including Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. During the 1990s, wheat blast impacted as many as three million hectares in the region. It continues to pose a threat.
Through international grain trade, wheat blast was introduced to Bangladesh in 2016. The disease has impacted around 15,000 hectares of land in the country and reduced average yields by as much as 51% in infected fields.
Because the fungusâ spores can travel on the wind, it could spread to neighboring countries, such as China, India, Nepal and Pakistan â countries in which wheat provides food and jobs for billions of people. The disease can also spread to other locales via international trade, as was the case in Bangladesh.
âThe disease, in the first three decades, was spreading slowly, but in the last four or five years its pace has picked up and made two intercontinental jumps,â said Pawan Singh, CIMMYTâs head of wheat pathology, and one of the authors of the recent paper.
Infected seeds are the most likely vector when it comes to the disease spreading over long distances, like onto other continents. As such, one of the key wheat blast mitigation strategies is in the hands of the worldâs governments. The paper recommends quarantining potentially infected grain and seeds before they enter a new jurisdiction.
Governments can also create wheat âholidaysâ, which functionally ban cultivation of wheat in farms near regions where the disease has taken hold. Ideally, this would keep infectable crops out of the reach of wheat blastâs airborne and wind-flung spores. In 2017, India banned wheat cultivation within five kilometers of Bangladeshâs border, for instance. The paper also recommends that other crops â such as legumes and oilseed â that cannot be infected by the wheat blast pathogen be grown in these areas instead, to protect the farmersâ livelihoods.
Other tactics involve partnerships between researchers and agricultural workers. For instance, early warning systems for wheat blast prediction have been developed and are being implemented in Bangladesh and Brazil. Using weather data, these systems alert farmers when the conditions are ideal for a wheat blast outbreak.
Researchers are also hunting for wheat varieties that are resistant to the disease. Currently, no varieties are fully immune, but a few do show promise and can partially resist the ailment depending upon the disease pressure. Many of these resistant varieties have the CIMMYT genotype Milan in their pedigree.
âBut the resistance is still limited. It is still quite narrow, basically one single gene,â Xinyao He, one of the co-authors of the paper said, adding that identifying new resistant genes and incorporating them into breeding programs could help reduce wheat blastâs impact.
Wheat spikes damaged by wheat blast. (Photo: Xinyao He/CIMMYT)
The more the merrier
Other methods outlined in the paper directly involve farmers. However, some of these might be more economically or practically feasible than others, particularly for small-scale farmers in developing countries. Wheat blast thrives in warm, humid climates, so farmers can adjust their planting date so the wheat flowers when the weather is drier and cooler. This method is relatively easy and low-cost.
The research also recommends that farmers rotate crops, alternating between wheat and other plants wheat blast cannot infect, so the disease will not carry over from one year to the next. Farmers should also destroy or remove crop residues, which may contain wheat blast spores. Adding various minerals to the soil, such as silicon, magnesium, and calcium, can also help the plants fend off the fungus. Another option is induced resistance, applying chemicals to the plants such as jasmonic acid and ethylene that trigger its natural resistance, much like a vaccine, Singh said.
Currently, fungicide use, including the treatment of seeds with the compounds, is common practice to protect crops from wheat blast. While this has proven to be somewhat effective, it adds additional costs which can be hard for small-scale farmers to swallow. Furthermore, the pathogen evolves to survive these fungicides. As the fungus changes, it can also gain the ability to overcome resistant crop varieties. The paper notes that rotating fungicides or developing new ones â as well as identifying and deploying more resistant genes within the wheat â can help address this issue.
However, combining some of these efforts in tandem could have a marked benefit in the fight against wheat blast. For instance, according to Singh, using resistant wheat varieties, fungicides, and quarantine measures together could be a time-, labor-, and cost-effective way for small-scale farmers in developing nations to safeguard their crops and livelihoods.
âMultiple approaches need to be taken to manage wheat blast,â he said.
Three scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been included in the Highly Cited Researchers list for 2021, published by the Web of Science Group.
