research: Wheat

Leading nutritionist Julie Miller Jones promotes the benefits of whole grains. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Leading nutritionist cites whole grains as critical for better nutrition and health

Written by Mike Listman on September 19, 2017. Posted in News.

People who eat the most whole grain foods have a lower risk of almost all chronic diseases and are less likely to gain weight as they age, according to Julie Miller Jones, Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emerita at St. Catherine University, U.S.A.

“All kinds of epidemiological research shows that whole grain intake reduces obesity and the risk of diabetes, coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases, stroke, cancers, and death from all causes,” said Miller Jones, speaking to representatives of food processing companies and associations and scientists at the first “Maize and Wheat Quality and Nutrition Day” held near Mexico City on September 14.

Miller Jones emphasized that relatively modest amounts of grain in diets can deliver important health impacts. “We’re talking about eating around three slices of bread, or a bowl of oatmeal with a sandwich, or oatmeal in the morning, with pasta at lunch and rice at night,” she explained.

Hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a publicly-funded organization that works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to increase the productivity and quality of maize and wheat cropping systems, the event highlighted the critical connections between farmers, crop breeding and the quality of maize (corn) and wheat food products.

“It’s great that CIMMYT hosted this meeting,” said one participant, noting the complementary roles of the food industry and CIMMYT. “Companies like ours are only beginning to realize that improving our bottom line and sustainability doesn’t start with the flour we receive, but rather ten steps before that, with breeding, quality analyses, agronomy and even extension work in the field.”

In addition to packaged commercial breads, small individual loaves prepared daily in neighborhood bakeries are standard fare in Mexico. Photo: Mike Listman/ CIMMYT

The participants were impressed with Miller Jones’ presentation and the potential for partnering with CIMMYT, which conducts grain quality and nutritional analyses, development, selection and characterization of wheat and maize varieties for industrial and nutritional quality, as well as fostering the responsible sourcing of grain and linking farmers with markets.

“This is the first time we’ve brought together numerous essential actors in Mexico’s maize and wheat quality and nutrition value chains, and we expect that it will give dividends in better quality, more nutritious cereal grains and food for better diets,” said Natalia Palacios, CIMMYT maize nutrition and quality specialist.

In addition to using more than 35 million tons of maize each year as human food and animal feed, Mexico’s food processors annually handle more than 8 million tons of wheat grain.

“CIMMYT can serve as a shared platform for joint research with the food industry, outside of the competitive arena, and for messaging on healthy nutrition and diets,” suggested Carlos Guzmán, head of CIMMYT’s wheat chemistry and quality lab.

Together with the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC), Guzmán is organizing the 4th ICC Latin American Cereals Conference and the 13th International Gluten Workshop, both to be held in Mexico City from 11 to 17 March 2018.

Humans and food grain crops: Shared history and future

Miller Jones said that DNA of cooked grain has been found in the dental remains of Paleolithic humans, showing that people have been eating grain for more than 100,000 years. She also emphasized the need for balanced diets that feature all food groups in healthy amounts.

“We need to change our diets to healthy patterns that we can maintain for our entire lifetime, not something that you go on to go off,” she said, speaking recently in an online interview hosted by CIMMYT. “Just as nutrition experts have always recommended, unless you’re allergic to a particular food, a healthy diet should include products from all food groups, in the right amounts.”

Farmers in Pakistan benefit from new zinc-enriched high-yielding wheat

Written by Mike Listman on June 27, 2017. Posted in News.

Hans-Joachim Braun (left, white shirt), director of the global wheat program at CIMMYT, Maqsood Qamar (center), wheat breeder at Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, and Muhammad Imtiaz (right), CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist and Pakistan country representative, discuss seed production of Zincol. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT. — Hans-Joachim Braun (left, white shirt), director of the global wheat program at CIMMYT, Maqsood Qamar (center), wheat breeder at Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, and Muhammad Imtiaz (right), CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist and Pakistan country representative, discussing seed production of Zincol. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT.

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – Farmers in Pakistan are eagerly adopting a nutrient-enhanced wheat variety offering improved food security, higher incomes, health benefits and a delicious taste.

Known as Zincol and released to farmers in 2016, the variety provides harvests as abundant as those for other widely grown wheat varieties, but its grain contains 20 percent more zinc, a critical micronutrient missing in the diets of many poor people in South Asia.

Due to these benefits and its delicious taste, Zincol was one of the top choices among farmers testing 12 new wheat varieties in 2016.

“I would eat twice as many chappatis of Zincol as of other wheat varieties,” said Munib Khan, a farmer in Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi District, Punjab Province, Pakistan, referring to its delicious flavor.

Khan has been growing Zincol since its release. In 2017, he planted a large portion of his wheat fields with the seed, as did members of the Gujar Khan Seed Producer Group to which he belongs.

The group is one of 21 seed producer associations established to grow quality seed of new wheat varieties with assistance from the country’s National Rural Support Program (NRSP) in remote areas of Pakistan. The support program is a key partner in the Pakistan Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Over the 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons, 400 tons of seed of Zincol has been shared with farmers, seed companies and promotional partners,” said Imtiaz Muhammad, CIMMYT country representative in Pakistan and a wheat improvement specialist.

Zincol resulted from the CIMMYT’s “biofortification” breeding research, focused on enhancing nutrient levels in the grain of key food crops. Scientists develop biofortified crops using diverse genetic resources, including wheat landraces and wild relatives with the genetic potential to accumulate zinc in the grain.

Genes for enhanced grain zinc content from those sources are crossed into adapted, high-yielding varieties, over repeated cycles of selection involving many thousands of plants.

“One year after the release of Zincol, wheat farmers on more than 320 hectares are sowing the variety,” Imtiaz said.

He also noted that 15 tons of Zincol seed was shared free of charge for testing with 600 farm families in Sukkar District, Sindh Province, through an initiative of World Vision-Canada and HarvestPlus, a CGIAR research program dedicated to the study and delivery of biofortified foods.

Zincol harvests as high as other widely grown wheat varieties, but its grain contains 20 percent more zinc, a critical micronutrient missing in the diets of many poor people in South Asia. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT — Zincol yields as much other widely grown wheat varieties, but its grain contains 20 percent more zinc, a critical micronutrient missing in the diets of many poor people in South Asia. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT

Wheat: Vehicle for enhanced nutrition

Pakistan produces more than 25 million tons of wheat a year. The country has an annual per capita consumption averaging around 124 kilograms — among the highest in the world and providing over 60 percent of inhabitants’ daily caloric intake. The staple wheat-based foods are chappatis or a flat bread baked on the walls of large, cylindrical clay ovens.

Particularly in remote areas of Pakistan, human diets too often lack essential micronutrients such as zinc. According to a 2011 nutrition survey, 39 percent of children in Pakistan and 48 percent of pregnant women suffer from zinc deficiency, leading to child stunting rates of more than 40 percent and high infant mortality.

Zinc deficiency is also known to cause diarrheal disease, lower respiratory tract infections, malaria, hypogonadism, impaired immune function, skin disorders, cognitive dysfunction and anorexia, according to the World Health Organization.

“Given its role as a key food staple, wheat with enhanced levels of zinc and other micronutrients can contribute to better nutrition,” said Velu Govindan, a CIMMYT wheat breeder who specializes in biofortification and helped develop Zincol.

“Zincol also carries the genetic background of NARC 2011, a popular, high-yielding Pakistan wheat variety that resists wheat stem rust, a deadly disease that threatens wheat worldwide,” Govindan added.

As part of AIP and HarvestPlus, as well as with numerous public and private partners and farmer seed production groups in Pakistan, CIMMYT is leading the extensive evaluation, distribution and seed production of Zincol, said Krishna Dev Joshi, a former CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist who worked on the project.

“With modest resources and limited amounts of seed, we tested and promoted Zincol over the last two years in Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh, covering 15 districts and engaging nearly 700 farmers,” Joshi explained.

Joshi said farmer seed producers and private seed companies were able to provide another 100 tons of seed in 2016, enough to sow more than 2,500 hectares in 2017 and over half a million hectares in 2018.

“Zincol reached farmers nine years after the initial breeding cross in 2007, several years more quickly than is the norm in Pakistan, partly because it was tested simultaneously in national and provincial trials,” Joshi added. “Zincol is part of a suite of new, micronutrient-enhanced wheat varieties bred by CIMMYT and partners for use in South Asia, a region whose inhabitants consume 100 million tons of wheat each year.”

For India, Govindan and partners created a new biofortified wheat variety using synthetic parents crossed onto WH1105, a CIMMYT-derived high-yielding variety grown in India’s Northwestern Plain Zone. The new variety out-yields other popular varieties by as much as 8 percent and has a 20 percent higher zinc content, as well as good resistance to yellow rust disease. Another new Indian variety, Zinc Shakti, has a 40 percent greater grain zinc content and is being marketed by the private sector and spread via farmer-to-farmer seed sharing.

CSIRO and CIMMYT link on wheat phenomics, physiology and data

Written by Mike Listman on June 26, 2017. Posted in Features.

Building on a more than 40-year-old partnership in crop modelling and physiology, a two-day workshop organized by CIMMYT and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) achieved critical steps towards a common framework for field phenotyping techniques, data interoperability and sharing experience.

Involving 23 scientists from both organizations and held at El Batán from 12 to 13 June 2017, the event emerged partly from a 2016 visit to CIMMYT by CSIRO Agriculture and Food executives and focused on wheat, according to Matthew Reynolds, CIMMYT wheat physiologist and distinguished scientist.

“Capitalizing on our respective strengths, we developed basic concepts for several collaborations in physiology and breeding, and will follow up within ongoing projects and through pursuit of new funding,” Reynolds said, signaling the following:

Comparison of technologies to estimate key crop traits, including GreenSeeker and hyperspectral images, IR thermometry, digital imagery and LiDAR approaches, while testing and validating prediction of phenotypic traits using UAV (drone) imagery.
Study of major differences between spike and leaf photosynthesis, and attempts to standardize gas exchange between field and controlled environments.
Work with breeders to screen advanced lines for photosynthetic traits in breeding nurseries, including proof of concept to link higher photosynthetic efficiency / performance to biomass accumulation.
Validation/testing of wheat simulation model for efficient use of radiation.
Evaluation of opportunities to provide environment characterization of phenotyping platforms, including systematic field/soil mapping to help design plot and treatment layouts, considering bioassays from aerial images as well as soil characteristics such as pH, salinity, and others.
Testing the heritability of phenotypic expression from parents to their higher-yielding progeny in both Mexico and Australia.
Extraction of new remote sensed traits (e.g., number of heads per plot) from aerial images by machine learning (ML) of scored traits by breeders and use of ML to teach those to the algorithm.
Demonstrating a semantic data framework’s use in identifying specific genotypes for strategic crossing, based on phenotypes.
Exchanging suitable data sets to test the interoperability of available data management tools, focusing on the suitability of the Phenomics Ontology Driven Data (PODD) platform for phenotypic data exchanges, integration, and retrieval.

The shared history of the two organizations in wheat physiology goes back to the hiring by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, former CIMMYT wheat scientist and Nobel Prize laureate, of post-doctoral fellow Tony Fischer in 1970. Now an Honorary Research Fellow at CSIRO, Fischer served as director of CIMMYT’s global wheat program from 1989 to 1996 and developed important publications on wheat physiology earlier in his career, based on data from research at CIMMYT. In the early 1990s, Lloyd Evans, who established the Canberra Phytotron at CSIRO in the 1970s, served on CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees. Former CIMMYT maize post-doc Scott Chapman left for CSIRO in the mid-1990s but has partnered continuously with the Center on crop modelling and remote sensing. With funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in the late 1990s, CSIRO scientists Richard Richards, Tony Condon, Greg Rebetzke and Graham Farquhar began shared research with Reynolds and Martin van Ginkel, a CIMMYT wheat breeder, on stomatal aperture traits. Following work at CSIRO with Lynne McIntyre and Chapman, scientist Ky Matthews led the CIMMYT Biometrics Group from 2011 to 2012, collaborating with CIMMYT wheat physiologists on a landmark project to map complex physiological traits using the purpose-designed population, Seri/Babax. Reflecting the recent focus on climate resilience traits, Fernanda Dreccer of CSIRO is helping CIMMYT to establish the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), among other important collaborations.

Breaking Ground: Bhoja Basnet sets sights on increasing wheat yield potential through hybrid seeds

Written by on February 1, 2017. Posted in Features.

bhoja_in-wheat — Bhoja Raj Basnet joined CIMMYT as a postdoctoral fellow working in the bread wheat improvement program in 2012. Photo: A. Cortes/CIMMYT

Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – Scientist Bhoja Raj Basnet knows first hand what it is like to be a smallholder farmer.

Basnet’s earliest memories were formed on a one-acre subsistence farm in Jhapa, in southeastern Nepal, a fertile area in a country where the livelihoods of nearly 65 percent of people depend on agriculture.

The tiny farm provided the foundation for a journey that led ultimately to a doctoral degree in the United States and a career as a wheat breeder in Mexico at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Wheat plays a major role in Nepal’s agricultural landscape. It is the country’s third largest crop, cultivated on about 750,000 hectares of arable land each year with an average yield of 2.5 tons per hectare. Above wheat, farmers favor only rice and maize.

“I grew up playing with the plants and soil on my family’s farm and before I entered high school I knew I wanted to pursue a career in agricultural science.” Basnet explained. “As I got older I started to realize the importance of agriculture and how agriculture can really shape a child’s health and future. This is what really pushed me to pursue my career.”

Basnet went on to earn his master and doctoral degrees in plant breeding. After graduation in 2012 from Texas A&M University, Basnet joined CIMMYT as a postdoctoral fellow working in the bread wheat improvement program.

In 2014, Basnet began leading a project conducting research into hybrid wheat in collaboration with Syngenta, which involves researching and developing tools and technology for developing commercially viable hybrid CIMMYT wheat varieties.

Hybrid wheat is created when a breeder intentionally crosses two genetically distinct and stable wheat lines to produce an offspring that combines the best traits of the parents. The process of developing a hybrid can take years, as traits are carefully chosen to achieve desired characteristics, such as increased grain yield or stress tolerance.

The principle behind hybrid varieties is exploitation of heterosis, the superiority of the hybrid offspring over its parent varieties. This is a biological phenomenon observed in almost all living organisms. However, the magnitude of “heterosis” varies significantly based on several biological and environmental factors.

“Hybrid wheat has always fascinated me,” Basnet said, adding, “I really want to see the end results and to see this work succeed.”

Hybrid wheat varieties have proven to be tricky. In fact, CIMMYT’s first attempt to develop hybrid wheat occurred in the 1960s and despite stops and starts over the years, has been ongoing since 2010.

Increasing investment and long-term funding commitments are a key prerequisite to achieving success in crop improvement, especially in breeding, Basnet said. Unlike traditional wheat variety development, successful research into hybrid wheat varieties depends largely on the willingness and active engagement of private sectors into research and seed businesses.

Basnet is working to develop a hybrid wheat foundation at CIMMYT by using new technology and existing research on hybrids. This hybrid wheat foundation will create genetic diversity within wheat to increase genetic gains and develop tools that can produce large amounts of hybrid seed.

“Currently less than one percent of wheat crops globally are hybrid wheat,” Basnet explained. “We need to continue with this research, as hybrid crops could lead to 15 to 20 percent greater yield potential and in particular higher stability, a very important trait with climate change.”

Harnessing medical technology and global partnerships to drive gains in food crop productivity

Written by Mike Listman on December 22, 2016. Posted in Features.

Ulrich Schurr (left), of Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich research center and chair of the International Plant Phenotyping Network (IPPN), and Matthew Reynolds, wheat physiologist of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), are promoting global partnerships in phenotyping to improve critical food crops, through events like the recent International Crop Phenotyping Symposium. Photo: M.Listman/CIMMYT — Ulrich Schurr (L), of Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich research center and chair of the International Plant Phenotyping Network, and Matthew Reynolds, wheat physiologist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, are promoting global partnerships in phenotyping to improve critical food crops, through events like the recent International Crop Phenotyping Symposium. Photo: CIMMYT/Mike Listman

EL BATÁN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Global research networks must overcome nationalist and protectionist tendencies to provide technology advances the world urgently needs, said a leading German scientist at a recent gathering in Mexico of 200 agricultural experts from more than 20 countries.

“Agriculture’s critical challenges of providing food security and better nutrition in the face of climate change can only be met through global communities that share knowledge and outputs; looking inward will not lead to results,” said Ulrich Schurr, director of the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences of the Forschungszentrum Jülich research center, speaking at the 4th International Plant Phenotyping Symposium

One such community is the International Plant Phenotyping Network (IPPN), chaired by Schurr and co-host of the symposium in December, with the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, known by its Spanish acronym, CIMMYT.

Adapting medical sensors helps crop breeders see plants as never before

“Phenotyping” is the high-throughput application of new technology — including satellite images, airborne cameras, and multi-spectral sensors mounted on robotic carts — to the age-old art of measuring the traits and performance of breeding lines of maize, wheat and other crops, Schurr said.

“Farmers domesticated major food crops over millennia by selecting and using seed of individual plants that possessed desirable traits, like larger and better quality grain,” he explained. “Science has helped modern crop breeders to ‘fast forward’ the process, but breeders still spend endless hours in the field visually inspecting experimental plants. Phenotyping technologies can expand their powers of observation and the number of lines they process each year.”

Adapting scanning devices and protocols pioneered for human medicine or engineering, phenotyping was initially confined to labs and other controlled settings, according to Schurr.

“The push for the field started about five years ago, with the availability of new high-throughput, non-invasive devices and the demand for field data to elucidate the genetics of complex traits like yield or drought and heat tolerance,” he added.

Less than 10 years ago, Schurr could count on the fingers of one hand the number of institutions working on phenotyping. “Now, IPPN has 25 formal members and works globally with 50 institutions and initiatives.”

Cameras and other sensors mounted on flying devices like this blimp [remote-control quadcopter] provide crop researchers with important visual and numerical information about crop growth, plant architecture and photosynthetic traits, among other characteristics. Photo: Emma Quilligan/CIMMYT — Cameras and other sensors mounted on flying devices like this blimp provide crop researchers with important visual and numerical information about crop growth, plant architecture and photosynthetic traits, among other characteristics. Photo: E. Quilligan/CIMMYT

Many ways to see plants and how they grow

So-called “deep” phenotyping uses technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission and computer tomography to identify, measure and understand “invisible” plant parts, systems and processes, including roots and water capture and apportionment.

In controlled environments such as labs and greenhouses, researchers use automated systems and environmental simulation to select sources of valuable traits and to gain insight on underlying plant physiology that is typically masked by the variation found in fields, according to Schurr.

“Several specialists in our symposium described automated lab setups to view and analyze roots and greenhouse systems to assess crop shoot geometry, biomass accumulation and photosynthesis,” he explained. “These are then linked to crop simulation models and DNA markers for genes of important traits.”

Schurr said that support for breeding and precision agriculture includes the use of cameras or other sensors that take readings from above plant stands and crop rows in the field.

“These may take the form of handheld devices or be mounted on autonomous, robotic carts,” he said, adding that the plants can be observed using normal light and infrared or other types of radiation reflected from the plant and soil.

“The sensors can also be mounted on flying devices including drones, blimps, helicopters or airplanes. This allows rapid coverage of a larger area and many more plants than are possible through visual observation alone by breeders walking through a field.”

In the near future, mini-satellites equipped with high-resolution visible light sensors to capture and share aerial images of breeding plots will be deployed to gather data in the field, according to symposium participants.

Bringing high-flying technologies to earth

As is typical with new technologies and approaches to research, phenotyping for crop breeding and research holds great promise but must overcome several challenges, including converting images to numeric information, managing massive and diverse data, interfacing effectively with genomic analysis and bringing skeptical breeders on board.

“The demands of crop breeding are diverse — identifying novel traits, studies of genetic resources and getting useful diversity into usable lines, choosing the best parents for crosses and selecting outstanding varieties in the field, to name a few,” Schurr explained. “From the breeders’ side, there’s an opportunity to help develop novel methods and statistics needed to harness the potential of phenotyping technology.”

A crucial linkage being pursued is that with genomic analyses. “Studies often identify genome regions tied to important traits like photosynthesis as ‘absolute,’ without taking into account that different genes might come into play depending on, say, the time of day of measurement,” Schurr said. “Phenotyping can shed light on such genetic phenomena, describing the same thing from varied angles.”

Speaking at the symposium, Greg Rebetzke, a research geneticist since 1995 at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), said that the effective delivery in commercial breeding of “phenomics” — a term used by some to describe the high-throughput application of phenotyping in the field — is more a question of what and when, not how.

“It’s of particular interest in breeding for genetically complex traits like drought tolerance,” Rebetzke said. “Phenomics can allow breeders to screen many more plants in early generations of selection, helping to bring in more potentially useful genetic diversity. This genetic enrichment with key alleles early on can significantly increase the likelihood of identifying superior lines in the later, more expensive stages of selecting, which is typically done across many different environments.”

Moreover, where conventional breeding generally uses “snaphot” observations of plants at different growth stages, phenotyping technology can provide detailed time-series data for selected physiological traits and how they are responding to their surroundings—say, well-watered versus dry conditions—and for a much greater diversity and area of plots and fields.

Phenotyping is already being translated from academic research to commercial sector development and use, according to Christoph Bauer, leader of phenotyping technologies at KWS, a German company that breeds for and markets seed of assorted food crops.

“It takes six-to-eight years of pre-breeding and breeding to get our products to market,” Bauer said in his symposium presentation. “In that process, phenotyping can be critical to sort the ‘stars’ from the ‘superstars’.”

Commercial technology providers for phenotyping are also emerging, according to Schurr, helping to ensure robustness, the use of best practices and alignment with the needs of academic and agricultural industry customers.

“The partnership triad of academia, commercial providers and private seed companies offers a powerful avenue for things like joint analysis of genotypic variation in the pre-competitive domain or testing of cutting-edge technology,” he added.

On the final morning of the symposium, participants broke off into groups to discuss special topics, including the cost effectiveness of high-throughput phenotyping and its use to analyze crop genetic resources, measuring roots, diagnostics of reproductive growth, sensor technology needs, integrating phenotypic data into crop models, and public-private collaboration.

Schurr said organizations like CIMMYT play a crucial role.

“CIMMYT does relevant breeding for millions of maize and wheat farmers — many of them smallholders — who live in areas often of little interest for large-scale companies, providing support to the national research programs and local or regional seed producers that serve such farmers,” Schurr said. “The center also operates phenotyping platforms worldwide for traits like heat tolerance and disease resistance and freely spreads knowledge and technology.”

Wheat rust poses food security risk for global poor, says DFID’s Priti Patel

Written by on December 5, 2016. Posted in Features.

David Hodson, CIMMYT senior scientist (L), describes the challenges posed by wheat rust to Priti Patel, Britain's international development secretary, during the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in London. Handout/DFID — David Hodson, CIMMYT senior scientist (L), describes the challenges posed by wheat rust to Priti Patel, Britain’s international development secretary, during the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in London. DFID/handout

LONDON (CIMMYT) – International wheat rust monitoring efforts are not only keeping the fast-spreading disease in check, but are now being deployed to manage risks posed by other crop diseases, said a scientist attending a major scientific event in London.

Although initially focused on highly virulent Ug99 stem rust, the rust tracking system – developed as part of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, an international collaboration involving Cornell University and national agricultural research programs – is also used to monitor other fungal rusts and develop prediction models with the aim of helping to curtail their spread.

“We appear to be looking at some shifts in stem rust populations with the Digalu race and new variants increasing and spreading,” said David Hodson, a senior scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who showcased the latest research findings at the recent Grand Challenges meeting in London hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Our data reinforce the fact that we face threats from rusts per se and not just from the Ug99 race group – we are fortunate that international efforts laid the groundwork to establish a comprehensive monitoring system,” said Hodson, one of more than 1,200 international scientists at the gathering.

“The research investments are having additional benefits,” he told Priti Patel, Britain’s secretary of state for international development, explaining that the wheat rust surveillance system is now also being applied to the deadly Maize Lethal Necrosis disease in Africa.

“The learning from stem rust and investments in data management systems and other components of the tracking system have allowed us to fast-track a similar surveillance system for another crop and pathosystem.”

In a keynote address, echoed by an opinion piece published in London’s Evening Standard newspaper authored by Patel and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, Patel described the risks posed by wheat rust to global food security and some of the efforts funded by Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) to thwart it.

“Researchers at the University of Cambridge are working with the UK Met Office and international scientists to track and prevent deadly outbreaks of wheat rust which can decimate this important food crop for many of the world’s poorest people,” Patel said, referring to collaborative projects involving CIMMYT, funded by the Gates Foundation and DFID

Patel also launched a DFID research review at the meeting, committing the international development agency to continued research support and detailing how the UK intends to deploy development research and innovation funding of £390 million ($485 million) a year over the next four years.

Wheat improvement work by the CGIAR consortium of agricultural researchers was highlighted in the research review as an example of high impact DFID research. Wheat improvement has resulted in economic benefits of $2.2 to $3.1 billion per year and almost half of all the wheat planted in developing countries.

CIMMYT museum highlights cultural aspects of maize and wheat

Written by on September 21, 2016. Posted in News.

TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A new museum in Mexico provides historical background and context for scientific research into maize and wheat, emphasizing agricultural achievements in the developing world.

The inaugural exhibition at the museum opened on Wednesday to coincide with the 50^th anniversary celebrations of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“The interactive displays in this vibrant and informative space underscore the significance of 50 years of maize and wheat research conducted throughout the world,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general. “We now have a space at CIMMYT that allows visitors to dig into the history, present and future of the center in an innovative way.”

CIMMYT has helped reduce the proportion of hungry people from about half the global population in the 1960s to below 20 percent today. Yearly economic benefits from its research and training activities, conducted on a budget of $180 million, are conservatively estimated at $4 billion.

The 200-square-meter (2,150-square-foot) museum is based at CIMMYT’s El Batan headquarters, promoting the work of CIMMYT’s scientific research and focusing on achievements and on the ground impacts in the world and raising awareness of future challenges. It features information and displays about staff achievements, including those of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug. Scientists working at CIMMYT have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, three World Food Prizes and many other significant awards.

The museum represents a bridge between two of CIMMYT’s director generals, with former Director General Thomas Lumpkin spearheading the initiative and Kropff carrying out and completing this vision during the ceremony today.

Visitors to the museum can explore the cultural and historical significance of maize and wheat.

“The museum engages visitors in the cultural aspects of research that can amplify understanding of its socio-cultural impact and generate dialogue,” said Richard Fulss, head of CIMMYT’s knowledge management unit in charge of the museum. “It expresses CIMMYT’s scientific developments in new ways, illustrating it in various themes and topics showcasing its global scope and impacts.”

Interactive illustrations of maize and wheat portray origins, historical influence on emerging nations and how the crops are consumed in different parts of the world.

Of key importance to the museum will be how staple maize and wheat crops have evolved over time, including the role of tools and technology, work in the research labs and the diversity of seeds kept by CIMMYT.

China’s vice premier ushers in new era of agricultural collaboration

Written by on August 11, 2016. Posted in News.

China’s Vice Premier Liu Yandong (right) with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff. Photo: A. Cortes/CIMMYT

TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) — A new collaborative program promising to train Chinese Ph.D. and postdoctoral students annually at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) builds on the three decade relationship the organization holds with China.

The memorandum of understanding was signed during China’s Vice Premier Liu Yandong’s visit to CIMMYT on 9 August by the Secretary General of the Chinese Scholarship Council Liu Jinghui and CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff.

“In the face of climate change, water shortages and other challenges, innovative strategies to agricultural development are necessary for China’s future development,” Yandong said. “We hope to strengthen cooperation with CIMMYT — this will have a tremendous effect on both China and the world.”

Since 1970, more than 20 Chinese institutes have been involved in germplasm exchange and improvement, conservation agriculture and capacity building, with 56 Chinese researchers receiving their doctoral degrees with CIMMYT. Since the CIMMYT-China Office was opened in 1997, 26 percent of wheat grown in China has derived from CIMMYT materials.

Secretary General of the Chinese Scholarship Council Liu Jinghui (left) with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding to train 10 PhD and Postdoc students at CIMMYT each year. Photo: A. Cortes/CIMMYT

During the visit, the vice premier discussed China’s new five-year plan (2016 – 2020) that focuses on innovation, international cooperation and green growth, to modernize agriculture in an environmental friendly way over the next 20 to 30 years.

Benefits of three decades of international collaboration in wheat research have added as much as 10.7 million tons of grain – worth $3.4 billion – to China’s national wheat output. Eight CIMMYT scientists have won the Chinese Friendship Award – the highest award for “foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress.”

Global wheat community discusses research, partnerships at Obregon pilgrimage

Written by on April 14, 2016. Posted in News.

Scientist Sukhwinder Singh (L) hosts a discussion in the wheat fields at the CIMMYT research station in Obregon, Mexico. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

OBREGON, Mexico (CIMMYT) — For hundreds of international agricultural development experts, an annual gathering in northern Mexico provides a vital platform for sharing and debating the latest wheat breeding news and research.

This year, more than 200 members of the wheat community from more than 30 countries met in the legendary wheat fields of Ciudad Obregon in Mexico’s state of Sonora to participate in Visitors’ Week, hosted by the Global Wheat Program (GWP) of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

The event coincides with the birthday of Norman Borlaug, the late CIMMYT wheat breeder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, known as the father of the Green Revolution for his contributions to global food security, many of which were undertaken in Obregon. This year, Visitors’ Week delegates toasted his 102^nd birthday at the Norman E. Borlaug Experimental Field research station.

The month of March also marks the peak wheat-growing season in Obregon, and participants attended a field day tour to see old and new wheat varieties, learn about CIMMYT programs and the latest research findings. Additionally, meetings and discussions were held with the goal of contributing to the improvement of wheat research across the globe by identifying key priorities.

INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUES

A brainstorming session between representatives from the British government and CIMMYT included discussions on collaborating on breeding for tolerance to high ambient temperatures, durable disease resistance, nitrogen use efficiency, and quality and nutrition.

Future collaborations between CIMMYT and Australia were explored with the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the CIMMYT-Australia-ICARDA Germplasm Exchange (CAIGE) group. 2Blades, a U.S.-based organization supporting the development of durable disease resistance in crop plants, joined the discussion and expressed the need to use safe, sustainable crop production strategies.

As part of discussions regarding international collaboration, the second meeting of the Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency in wheat aimed to improve international coordination on NUE (nitrogen and other nutrients) research among Australia, Britain, France, Mexico, Italy, Spain and Germany.

During the NUE meeting, an executive committee was appointed, with Malcolm Hawksford, head of Plant Biology and Crop Science at Rothamsted Research as chair and Jacques Le Gouis, of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, as vice chair.

As well, the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) held its first official conference during which IWYP director Jeff Gwyn discussed outcomes and objectives for the next 20 years.

Due to the large audience of global wheat researchers, the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative took the opportunity to launch its new project, Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW), supported by a $24 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Under the DGGW, CIMMYT scientists aim to mitigate serious threats to wheat brought about by climate change by developing and deploying new heat-tolerant, disease-resistant wheat varieties.

ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

With the hope of increasing data and information sharing, the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN) awarded Mehmet Nazım Dincer of Turkey the IWIN Cooperator Award for contributing data on international nurseries. Through a lottery, Dincer was selected from among researchers who provided data on international seed nurseries to IWIN in 2015. Dincer was awarded a one-week paid visit to Obregón during GWP Visitors’ Week, and was also congratulated for his collaborative efforts during the festivities.

Another lottery will be held in November to select the next winner from among cooperators who return 2016 international nursery data. GWP director Hans Braun joked that he is not aware of other lotteries with so few participants in which the jackpot is a trip to Obregon, encouraging IWIN cooperators to return their data and win.

Visitors’ Week is not only an important time for international collaborations and brainstorming, but also for capacity development and training early career scientists. Coinciding with this year’s Visitors’ Week was the GWP Basic Wheat Improvement Course (BWIC), a three-month training course for young and mid-career scientists focusing on applied breeding techniques in the field. In addition to attending Visitors’ Week events, trainees were offered special courses with guest lecturers.

Joining the BWIC at this time were winners of the 2016 Women in Triticum Award who alongside women trainees attended a “Women in Agriculture” discussion led by Jeannie Borlaug, daughter of Norman Borlaug, to discuss difficulties and successes women face in achieving equality in the science and agriculture sectors.

Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history

Written by on January 3, 2016. Posted in Features. 59 Comments on From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history

This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In 1935, Japanese scientist Gonjoro Inazuka crossed a semi-dwarf Japanese wheat landrace with two American varieties resulting in an improved variety, known as Norin 10. Norin 10 derived varieties eventually ended up in the hands of Norman Borlaug, beginning one of the most extraordinary agricultural revolutions in history. This international exchange of germplasm ultimately saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation and revolutionized the world of wheat.

The journey of semi-dwarf wheat from Japan to Mexico may have begun in the 3^rd or 4^th century in Korea, where short wheat varieties are thought to have originated. From East Asia, wheat breeders began to seek and utilize dwarfing genes to breed varieties with high yield potential, resistance to lodging and the ability to produce more tillers than traditional varieties.

The term Norin is an acronym for the Japanese Agricultural Experiment Station spelled out using Latin letters. From 150 centimeters (cm) that other varieties measured, Norin 10 reduced wheat plant height to 60-110 cm. The shorter stature is a result of the reduced height genes Rht₁ and Rht₂.

Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 - a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust - and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT — Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 – a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust – and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT

Norin 10 began to attract international attention after a visit by S.D. Salmon, a renowned wheat breeder in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to Marioka Agriculture Research Station in Honshu. Salmon took some samples of the Norin 10 variety back to the United States, where in the late 1940s Orville Vogel at Washington State University used them to help produce high-yielding, semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties, of which Gaines was the first one.

In neighboring Mexico, Norman Borlaug and his team were focusing their efforts on tackling the problem of lodging and rust resistance. After unsuccessfully screening the entire USDA World Wheat Germplasm collection for shorter and strong varieties, Borlaug wrote to Vogel and requested seed containing the Norin 10 dwarfing genes. Norin 10 was a lucky break, providing both short stature and rust resistance.

In 1953, Borlaug began crossing Vogel’s semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties with Mexican varieties. The first attempt at incorporating the Vogel genes into Mexican varieties failed. But after a series of crosses and re-crosses, the result was a new type of spring wheat: short and stiff-strawed varieties that tillered profusely, produced more grain per head, and were less likely to lodge. The semi-dwarf Mexican wheat progeny began to be distributed nationally, and within seven years, average wheat yields in Mexico had doubled. By 1962, 10 years after Vogel first supplied seed of the Norin 10 semi-dwarf progeny to Borlaug, two high-yielding semi-dwarf Norin 10 derivatives, Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, were released for commercial production.

As the figure below indicates, these wheat varieties then led to a flow of other high-yielding wheat varieties, including Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo 64, two varieties that led to the Green Revolution in India, Pakistan and other countries, and Siete Cerros 66, which at its peak was grown on over 7 million hectares in the developing world. The most widely grown variety during this period was the very early maturing variety Sonalika, which is still grown in India today.

[Reproduced from Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine]

In the early 1960s South Asia was facing mass starvation and extreme food insecurity. To combat this challenge, scientists and governments in the region began assessing the value of Mexican semi-dwarf wheat varieties for their countries. Trials in India and Pakistan were convincing, producing high yields that offered the potential for a dramatic breakthrough in wheat production but only after agronomy practices were changed. Without these changes, the Green Revolution would never have taken off.

From left to right: Norman Borlaug, Mohan Kohli and Sanjaya Rajaram at Centro de Investigaciones Agricolas del Noreste (CIANO), Sonora, Mexico, in 1973. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Borlaug had sent a fewdozen seeds of his high-yielding, disease-resistant semi-dwarf wheat varieties to India to test their resistance to local rust strains. M.S. Swaminathan, a wheat cytogeneticist and advisor to the Indian Minister of Agriculture, immediately grasped their potential for Indian agriculture and wrote to Borlaug, inviting him to India. Soon after the unexpected invitation reached him, Borlaug boarded a Pan Am Boeing 707 to India.

To accelerate the potential of Borlaug’s wheat, in 1967 Pakistan imported about 42,000 tons of semi-dwarf wheat seed from Mexico, Turkey imported 22,000 tons and India 18,000 tons. At the time this was the largest seed purchase in the history of agriculture. Wheat yield improvement in both India and Pakistan was unlike anything seen before.

Fifty years on, we face new challenges, even though we have continued to make incremental increases to average yield. There is an ever-increasing demand for wheat from a growing worldwide population with changing dietary preferences. The world’s climate is changing; temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are becoming more common. Natural resources, especially ground water, are also being depleted; new crop diseases are emerging and yield increases are not keeping pace with demand.

Borlaug and his contemporaries kicked off the Green Revolution by combining semi-dwarf, rust resistant and photoperiod insensitive traits. Today, a new plan and commitment to achieving another quantum leap in wheat productivity are in place. The International Wheat Yield Partnership, an international public-private partnership, is exploiting the best wheat research worldwide to increase wheat yield potential by up to 50%. This one-of-a-kind initiative will transfer germplasm to leading breeding programs around the world.

Cover photo: Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

CIMMYT delegation meets with Turkey’s Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock

Written by on October 23, 2015. Posted in News.

Minister Kutbeddin Arzu presenting a traditional ceramic plate symbolizing wheat and fertility to CIMMYT DG Martin Kropff. Photo: Alexey Morgunov

In October CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff, BOT Chair John Snape, GWP Director Hans-Joachim Braun, and IWWIP Head Alex Morgunov were received by Minister Kutbeddin Arzu, who was accompanied by Masum Burak, Director General of Turkey’s General Directorate of Policy and Agricultural Research.

Turkey-CIMMYT bilateral relations hark back to the 1980s, with the establishment of the cooperative winter wheat program, which has been highly successful in the areas of germplasm development, research, and variety release. The Cooperative Soil-Borne Pathogen program established in the early 2000s produced practical outcomes and developed into a recognized leader in its field. Turkey, as host country and partner, contributed substantially to its success. The results of this bilateral cooperation were discussed during the meeting with Minister Arzu.

Both Turkey and CIMMYT are driven by food security concerns and both contribute to enhancing crop production through the application of new technologies. There is great potential for future collaboration targeting maize germplasm development, conservation agriculture, and socioeconomic research. Minister Arzu and the CIMMYT delegation agreed to develop the vision and concepts that will define their future collaboration.

India visit: Dr. Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT

Written by on October 9, 2015. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on India visit: Dr. Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT

Photos courtesy of Anu Raswant

From 28 September to 2 October, CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff visited different research sites in several states of India. The following reports detail his visit.

CIMMYT Emeritus Director General Dr. Tom Lumpkin receives prestigious 8^th MS Swaminathan Award

Dr. Tom Lumpkin receiving the M.S. Swaminathan Award from Dr. M.S. Swaminathan and Dr. Raj Paroda, Chair, Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT DG, attended the award ceremony.

Dr. Tom Lumpkin, former CIMMYT Director General, received 8^th MS Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture in a glittering ceremony organized by the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, on September 28. This year’s award was a special occasion as the award was presented by Dr. Swaminathan himself. The Award is conferred on individuals “who have done outstanding research work in the field of agriculture, animal sciences, and fisheries.” The first award was given in 2005 by the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel laureate who led the development and spread of high-yielding wheat varieties in the developing countries during 1960s and 70s, which culminated in Green Revolution that saved billions of people from starvation.

On this occasion, Dr. Lumpkin said, “I’m humbled and greatly honored by this award. Swaminathan and Borlaug were visionaries who worked together and made their case courageously to the political leaders to get appropriate technologies into farmers’ hands. We must do the same, if South Asia is to provide nutritious food for more than 1 billion people who will live here in 2050, without further degrading land or depleting groundwater.”

While addressing the gathering, Dr. Swaminathan praised the work of Dr. Lumpkin in strengthening wheat and maize research in India and lauded his efforts in establishing the Borlaug Institute for South Asia.

CIMMYT-India Office Inaugurated by Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT Director General, and CIMMYT Senior Management

CIMMYT DG inaugurating the renovated regional office of CIMMYT in India.

Dr. Martin Kropff, along with Drs. John Snape, Tom Lumpkin, Marianne Banziger, H.S. Gupta, Etienne Duvellier and B.S. Sidhu inaugurated the renovated CIMMYT-India office on September 30, 2015 by cutting a ribbon and unveiling a commemorative plaque. A large gathering of the staff from CG centers and ICAR along with Dr. S. Ayyappan, ICAR Director General, were present. Strategically located in the National Agricultural Science Center (NASC) complex, the renovated office can now accommodate 25 staff and has improved facilities. At the gathering, Kropff reiterated the importance of working as ‘One CIMMYT’ and ‘One CG’ to achieve food security in South Asia.

Visit to BISA Research Center at Ladhowal, Punjab

CIMMYT DG inaugurating the solar-powered micro-irrigation system at Ladhowal center of BISA.

CIMMYT DG Dr. Martin Kropf, accompanied by Drs. John Snape, Board Chair CIMMYT; Thomas A. Lumpkin, Ex-DG, CIMMYT; Marianne Banziger, DDG, CIMMYT, Etienne Duveiller, Director Research, CIMMYT-South Asia, and Dr. B.S. Sidhu, Commissioner, Agriculture, Punjab Government, visited BISA’s research center at Ladhowal on October 01, 2015. They were received by Dr. H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, and BISA staff members at the farm. They were taken around to see the research activities. The visiting team was impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities at the farm and the research work being conducted. Dr. Kropff and visiting dignitaries inaugurated a solar-powered micro-irrigation system installed with financial support from the Government of Punjab.

The visiting team evinced keen interest in the experiments on subsurface irrigation in the water-smart block where farmers can save 50-60% water without yield penalty. Kropff was pleased to learn that the latest technology in phenotyping in collaboration with Kansas State University is being used at BISA

DG CIMMYT with staff members of BISA at Ladhowal farm in Ludhiana

and that wheat lines with a 15-17% yield advantage have been selected and passed on to national partners under GWP. This will help increase the overall productivity of wheat in India in general and Punjab state in particular.

Dr. H.S. Sidhu, Senior agricultural engineer, showed various agricultural implements that have been developed at BISA center and have contributed to the adoption of conservation agriculture. Some of them are in great demand not only in India but in neighboring countries like Pakistan and many countries of Africa. At the end of the visit, a presentation summarized the development of Ladhowal farm since it was handed over to BISA. Dr. Kropff commented, “I am impressed with the facilities and high quality of research being conducted at BISA.”

Visit to Farmers’ Fields near BISA’s Ladhowal Center

CIMMYT DG Dr. Martin Kropff and Commissioner, Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, Dr. B.S. Sidhu interacting with farmers in a climate-smart village near Ladhowal.

During visit to BISA Research Center at Ladhowal, Dr. Martin Kropff, along with CIMMYT’s senior management team, visited farmers’ fields near Ladhowal village and talked with farmers about climate-smart agricultural practices. The farmers showed use of the Green Seeker in rice crop and briefed the team on the conservation agriculture practices adopted by them. Dr. B.S. Sidhu, Commissioner, agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, shared that Punjab Govt. subsidizes the purchase of the Green Seeker so that farmers are encouraged to buy this instrument and save nitrogen.

DG Martin Kropff and Senior Management Visit Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab

CIMMYT DG visiting rice fields with Dr. B.S. Dhillon, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Dr. Martin Kropff, along with Drs. John Snape, Tom Lumpkin, Marianne Banziger, H.S. Gupta, Etienne Duvellier, and B.S. Sidhu, visited Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, on October 1, 2015. He was received by the Vice Chancellor, Dr. B.S. Dhillon, who took the delegation around the farm and showed the research being conducted at this premiere university of India that was one of the major players in ushering the Green Revolution in India.

Directors of research and extension briefed the team on research on cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and horticultural crops. Dr. Kropff and members of the team showed keen interest in the quality research being pursued at the University.

Visit to Climate-Smart Villages in Haryana, India

CIMMYT DG visiting climate-smart villages in Karnal, Haryana, India.

Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT DG, visited the CIMMYT-CCAFS participatory strategic research and learning platform in Taraori, Haryana, along with Drs. John Snape, Board Chair CIMMYT, Dr. Thomas A. Lumpkin, former CIMMYT DG, Marianne Banziger, DDG, CIMMYT, H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, and Etienne Duveiller, Director of Research, CIMMYT-South Asia, on October 02, 2015. Dr. M.L. Jat, Senior Cropping System Agronomist and Coordinator of CCAFS South Asia, explained the research portfolio of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program in northwest India. He explained how layering of resource-efficient technologies can help in adaptation to frequent climate and biological changes under a particular set of agroecological conditions. During the visit to the climate-smart villages, the overall approach of developing, adapting, and scaling CSA through innovation and learning platforms in a participatory mode involving youth and women was highlighted. The portfolios of CSA interventions (water, energy, carbon, nutrient, weather and knowledge based) are chosen to suit local agroclimatic conditions and are being implemented through innovative partnerships with farmers and farmer cooperatives, to build resilience to climate change, and increase productivity and income. Dr. Martin Kropff sent a message to Dr. Bruce Campbell, CCAFS Director, saying:

“Dear Bruce, I just visited the climate-smart village project of M.L. Jat of CIMMYT in Haryana. Very impressive and a great enthusiasm with the farmers. Really exceptional work. I hope we can keep up the good work in the new phase of CCAFS.” In his immediate response, Bruce said, “Hi, Martin, I agree. It is great work.”

CIMMYT DG Martin Kropff and CIMMYT Senior Management Meet the Honorable Chief Minister, Government of Punjab

CIMMYT DG apprising the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. of Punjab, about the research activities undertaken at BISA Center in Ladhowal.

Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT DG, accompanied by Drs. John Snape, Board Chair; Thomas A. Lumpkin, former CIMMYT DG; Marianne Banziger, CIMMYT DDG, and H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, paid a courtesy visit on the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab Shri Parkash Singh Badal on October 02, 2015. Dr. Kropff apprised the Hon’ble Chief Minister about the infrastructure development and research activities going on at the Ladhowal center of BISA. The Chief Minister expressed keen interest in the activities of BISA and urged CIMMYT management to take the technology developed at BISA farm to farmers’ fields.

While thanking the team for sparing time to visit him, the Chief Minister promised full support to BISA and hoped that BISA will prove to be a milestone in heralding a second Green Revolution in India.

Visit to the Research Platform at CSSRI, Karnal, Haryana, India

CIMMYT DG visiting the research platform at ICAR’s Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana.

The team, comprised of Drs. Martin Kropff, DG, CIMMYT, John Snape, Board Chair CIMMYT, Thomas A. Lumpkin, former CIMMYT DG, Marianne Banziger, CIMMYT DDG, H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, and Etienne Duveiller, Director of Research, CIMMYT-South Asia, visited the CSSRI-CSISA Research Platform at Karnal, Haryana, on Oct. 2, 2015. Dr. D.K. Sharma, Director, ICAR-CSSRI, welcomed CIMMYT’s new DG and senior management and highlighted the CIMMYT/CSSRI partnership and how important it is in relation to salinity and food security under the emerging climate change scenario. He stressed sustainable intensification and climate-smart agriculture for efficient resource management to address issues such as soil quality, labor shortages, water, and energy in the current changing climate in Indian IGP. He suggested to Dr. Kropff that the research platform on sustainable intensification initiated under CSISA at CSSRI should be continued for the next few years through support from CIMMYT because this platform acts as a production observatory to monitor the long-term changes and helps to give future research direction. Dr. H.S. Jat, CIMMYT senior scientist and platform coordinator, explained the outputs of CIMMYT’s on-going research activities being carried out in collaboration with CSSRI, Karnal.

Myanmar and CIMMYT assess needs and joint maize and wheat research

Written by on February 23, 2015. Posted in News.

Aye Aye Win, Senior Researcher at Zaloke Research Farm in Mongwa, was the last CIMMYT GWP trainee from Myanmar in Mexico (2002) and is currently the only wheat breeder in the country. Photos: Fabiola Meza/CIMMYT

Given growing demand for maize and wheat in Myanmar and the increasing challenges to produce both crops, officials of the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s (MOAI) Department of Agricultural Research (DAR) and CIMMYT representatives met at DAR headquarters at Yezin during 24-27 January, to strengthen collaboration, with a focus on increasing farm productivity and training a new generation of Myanmar scientists.

Maize area, output and demand are growing with increased use of the grain in poultry and livestock feeds. Nine-tenths of the 450,000-hectare (ha) national maize area is rain-fed and grown with few inputs. It suffers from erratic precipitation among other things. Nearly one-third is sown to hybrid seed imported from Thailand. Small- and medium-scale local seed producers need stimulation and support.

Wheat is important for subsistence farmers in the eastern hills but also to meet the rising demand of a growing population with more urban inhabitants. National consumption yearly exceeds 0.5 million tons, only 0.18 million of which is produced in Myanmar (the rest is imported from Australia). Yields are low due to lack of inputs or new seed varieties. Farmers particularly need heat tolerant, rust resistant wheat varieties and resource-conserving cropping technologies.

CIMMYT germplasm and other support are crucial for both crops in the country, but interactions have grown less frequent. The last Myanmar maize researcher to participate in training courses in Mexico came in 1999; the last wheat trainee, in 2002.

Participating in discussions were Dr. Tin Htut, director general, MOAI Department of Agricultural Planning, and DAR senior staff including Dr. Ye Tint Tun, DAR director general and U. Thant Lwin Oo, director for Maize & Other Cereals, Oil Seeds and Legumes.

CIMMYT was represented by Thomas A. Lumpkin, director general; Etienne Duveiller, regional representative for Asia; and administrative assistant Fabiola Meza. In addition to taking part in high-level discussions, they visited Dr. Win Win New, Director of the Aung Ban Agricultural Research Farm and Maize Breeder who conducts maize and wheat trials in southern Shan State and accompanied the team for field tours.

Collaboration discussion with DAR officials in Yezin.

These interactions grew out of visits in 2014 to Myanmar by Duveiller and Dan Jeffers, a CIMMYT maize breeder based in Yunnan, China.

Opportunities to address Myanmar’s concerns include regional collaboration with CIMMYT maize research in Yunnan and Hyderabad and training at BISA farms in India, for conservation agriculture and small-scale mechanization. CIMMYT and DAR are developing an agreement to facilitate collaboration.

Scientists seal agreement to boost adaptability of wheat to climate change

Written by on December 9, 2014. Posted in Press releases.

climate change FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Frankfurt, Germany – December 9, 2014 – Wild ancestral relatives of wheat will play a key role in fortifying the world’s food supply as climate change warms the planet, according to a team of top scientists.

Heat and drought are already a major cause of wheat yield losses in both developing and developed countries, a situation that scientists predict will worsen due to warmer temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns caused by global climate change. Some of the potential risks were demonstrated in 2003, when farmers in France lost nearly a quarter of their crop due to an unusually hot growing season.

More than 100 plant scientists from 22 major wheat-growing countries in the global south and north, met last week to discuss an ambitious international plan to incorporate the most advanced genetic technologies into traditional plant breeding to improve heat and drought tolerance of wheat.

“Not only are the livelihoods of farmers at risk from climate change, but people living in some of the world’s most vulnerable areas could see entire food supplies wiped out with increasing frequency if we don’t act quickly to boost the resilience of wheat to heat waves and more extreme periods of drought,” said Matthew Reynolds, a distinguished scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who co-organized the three-day Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC) meeting.

“A new generation of plant screening and molecular technologies can speed up our capacity to transfer stress-tolerance traits into new wheat varieties. Wild relatives of wheat, which evolved in hot and dry places, will provide the crucial genes we need for crop improvement,” Reynolds added.

Findings in a report released earlier this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) state it is very likely that heat waves will occur more often and last longer throughout the 21^st century and rainfall will be more unpredictable.

Mean surface temperatures could potentially rise by between 2 to 5 degrees Celsius or more, despite efforts to limit the global rise in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius, the report said.

Wheat – a major staple crop, which provides 20 percent of calories consumed worldwide and is an important source of protein especially for poor consumers– is expected to be subject to dramatic increases in temperature and more variable and extreme precipitation, particularly in tropical and semi-tropical regions.

“The risks to food security will be highest for people living in vulnerable parts of Africa and Asia, but will affect the disadvantaged and low-income communities in every country,” Reynolds said.

Adaptation can play a key role in reducing potential socio-economic shocks caused by climate change.

HeDWIC, launched in 2014 by the Global Agricultural Research Partnership (CGIAR) Research Program on Wheat, is a multi-disciplinary, 15- to 20-year global partnership serving as a vehicle for plant scientists to address these food security challenges. In its initial stages, it will be funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, and attract support from other public and private sector donors.

The meeting was organized by CIMMYT, CGIAR’s lead research center for wheat, part of a global coalition that includes CGIAR’s International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and shares a mandate to deliver new wheat cultivars to resource-poor farmers. It was co-sponsored by Bayer CropScience, which has heavily invested in wheat breeding as part of its overall mission to provide agricultural technologies for professional farmers and growers.

Co-organizers of the event included the Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Germany’s Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants affiliated with the country’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and the international public-private Wheat Initiative coalition.

“The meeting was a good example of the private and public sectors working together to solve a common problem,” said Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program.

“We’ve laid the foundations for a successful research venture that will help farmers and many of the world’s most marginalized people living in some of the most difficult environmental conditions. From here, we’ll produce a comprehensive road map,” he said.

Representatives from international development and science funding agencies also attended the three-day meeting

Contacts:

Matthew Reynolds
Distinguished Scientist
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
Email: m.reynolds@cgiar.org

Julie Mollins
Wheat Communications Officer
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
Telephone: +52 (55) 5804 2004
Email: j.mollins@cgiar.org

Address:
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
Km. 45 Carretera México Veracruz
El Batán, Texcoco
Estado de México, C.P. 56237

About the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
CIMMYT, headquartered in El Batan, Mexico, is the global leader in research for development in wheat and maize and wheat- and maize-based farming systems. CIMMYT works throughout the developing world with hundreds of partners to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems to improve food security and livelihoods.

CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium and leads the Consortium Research Programs on Wheat and Maize. CIMMYT receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.
CIMMYT wheat research: http://staging.cimmyt.org/en/what-we-do/wheat-research
Additional links:

JKI: http://www.jki.bund.de/en

ICARDA: http://www.icarda.org/

CGIAR: http://www.cgiar.org/

Wheat: http://www.wheat.org

Bayer CropScience: http://www.cropscience.bayer.com/

Wheat Initiative: http://www.wheatinitiative.org/

IPCC: http://www.ipcc.ch

Updated Web Wheat Atlas 3.0 prioritizes user experience

Written by on November 21, 2014. Posted in Features.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Got a question about wheat? Whether you are a scientist, a researcher or simply interested in learning more about the vital staple crop that provides 20 percent of the world’s calories, the Wheat Atlas can help.

The online resource developed by the Global Wheat Program (GWP) at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) provides statistics on wheat production and trade, wheat varieties, production challenges and international wheat nurseries, which evaluate the suitability of wheat to diverse environments.

“Although the primary users are wheat scientists, we know from anecdotal evidence that donors and policymakers are also using it,” said Petr Kosina, who led the development and recent revamp of the interactive website.

The Wheat Atlas was the brainchild of Hans Braun, GWP director, he explained, adding that the project evolved into a collaboration involving Kosina, web master Paul Moncada, senior scientist David Hodson and Tom Payne, head of the Wheat Germplasm Bank, which stores seeds. CIMMYT’s Geographic Information Services team created maps.

Improvements include a redesign of site structure and navigation based on user trends observed in data provided by Google Analytics and a 2013 survey. The website now features daily wheat news on the homepage.

“The work is ongoing,” Kosina said. “We’re in continuous ‘beta mode’, improving the functionality of the site and user experience. For example, we’re developing an online submission form for users to input data on newly released wheat varieties and a wheat scientists’ ‘hall of fame’. Before the end of the year we’ll also improve data visualizations.”

The website provides up-to-date information on new wheat varieties being released worldwide, as well as data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the World Bank and the U.N. Development Programme.

Since the official launch of the Wheat Atlas in 2009, web traffic has increased to an average of 2,200 unique visitors a month, said Kosina, who works closely with webmaster Moncada.

“We’re very happy with recent access statistics, which have improved since the Search Engine Optimization we did earlier this year, but we need secure funding for bigger plans and development,” he said. “We need a new source of funding.”

The Wheat Atlas was supported until 2013 by the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project, which aims to reduce the devastating impact of stem rust disease on wheat, led by Cornell University.

The CIMMYT library has a large historic database of scientific publications with descriptions of new wheat varieties compiled over a 15-year time span, Kosina said.

“My dream is to consolidate this database with the Wheat Atlas and GRIS, the world’s largest database of wheat germplasm, with more than 160,000 accessions, and make it available online in the Wheat Atlas – this would be absolutely unique and smashing,” he added.

Every two years, the site managers gather information to provide a snapshot of the most important wheat varieties grown by farmers in developing countries, including acreage estimates. Mina Lantican in CIMMYT’s socio-economics program is conducting the 2014 review as part of an impact assessment study.