Tag: wheat breeding

Special issue on gender research in agriculture highlights CIMMYT’s work on gender inclusivity

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on September 28, 2022. Posted in Publications.

A new special issue on gender research in agriculture highlights nine influential papers published in the past three years on gender research on crop systems including maize.

The virtual special issue, published earlier this month in Outlook on Agriculture, features work by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) scientists on gender inclusivity in maize systems in Africa and South Asia.

In the Global South, women contribute substantial labor to agriculture but continue to face barriers in accessing agricultural resources, tools and technologies and making decisions on farms.

Combatting gender inequality is crucial for increasing agricultural productivity and reducing global hunger and poverty and should be a goal in and of itself. Evidence suggests that if women in the Global South had access to the same productive resources as men, farm yields could rise by up to 30 percent, increasing total agricultural output by up to 4 percent and decreasing the number of hungry people around the world by up to 17 percent.

The latest virtual special issue includes a review of existing research by CIMMYT gender experts, exploring issues and options in supporting gender inclusivity through maize breeding and the current evidence of differences in male and female farmers’ preferences for maize traits and varieties. The team also identified key research priorities to encourage more gender-intentional maize breeding, including innovative methods to assess farmer preferences and increased focus in intrahousehold decision-making dynamics.

The issue also features a study by CIMMYT and Rothamsted Research researchers on differences in preferred maize traits and farming practices among female and male farmers in southern Africa. The team found that female plot managers and household heads were more likely to use different maize varieties and several different farming practices to male plot managers and household heads. Incorporating farming practices used by female farmers into selection by maize breeding teams would provide an immediate entry point for gender-intentionality.

Also included is a recent paper by CIMMYT gender researchers which outlines the evidence base for wheat trait preferences and uptake of new farming technologies among male and female smallholder farmers in Ethiopia and India. The team highlight the need for wheat improvement programs in Ethiopia and India to include more gender-sensitive technology development, evaluation and dissemination, covering gender differences in wheat trait preferences, technology adoption and associated decision-making and land-use changes, as well as economic and nutritional benefits.

In a study carried out in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia, CIMMYT scientists investigated how changes in weed management practices to zero tillage – a method which minimizes soil disturbance – affect gender roles. The team found that switching to zero tillage did not increase the burden of roles and responsibilities to women and saved households valuable time on the farm. The scientists also found that both women and men’s knowledge of weed management practices were balanced, showing that zero tillage has potential as a gender inclusive farming practice for agricultural development.

Also featured in the special issue is a study by CIMMYT experts investigating gender relations across the maize value chain in rural Mozambique. The team found that men were mostly responsible for marketing maize and making decisions at both the farm level and higher levels of the value chain. The researchers also found that cultural restrictions and gender differences in accessing transport excluded women from participating in markets.

Finally, the collection features a study authored by researchers from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and CIMMYT exploring the interaction between labour outmigration, changing gender roles and their effects on maize systems in rural Nepal. The scientists found that the remittance incomes sent home by migrants and raising farm animals increased maize yields. They further found that when women spent more time doing household chores, rearing farm animals and engaging in community activities, maize yields suffered, although any losses were offset by remittance incomes.

Read the study: Virtual Special Issue: Importance of a gender focus in agricultural research for development

Cover photo: Women make up a substantial part of the global agriculture workforce, but their role is often limited. (Credit: Apollo Habtamu/ILRI)

A Chinese Wheat Breeder’s International Vision

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on September 13, 2022. Posted in In the media.

China is the largest global producer and consumer of wheat. The country’s breeders are developing high quality, high yield varieties, with resistance to the droughts and crop blights that have increased in frequency and spread due to climate change.

He Zhonghu, a research fellow with the Institute of Crop Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), is passionate about the power of international exchanges and cooperation for fueling agricultural development.

He is also director of the China office for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), introducing 20,000 samples of wheat seed sources to more than 25 institutions and contributing to the breeding of more than 80 new varieties.

Winner of BGRI Gene Stewardship Award announced

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on September 9, 2022. Posted in News.

This year’s Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Gene Stewardship Award recipients have been recognized for their innovative research tackling the global problem of wheat leaf rust.Led by Julio Huerta from the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), members of the award-winning team include:

Héctor Eduardo Villaseñor Mir (cereal breeder)
René Hortelano Santa Rosa (cereal breeder)
Eliel Martínez Cruz, (cereal chemist)
María Florencia Rodríguez García (cereal pathologist)
Ernesto Solís Moya (wheat breeder)
Jorge Iván Alvarado Padilla (wheat breeder)

The award recognizes the team’s long-term contribution to Mexican wheat cultivation and their efforts to expand impacts worldwide. They have released many varieties with resistance to leaf rust, which has led to the stabilization of the disease in bread wheat.

Presented annually, the award is bestowed upon a team of researchers serving a national breeding program or other nationally based institution. Winners receive an inscribed bronze statue of Norman Borlaug.

Huerta has been hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico since the late 1990s.

Julio Huerta, wheat pathologist and recipient of the BGRI Gene Stewardship Award 2022, giving a talk to students introducing CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program. (Credit: CIMMYT)

BGRI Technical Workshop

Receiving the prize at the 2022 BGRI Technical Workshop on September 9, Huerta said, “The award means a recognition from the global rust scientific community for the hard work (flesh, mind, soul and spirit) over the years, carried with many colleagues around the world to keep rust disease under control.”

Alison Bentley, director of the Global Wheat Program, also participated in the event with a presentation on the connection between conflict and vulnerability in global food systems. She explored reasons why wheat has been dramatically impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and summarized the proposed response agenda by CIMMYT.

Alison Bentley (right) and Martin Jones inspect wheat in a glasshouse. (Photo: Toby Smith/Gloknos)

How bad will we let the food crises get?

Written by Sarah Fernandes on August 15, 2022. Posted in Press releases.

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to degrade global food security, the Australian who leads the global effort on improving wheat production has set out the concrete actions needed by governments and investors to mitigate the food crisis, stabilise supply and transition to greater agrifood system resilience.

Alison Bentley leads the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the renowned research organisation from which more than 90 per cent of the wheat varieties grown in Australia can be traced. She will be addressing the Crawford Fund’s international conference Celebrating Agriculture for Development – Outcomes, Impacts and the Way Ahead this week in Parliament House, Canberra. The conference will also be addressed by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator The Hon, Murray Watt.

“The broad food security impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war highlight the fragility of the global food supply, but the war is only one of a multitude of problems that we’ll be facing for many years to come. Few will remain unaffected,” said Alison Bentley, who was the lead author in a recently published related article in Nature Food.

“More than 2.5 billion people worldwide consume wheat-based foods. We need to move beyond defining the problem to implementing practical actions to ensure stable food supply, safeguard the livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people and bring resilience to our global agrifood system, and we will all benefit,” she said.

“The first priority is to mitigate the immediate crisis by boosting wheat production by bundling existing agronomic and breeding improvements and sustainable farming practices, just as Australia and other wealthy countries are doing. This will reduce dependence on imported grain and fertilizer in poorer countries.”

“We have learned since the Green Revolution that this must be done within agro-ecological boundaries, with high-yielding disease-resistant wheat and by mainstreaming capacity for pest and disease monitoring. Importantly, we also need to address climate change, gender disparities, nutrition insufficiency and increase investment in agricultural research,” she concluded.

The Fund’s annual conference will bring together international and Australian specialists to look at the mutual benefit and impacts of investment in global food security and poverty alleviation, and consider the effects of emerging threats including climate change and changing geo-political conditions on agricultural production, food chains and the environment.

Other speakers include international affairs specialist Allan Gyngell, climate change and security specialist Robert Glasser and renowned international economist Phil Pardey.

Contact for enquiries
Cathy Reade – Director of Outreach
+61 413 575 934 crawford@crawfordfund.org
www.crawfordfund.org

All the powerpoints can be found on the website – you’ll find them linked to each speaker’s presentation title on the program page.

Achieving sixty years of wheat yield increase

Written by Celine Lim on August 10, 2022. Posted in Publications.

Achieving greater food security requires a continued increase in global wheat yields, which the developing world plays a central role in meeting. Newly published research covering 60 years of wheat yield trends in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico, provides insights into how farmers can increase yields to address this need.

By dividing the 60-year interval into three 20-year periods between 1960-2019 and correcting farm yield for the strong influence of inter-annual variation in January to March minimum temperature, scientists from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have taken steps towards advancing the sustainability of the Valley’s wheat cropping system by studying farm yield for the irrigated spring wheat production environment.

Total yield increase, corrected for temperature and CO2 rise, relative to average yield in each period, was 4.17%, 0.47%, and 1.59% p.a. for 1960–79, 1980–99, and 2000–19, respectively. The breeding component, estimated by the increase in the Varietal Yield Index in farmers’ fields, rose at 0.97%, 0.49%, and 0.71% p.a., respectively. The remaining yield change (3.16, -0.02%, and 0.87% p.a., respectively) comprised the net effect of improved crop management (agronomic progress), plus that of off-farm changes.

In the first period, off-farm developments were bolstered by strong government financial support whereas developments in the second period were hindered by the breakdown of the traditional smallholder land system and withdrawal of government support. The final period experienced better prices and improved access to technical advice.

Wheat is likely to continue playing a dominant role in the Yaqui Valley for the next 20-year period, especially from potential yield increase through breeding. However, closing the yield gap is becoming more challenging due to fluctuations in energy price, goals to achieve net zero CO2 and environmental signals. The biophysical sustainability of the Valley’s wheat cropping system requires urgent actions through better fertilizer management, greater cropping diversity, integrated management of biotic threats, acceptance of no-till, residue retention and controlled traffic.

Lessons from the Yaqui Valley bear importance for global wheat security given that without area increase and new technologies, food security will increasingly depend on developing countries.

Read the full publication here: Sixty years of irrigated wheat yield increase in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico: Past drivers, prospects and sustainability

Cover photo: Workers sowing wheat into sorghum residue. (Credit: CIMMYT)

Remembering Ephrame Havazvidi

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on June 17, 2022. Posted in News.

Ephrame Hazvidi. (Photo: The Herald, Zimbabwe)

We report with great sadness the death of Ephrame Havazvidi, who passed away on May 14, 2022.

Havazvidi was one of the world’s pioneering wheat breeders. He served on the Independent Steering Committee of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) from 2015 to 2021. He was a renowned seed and crop scientist of the wheat industry in Zimbabwe and the wider region and a frequent expert contributor to projects of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in the region.

WHEAT Independent Steering Committee chair John Porter said, “Ephrame will no longer be gracing us with his big beaming smile, bright eyes and gorgeous laughter. Ephrame was a unique person and did so much to promote food security in Zimbabwe. He always supported the WHEAT Independent Steering Committee and shared his pan-African perspective on wheat-based food security. It was a great pleasure to have had him on our team.”

“Ephrame was not only an outstanding partner of both CIMMYT’s maize and wheat programs, especially when it came to promoting drought-tolerant varieties, but first and foremost a lovely human being,” said Prasanna Boddupalli, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program.

Born in Masvingo District on 22 September 1954, Havazvidi held Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Philosophy and Bachelor’s degrees, all obtained from the University of Zimbabwe.

Before joining the University of Zimbabwe (then University of Rhodesia) in 1974 to 1976, he was among the top academic achievers at Berejena Mission in Chibi and Goromonzi High School for his Cambridge GCE “O” and “A” level studies respectively. Havazvidi also completed a year-long Executive Development program at the University of Zimbabwe and attended several management developments programs that include SMI.

Havazvidi began his career as a cotton agronomist at the Cotton Research Institute under the Zimbabwe Department of Research and Specialist Services in the then Ministry of Agriculture in Kadoma in 1977. He then joined Seed Co Limited, then Seed Coop, as a seed production research agronomist in 1980, where he pioneered research on maize seed production. Shortly thereafter, he became Seed Co’s principal wheat breeder between 1982 and 2011; as Seed Co breeder, Ephrame released 28 high-yielding wheat varieties that improved farmer productivity in Southern African countries. The varieties for irrigated areas helped to reduce Zimbabwe’s import burden at the time.

He also developed several high high-yielding maize inbred lines for Seed Co. Havazvidi has written several journal articles and presented at several high-level symposia and conferences locally and globally including for the CIMMYT-led Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), and HarvestPlus Pro Vitamin A projects.

In 2020, he was recognized as one of 20 most influential plant breeders by the Southern African Plant Breeding Association (SAPBA).

Hazvidi is survived by his wife Elizabeth, four children — Charles, Happines, Kennedy and Rumbi – and grandchildren.

2022 Excellence in International Service Award

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on June 13, 2022. Posted in News.

Scientist Pablo D Olivera Firpo has been awarded the Excellence in International Service Award by Advancing the Science of Plant Pathology (APS) for outstanding contributions to plant pathology by APS members for countries other than their own.

Firpo was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he received a BSc degree as an agronomy engineer in 1997 from the University of the Republic, College of Agronomy. His PhD degree in 2008 was from the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota (UMN). He began his career as a postdoctoral research associate with the Department of Plant Pathology and the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab, and then became a research assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UMN in 2017.

Firpo has been a vital member in the global cereal rust pathology community and contributed substantially to the fight against Ug99 and other virulent wheat stem rust races that have re-emerged around the world and pose serious threats to food security. Firpo’s contributions are not only within the realm of research of great impact, but also include training 79 scientists and facilitating the establishment of a world-class research group in Ethiopia. He has worked to improve international germplasm screening in Ethiopia. As a postdoctoral research associate, Firpo’s first assignment was to search for new sources of resistance to Ug99 in durum wheat, used for pasta, and related tetraploid wheat lines. That project took him to Ethiopia, where an international Ug99-screening nursery for durum wheat was established at Debre Zeit Research Center. He worked closely with researchers from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the International Maize and Wheat Research Center (CIMMYT) to improve the methodologies for screening and to provide hands-on training to researchers managing the international screening nursery. During a period of 10 years (from 2009 to 2019), he traveled to Ethiopia 21 times to evaluate stem rust reactions of US and international durum wheat germplasm and completed the screening of the entire durum collection (more than 8,000 accessions) from the USDA National Small Grains Collection.

Firpo’s research on sources and genetics of stem rust resistance led to discoveries of valuable genetic resistance in durum and other relatives of wheat. These sources of resistance have provided the needed diversity to ensure the development and sustainability of durable stem rust resistance.

With frequent epidemics and severe yield losses caused by stem rust in eastern Africa, establishing a functional rust pathology laboratory to support international screening, as well as to monitor and detect new virulences in the pathogen population, became a high priority for the international wheat research community. Utilizing the onground opportunities in Ethiopia, Firpo and his colleagues at the CDL and UMN enthusiastically participated in building up the rust pathology lab at the Ambo Plant Protection Center of EIAR. Firpo traveled to Ambo 11 times to provide hands-on training to staff and to develop cereal rust protocols to suit local conditions. He worked closely with colleagues at CDL, EIAR, and CIMMYT to secure and upgrade facilities, equipment and supplies to a standard that ensures reliable rust work will be carried out. As a result, the rust pathology lab at the Ambo Center became the only laboratory in eastern Africa, and one of a handful in the world, that can conduct high-quality race analysis of wheat stem rust samples and provide vital and necessary support for breeding global wheat varieties for rust resistance. Currently, the laboratory is playing a critical role in the global surveillance of the stem rust pathogen and supports wheat breeding efforts led by EIAR, CIMMYT, and the USDA.

Firpo has been passionate in supporting capacity building of human resources in Ethiopia and elsewhere. He has been eager to share his knowledge whenever he encounters an opportunity to do so. In addition to the direct training of the staff at the Ambo Center, Firpo accepted invitations to provide training lectures and hands-on field- and greenhouse-based workshops on rust pathology at three research centers in Ethiopia. He prepared training materials, delivered a total of 12 lectures and 10 practical sessions in three Ethiopia national workshops in 2014, 2015, and 2017. These workshops enhanced human resource development and technical capacity in Ethiopia in cereal rust pathology; participants included a total of 64 junior scientists and technical staff from nationwide research centers. Beyond Ethiopia, he was responsible for developing and implementing a six-week training program in cereal rust prevention and control for international scientists. This training program, under the aegis of the Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, provided an experiential learning opportunity for international scientists interested in acquiring knowledge and practical skills in all facets of working with cereal rusts. The program trained 15 rust pathologists and wheat scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, ranging from promising young scientists selected by the USDA as Borlaug Fellows to principal and senior scientists in their respective countries. Many of these trainees have become vital partners in the global surveillance network for cereal rusts.

Working in collaboration with CDL and international scientists, Firpo has been closely involved in global surveillance of the stem rust pathogen, spurred by monitoring the movements of, and detecting, new variants in the Ug99 race group. Since 2009, he and the team at the CDL have analyzed 2,500 stem rust samples from 22 countries, described over 35 new races, and identified significant virulence combinations that overcome stem rust resistance genes widely deployed in global wheat varieties. Among the most significant discoveries were the identification of active sexual populations of the stem rust pathogen in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Germany, and Spain that have unprecedented virulence and genetic diversities. More than 320 new virulent types (or races) were identified from these sexual populations. Evolution in these populations will present continued challenges to wheat breeding. Research in race analysis has provided valuable pathogen isolates that are used to evaluate breeding germplasm to select for resistant wheat varieties and to identify novel sources of stem rust resistance.

CIMMYT scientist recognized at the Day of the Farmer in Sonora

Written by Bea Ciordia on April 19, 2022. Posted in News.

On the 67^th Edition of the Day of the Farmer in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley, Jesús Larraguibele Artola, president of the Agricultural Research and Experimentation Board of the State of Sonora (PIEAES), publicly recognized the work and trajectory of Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

An Indian national, Singh first arrived to CIMMYT’s Experimental Station in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, in 1983, and has since developed 680 wheat varieties in 48 countries, including the Cirno and Borlaug varieties, grown in 98% of the Yaqui Valley’s wheat fields.

At the event, Larraguibele Artola also highlighted the importance of the legacy of Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, who saved the lives of billions of people from starvation with his improved wheat varieties. He also recalled how the first Day of the Farmer was organized by Borlaug back in 1948, when the American agronomist presented his first rust-resistant wheat varieties to farmers in the region. Over time, the event became a unique place for researchers and scientists in Sonora to increase collaboration with farmers and producers in the region and share their latest scientific advances.

Acknowledging the key role of new technologies and wheat varieties in tackling current and future agricultural challenges, Fátima Yolanda Rodríguez Mendoza, Secretary of Agriculture, Farming, Hydraulic Resources, Fishing and Aquaculture (SAGRHPA) of Sonora, reiterated the commitment of the governor, Alfonso Durazo Montaño, to invest in agricultural research to boost production and drive the growth of the region’s agrifood sector.

“We’ll continue to invest in research and innovation and support scientists, who put their knowledge at the service of the people of Sonora”, she promised.

Read the original article: Día del Agricultor: permanente cambio y continua investigación

A researcher from Bangladesh shows blast infected wheat spikes and explains how the disease directly attacks the grain. (Photo: Chris Knight/Cornell University)

New publications: Genome-wide breeding to curtail wheat blast

Written by Mike Listman on January 25, 2022. Posted in Publications.

A recent publication in the journal Frontiers of Plant Science provides results of the first-ever study to test genomic selection in breeding for resistance to wheat blast, a deadly disease caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae that is spreading from its origin in Brazil to threaten wheat crops in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Genomic selection identifies individual plants based on the information from molecular markers, DNA signposts for genes of interest, that are distributed densely throughout the wheat genome. For wheat blast, the results can help predict which wheat lines hold promise as providers of blast resistance for future crosses and those that can be advanced to the next generation after selection.

In this study, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and partners evaluated genomic selection by combining genotypic data with extensive and precise field data on wheat blast responses for three sets of genetically diverse wheat lines and varieties, more than 700 in all, grown by partners at locations in Bangladesh and Bolivia over several crop cycles.

The study also compared the use of a small number of molecular markers linked to the 2NS translocation, a chromosome segment from the grass species Aegilops ventricosa that was introduced into wheat in the 1980s and is a strong and stable source of blast resistance, with predictions using thousands of genome-wide markers. The outcome confirms that, in environments where wheat blast resistance is determined by the 2NS translocation, genotyping using one-to-few markers tagging the translocation is enough to predict the blast response of wheat lines.

Finally, the authors found that selection based on a few wheat blast-associated molecular markers retained 89% of lines that were also selected using field performance data, and discarded 92% of those that were discarded based on field performance data. Thus, both marker-assisted selection and genomic selection offer viable alternatives to the slower and more expensive field screening of many thousands of wheat lines in hot-spot locations for the disease, particularly at early stages of breeding, and can speed the development of blast-resistant wheat varieties.

Read the full study:
Genomic Selection for Wheat Blast in a Diversity Panel, Breeding Panel and Full-Sibs Panel

The research was conducted by scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), the Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria y Forestal (INIAF) of Bolivia, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in India, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Alnarp), and Kansas State University in the USA. Funding for the study was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office of the United Kingdom, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Swedish Research Council, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Cover photo: A researcher from Bangladesh shows blast infected wheat spikes and explains how the disease directly attacks the grain. (Photo: Chris Knight/Cornell University)

A decade of world-leading maize and wheat research

Written by Bea Ciordia on December 1, 2021. Posted in Features.

For over a decade, the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE) and Wheat (WHEAT) have been at the forefront of research-for-development benefiting maize and wheat farmers in the Global South, especially those most vulnerable to the shocks of a changing climate.

From 2012 to 2021, MAIZE has focused on doubling maize productivity and increasing incomes and livelihood opportunities from sustainable maize-based farming systems. Through MAIZE, scientists released over 650 elite, high-yielding maize varieties stacked with climate adaptive, nutrition enhancing, and pest and disease resistant traits.

The WHEAT program has worked to improve sustainable production and incomes for wheat farmers, especially smallholders, through collaboration, cutting-edge science and field-level research. Jointly with partners, WHEAT scientists released 880 high-yielding, disease- and pest-resistant, climate-resilient and nutritious varieties in 59 countries over the life of the program.

To document and share this legacy, the MAIZE and WHEAT websites have been redesigned to highlight the accomplishments of the programs and to capture their impact across the five main CGIAR Impact Areas: nutrition, poverty, gender, climate and the environment.

We invite you to visit these visually rich, sites to view the global impact of MAIZE and WHEAT, and how this essential work will continue in the future.

The new MAIZE legacy website (left) and WHEAT legacy website launched today.

A visual celebration in Mexico City

CIMMYT’s relationship with Mexico is one of a kind: in addition to being the birthplace of the wheat innovations that led to the Green Revolution and the founding of CGIAR, Mexico is also where maize originated thousands of years ago, becoming an emblem of the country’s economy and identity.

Honoring this longstanding connection and celebrating Mexico’s key contribution to global wheat and maize production, Mexico City will host a photo exhibition from December 1, 2021, to January 15, 2022, in the Open Galleries Lateral, located on Paseo de la Reforma, one of city’s most iconic promenades.

Titled “Maize and Wheat Research in Focus: Celebrating a Decade of Research for Sustainable Agricultural Development Under the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat,” the exhibition illustrates the impact of MAIZE and WHEAT over the last ten years. The selection of photographs documents the challenges faced by maize and wheat smallholders in different regions, and showcases innovative interventions made by national and regional stakeholders worldwide.

From pathbreaking breeding research on climate-smart varieties to helping farming families raise their incomes, the photos — taken by CGIAR photographers before the COVID-19 pandemic — capture both the breadth of the challenges facing our global agri-food systems and the spirit of innovation and cooperation to meet them head on.

Don’t miss the chance to visit the exhibition if you are in Mexico City!

The photo exhibition “Maize and Wheat Research in Focus: Celebrating a Decade of Research for Sustainable Agricultural Development Under the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat” will be on display in Mexico City until January 15, 2022. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Singh receives lifetime award for wheat breeding successes

Written by Bea Ciordia on November 11, 2021. Posted in In the media.

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 agriculture’s oldest and most devastating diseases.

Managing stresses the key to better wheat varieties for all

Written by Bea Ciordia on November 1, 2021. Posted in In the media.

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.

A field worker removes the male flower of a wheat spike, as part of controlled pollination in breeding. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT Joins the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on October 21, 2021. Posted in Press releases.

The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) is pleased to announce that the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), has joined the organization as a sponsoring partner.

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 today’s challenges – 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 world’s most important cereal grains: maize and wheat, and related cropping systems and livelihoods. CIMMYT’s 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.

CIMMYT’s 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.

“I 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,” 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.

“CIMMYT is a leading force in developing wheat varieties for southern countries,” said Kellye Eversole, Executive Director of the IWGSC. “We 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.”

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 “platinum-quality” 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.

Aussie drives global research that underpins Australian wheat industry

Written by Bea Ciordia on October 13, 2021. Posted in In the media.

Alison Bentley spoke with Grain Central about CIMMYT’s breeding strategy and the use of CIMMYT germplasm in the Australian wheat-growing industry.

A CIMMYT researcher and a field worker lay out wheat seed for planting at the center's headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico. In experimental trials, hundreds or thousands of wheat lines are planted for evaluation, each in small quantities, and so they are carefully laid out and sown by hand. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Multi-trait genomic-enabled prediction enhances accuracy in multi-year wheat breeding trials

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on September 15, 2021. Posted in News.

To help feed a growing world population, wheat scientists have turned to innovative technologies like genomic selection to hasten selection for positive traits — such as high grain yield performance and good grain quality — in varieties that are still undergoing testing. Instead of being shackled by the long duration of traditional breeding cycles, genomic selection allows scientists to make predictions regarding which traits will present when crossing two varieties; allowing breeders greater guidance and lessening potential time lost when crossing varieties that do not display potential for genetic gain. To reap the benefits of genomic selection, it is vital that the predictive models employed are as accurate as possible.

Currently, wheat breeders select characteristics like grain yield performance early in the breeding process, while selecting traits like good grain quality at a later stage in the breeding process.

In an article in the journal G3 Genes, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and partners, led by CIMMYT scientist José Crossa along with Leonardo A. Crespo, Maria Itria Ibba and Alison R. Bentley, endeavored to determine if genomic prediction models could select for both characteristics simultaneously in the breeding process. This would improve selection accuracy in both early and later breeding stages, resulting a reduction in time and expense in delivering improved wheat varieties. They also tested the accuracy of a set of specific mathematical corrections applied to genomic predictions. These correction models identify correlations between genomic predictions and observed breeding values, such as increased yield or grain quality.

Considering two or more traits, like grain yield and good grain quality, is an example of a multi-trait model. The team examined this multi-trait model against a single trait model that improves one specific trait. Overall, the researchers found that prediction performance was highest using the multi-trait model.

However, the team also demonstrated that when breeding programs arrive at their genetic predictions, applying a specific correction method will account for differences between the predicted breeding value and the actual observed breeding value. Current correction models tend to underestimate that difference, which results in breeding programs not running as efficiently as possible.

By partnering selections from different stages in the breeding process and examining the resulting genetic predictions through a more appropriate correction model, the team has shown that breeding programs can use this to their benefit in developing and ultimately releasing improved wheat varieties that meet growing yield needs worldwide and respond to abiotic and biotic stressors.