Tag: wheat yield

A generalized wiring diagram for wheat, as proposed by the authors. The diagram depicts the traits most commonly associated with the source (left) and sink (right) strengths and others that impact both the sink and source, largely dependent on growth stage (middle). TGW, thousand grain weight.

Diagram links physiological traits of wheat for yield potential

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on May 25, 2022. Posted in Press releases.

As crop yields are pushed closer to biophysical limits, achieving yield gains becomes increasingly challenging. Traditionally, scientists have worked on the premise that crop yield is a function of photosynthesis (source), the investment of assimilates into reproductive organs (sinks) and the underlying processes that enable and connect the expression of both. Although the original source-and-sink model remains valid, it must embrace more complexity, as scientific understanding improves.

A group of international researchers are proposing a new wiring diagram to show the interrelationships of the physiological traits that impact wheat yield potential, published on Nature Food. By illustrating these linkages, it shows connections among traits that may not have been apparent, which could serve as a decision support tool for crop scientists. The wiring diagram can inform new research hypotheses and breeding decisions, as well as research investment areas.

The diagram can also serve as a platform onto which new empirical data are routinely mapped and new concepts added, thereby creating an ever-richer common point of reference for refining models in the future.

“If routinely updated, the wiring diagram could lead to a paradigm change in the way we approach breeding for yield and targeting translational research,” said Matthew Reynolds, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Wheat Physiology at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and lead author of the study. “While focused on yield potential, the tool can be readily adapted to address climate resilience in a range of crops besides wheat.”

Breeding milestone

The new wiring diagram represents a milestone in deterministic plant breeding. It dovetails simpler models with crop simulation models.

It takes into account how source and sink strengths may interact with wheat developmental stages to determine yield. For example, at the time of stem growth, spike growth or effective grain filling.

This diagram can be used to illustrate the relative importance of specific connections among traits in their appropriate phenological context and to highlight major gaps in knowledge. This graphical representation can also serve as a roadmap to prioritize research at other levels of integration, such as metabolomic or gene expression studies. The wiring diagram can be deployed to identify ways for improving elite breeding material and to explore untapped genetic resources for unique traits and alleles.

Yield for climate resilience

The wheat scientific community is hard at work seeking new ways to get higher yields more quickly to help the world cope with population growth, climate change, wars and stable supplies of calories and protein.

“To ensure food and nutritional security in the future, raising yields must be an integral component of making crops more climate-resilient. This new tool can serve as a roadmap to design the necessary strategies to achieve these goals,” said Jeff Gwyn, Program Director of the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP).

— ENDS —

READ THE FULL PUBLICATION:

A wiring-diagram to integrate physiological traits of wheat yield potential

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:

Matthew Reynolds – Distinguished Scientist and Head of Wheat Physiology at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

Gustavo Ariel Slafer – Research Professor at the Catalonian Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and Associate Professor of the University of Lleida

For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact the CIMMYT media team:

Marcia MacNeil and Rodrigo Ordóñez: https://staging.cimmyt.org/media-center/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The study is an international collaboration of scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Catalonian Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), the Center for Research in Agrotechnology (AGROTECNIO), the University of Lleida, the University of Nottingham, the John Innes Centre, Lancaster University, Technische Universität München, CSIRO Agriculture & Food, and the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP).

ABOUT CIMMYT:

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is an international organization focused on non-profit agricultural research and training that empowers farmers through science and innovation to nourish the world in the midst of a climate crisis.

Applying high-quality science and strong partnerships, CIMMYT works to achieve a world with healthier and more prosperous people, free from global food crises and with more resilient agri-food systems. CIMMYT’s research brings enhanced productivity and better profits to farmers, mitigates the effects of the climate crisis, and reduces the environmental impact of agriculture.

CIMMYT is a member of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources.

For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.

ABOUT IWYP:

The International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) represents a long-term global endeavor that utilizes a collaborative approach to bring together funding from public and private research organizations from a large number of countries. Over the first five years, the growing list of partners aims to invest up to US$100 million.

For more information, visit https://iwyp.org

Wheat leaves showing symptoms of heat stress. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Wheat versus heat

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on May 20, 2022. Posted in Blogs.

Across South Asia, including major wheat-producing regions of India and Pakistan, temperature extremes are threatening wheat production. Heatwaves have been reported throughout the region, with a century record for early onset of extreme heat. Monthly average temperatures across India for March and April 2022 exceeded those recorded over the past 100 years.

Widely recognized as one of the major breadbaskets of the world, the Indo-Gangetic Plains region produces over 100 million tons of wheat annually, from 30 million hectares in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, primarily supporting large domestic demand.

The optimal window for wheat planting is the first half of November. The late onset of the 2021 summer monsoon delayed rice planting and its subsequent harvest in the fall. This had a knock-on effect, delaying wheat planting by one to two weeks and increasing the risk of late season heat stress in March and April. Record-high temperatures over 40⁰C were observed on several days in March 2022 in the Punjabs of India and Pakistan as well as in the state of Haryana, causing wheat to mature about two weeks earlier than usual.

In-season changes and effects

Prior to the onset of extreme heat, the weather in the current season in India was favorable, prompting the Government of India to predict a record-high wheat harvest of 111 million tons. The March heat stress was unexpected and appears to have had a significant effect on the wheat crop, advancing the harvest and likely reducing yields.

Departure of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) during the period from March 22 to April 7 from the average of the previous five years. The NDVI is a measure of the leaf area and the greenness of vegetation. The yellow areas in the Punjabs of India and Pakistan, as well as in the state of Haryana, indicate that wheat matured earlier than normal due to elevated temperatures. Maximum temperatures reached 40⁰C on March 15 and remained at or above this level throughout the wheat harvesting period. (Map: Urs Schulthess/CIMMYT).

In the North-Western Plains, the major wheat basket of India, the area of late-sown wheat is likely to have been most affected even though many varieties carry heat tolerance. Data from CIMMYT’s on-farm experiments show a yield loss between 15 to 20% in that region. The states of Haryana and Punjab together contribute almost 30% of India’s total wheat production and notably contribute over 60% of the government’s buffer stocks. In the North-Eastern Plains, in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, around 40% of the wheat crop was normal or even early sown, escaping heat damage, whilst the remainder of late-sown wheat is likely to be impacted at a variable level, as most of the crop in this zone matures during the third and fourth week of March.

The Government of India has now revised wheat production estimates, with a reduction of 5.7%, to 105 million tons because of the early onset of summer.

India has reported record yields for the past 5 years, helping it to meet its goal of creating a reserve stock of 40 million tons of wheat after the 2021 harvest. It went into this harvest season with a stock of 19 million tons, and the country is in a good position to face this year’s yield loss.

In Pakistan, using satellite-based crop monitoring systems, the national space agency Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SPARCO) estimated wheat production reduction close to 10%: 26 million tons, compared to the production target of 29 million tons, for the 2021-22 season.

Rural and farming health impacts

Alongside a direct negative impact on agricultural productivity, the extreme temperatures in South Asia are likely to have negative health implications for the large rural labor force involved in wheat production. There is a growing body of evidence documenting declining health status in the agricultural workforce in areas of frequent temperature extremes. This also adds to the substantial human and environmental health concerns linked to residue burning.

We recommend that systematic research be urgently undertaken to characterize and understand the impacts of elevated temperatures on the health of field-based workers involved in wheat production. This is needed to develop a holistic strategy for adapting our global cropping systems to climate change.

Amplifying wheat supply risks

Combined with the wheat supply and price impacts of the current conflict in Ukraine and trade restrictions on Russian commodities, these further impacts on the global wheat supply are deeply troubling.

India had pledged to provide increased wheat exports to bolster global supplies, but this now looks uncertain given the necessity to safeguard domestic supplies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government supported domestic food security by providing free rations — mainly wheat and rice — to 800 million people over several months. This type of support relies on the availability of large buffer stocks which appear stable, but may be reduced if grain production and subsequent procurement levels are lower than desired.

We are already seeing indications of reduced procurement by governments with market prices running higher than usual. However, although the Food Corporation of India has procured 27% less wheat grain in the first 20 days of the wheat procurement season compared to the same period last year, the Government of India is confident about securing sufficient wheat buffer stocks.

As with the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, it is likely that the most marked effects of both climate change and shortages of staple crops will hit the poorest and most vulnerable communities hardest.

A chain reaction of climate impacts

The real impacts of reduced wheat production due to extreme temperatures in South Asia demonstrate the realities of the climate emergency facing wheat and agricultural production. Direct impacts on farming community health must also be considered, as our agricultural workforce is pushed to new physical limits.

Anomalies, which are likely to become the new normal, can set off a chain reaction as seen here: the late onset of the summer monsoon caused delays in the sowing of rice and the subsequent wheat crop. The delayed wheat crop was hit by the unprecedented heatwave in mid- to late March at a relatively earlier stage, thus causing even more damage.

Preparing for wheat production tipping points

Urgent action is required to develop applied mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as to plan for transition and tipping points when key staple crops such as wheat can no longer be grown in traditional production regions.

A strategic design process is needed, supported by crop and climate models, to develop and test packages of applied solutions for near-future climate changes. On-farm evidence from many farmers’ fields in Northwestern India indicates that bundled solutions — no-till direct seeding with surface retention of crop residues coupled with early seeding of adapted varieties of wheat with juvenile heat tolerance — can help to buffer terminal heat stress and limit yield losses.

Last but not least, breeding wheat for high-temperature tolerance will continue to be crucial for securing production. Strategic planning needs to also encompass the associated social, market and political elements which underpin equitable food supply and stability.

Download the pre-print:
Wheat vs. Heat: Current temperature extremes threaten wheat production in South Asia

At the launch event, workshop participants reviewed the ADAPT-Wheat project’s objectives, outputs, activities, impact pathways, partners and management. (Photo: Enawgaw Sisay/CIMMYT)

Workshop introduces new wheat farmer support project in Ethiopia

Written by Enawgaw Sisay on October 26, 2021. Posted in News.

The Adaptation, Demonstration, and Piloting of Wheat Technologies for Irrigated Lowlands of Ethiopia (ADAPT-Wheat) project was launched on October 19, 2021, with an inception workshop held in Adama, Ethiopia.

The project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), aims to transform the irrigated lowlands of Ethiopia’s Awash valley from a cotton monoculture to a cotton-wheat rotation. This transformation will improve local wheat production and make important strides towards helping the country reach its goal of wheat self-sufficiency.

Wheat is the second most important staple crop in Ethiopia and a major pillar for food security. CIMMYT has a longstanding role in helping Ethiopia’s wheat farmers adopt improved, high-yielding, and disease-resistant varieties. This close collaboration became evident in 2018, when DNA fingerprinting analysis showed that 87% of all wheat varieties grown in Ethiopia are CIMMYT-derived.

Thanks to improved farmer access to better varieties, the adoption of a number of agronomic practice recommendations, conducive marketing, and strong supply chains, domestic wheat production and productivity in Ethiopia have nearly doubled over the past 15 years. Nevertheless, due to population growth, higher incomes, and accelerated urbanization, the demand for wheat in Ethiopia is increasing faster than productivity.

Scientists believe wheat grain yields of four tons per hectare are possible in low land areas—which include the Afar and Oromia regions—if wheat production is increased through appropriate mechanization, proven agronomic practices, and high-yielding, early-maturing, heat-tolerant, rust-resistant wheat varieties.

When the three-year ADAPT-Wheat project is fully implemented, it will contribute to Ethiopia’s goal for wheat self-sufficiency by 2023.

Participants in the ADAPT-Wheat workshop record their attendance (Photo: Enawgaw Sisay/CIMMYT)

A space for discussion

At the launch event, participants gathered to share feedback and experiences, identify gaps, and clarify roles and responsibilities among the implementing partners. The meeting also allowed project leaders to confirm participating kebeles (small administrative units), and plan and endorse project activities.

“The forum was a good opportunity to speak about irrigated wheat, get to know each other, and understand the role of each office and its contribution to the success of the project,” said Bekele Abeyo, wheat breeder and CIMMYT’s Country Representative for Ethiopia.

Participants in the workshop included scientists from a number of Ethiopian research institutes, representatives of public and private seed enterprises, heads of bureaus of Agriculture (including those of the Afar and Oromia regions), and local administrations, and representatives of Germany’s Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The discussion included an introduction of CIMMYT and an overview of its global impact, history, and current activities in Ethiopia. An overview of the ADAPT-Wheat project’s objectives, outputs, activities, impact pathways, partners and management was also presented in the forum.

Participants also discussed the key agronomy, breeding, and mechanization activities that will be assessed, validated, scaled up, and scaled out during the project in seven districts, two in the Afar region and five in the Oromia region.

“The inception and planning workshop has a common understanding on how to tackle the bottlenecks ahead of the implementation of the project. The forum was a good opportunity for implementing partners to make a commitment for the new project by realizing the contribution of lowland irrigated wheat in achieving the goal of wheat self-sufficiency by 2023,” Bekele said.

Gyanendra Pratap Singh (center), Director of ICAR-IIWBR, presents at the 60th All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Meet. (Photo: Courtesy of ICAR-IIWBR)

CIMMYT scientists join 60^th All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Meet

Written by Madeline Dahm on September 10, 2021. Posted in News.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) legacy of work with the Indian Centre for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has once again produced more successful collaborations this year. This solid partnership resulted in the release of new varieties poised to bring new, superior yielding, disease-resistant, high-quality wheat varieties suitable for different production environments to Indian farms.

The National Variety Release Committee announced the release of nine new varieties at the 60^th All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Virtual Meet on August 23–24, 2021, hosted by the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) of ICAR. Of the nine new varieties identified, five were selected by national partners from CIMMYT international trials and nurseries.

At the event, ICAR-IIWBR director Gyanendra Pratap (GP) Singh highlighted the impressive growth trajectory of India’s wheat production, estimated at 109.52 million tons of wheat harvested in 2021, a figure which was 86.53 million tons in 2015 and less than 60 million tons in 1991. Singh highlighted that this success is dependent upon the deployment of superior wheat varieties, bridging yield and information gaps, strengthened seed value chain, supportive government policies and, of course, farmer support to adopt new varieties and technologies.

The CIMMYT-derived varieties announced at the meeting include DBW296, DBW327, DBW332, HUW296 and JKW261. A few days earlier, variety PBW869 was released by the Punjab Agricultural University for growing in Punjab State under conservation agriculture practices.

“An innovative and powerful feature of ICAR-CIMMYT collaboration has been the introduction of long-term (10-month) rotational involvement of Indian young scientists in CIMMYTs breeding program at Mexico as well as in wheat blast screening in Bolivia,” said Arun Joshi, CIMMYT Regional Representative for Asia and Managing Director, Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA). “In this way, the breeding program of CIMMYT is an excellent example of joint breeding program with national institutions.”

At the 60th All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Meet, participants highlighted new varieties, production growth and strengthened collaboration. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Beyond expectations

In addition to these important new wheat varieties, some CIMMYT-derived wheat varieties that were released in recent years have now been deemed suitable for regions beyond their initial region of cultivation, showing wide adaptation and yield stability.

Wheat variety DBW222, released in 2020 for the northwestern plain zone, has now been deemed suitable for cultivation in the northeastern plain zone. Similarly, DBW187, which was initially released for the northeastern plain zone, and then for northwestern plain zone as well for early sowing, is now also extended for sowing in the central zone, together representing 25 million hectares of the 31 million hectares of wheat grown in India.

“Farmers prefer these types of varieties that give them flexibility during sowing time, and have high, stable yields, and disease resistance,” GP Singh said at the meeting.

A major achievement discussed at this year’s event was that three of the new varieties — DBW187, DBW303 and DBW222 — achieved record-high demand in Breeders Seed Indent, with first, second and seventh ranks, respectively. This is a reflection and indirect measure of popularity and demand for a variety. IIWBR’s innovative strategy to implement pre-release seed multiplication and create demand for seeds from new varieties has led to a faster turnover of improved varieties.

According to Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement at CIMMYT, the collaborators are “further expanding our partnership through the support from the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) and zinc-mainstreaming projects, to expand testing of larger sets of elite lines in targeted populations of environments of the four South Asian countries where various IIBWR-affiliated institutions shall expand testing in the 2021–22 crop season.” CIMMYT looks forward to continuing ongoing and new collaborations with the ICAR-IIWBR programs to deliver even faster genetic gain for yield and grain zinc levels in new varieties, he explained.

Speaking during the meeting Alison Bentley, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, highlighted the collaborative efforts underway as part of the AGG project to accelerate breeding progress. “Innovations and discoveries in breeding approaches are being rapidly made — with further investment needed — to quickly and equitably accumulate and deploy them to farmers,” she said.

Wheat stalks grow in a in India. (Photo: Saad Akhtar)

A challenge solved

Written by Emma Orchardson on May 25, 2021. Posted in News.

For scientists, determining how best to increase wheat yields to meet food demand is a persistent challenge, particularly as the trend toward sustainably intensifying production on agricultural lands grows.

The United Nations projects that the current global population of 7.6 billion will increase to more than 9.8 billion by 2050, making higher grain yield potential vital, particularly as climate instability increases due to global warming. International efforts are also focused on meeting the Zero Hunger target detailed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals before they expire in 2030.

Now, a new landmark research survey on the grain yield potential and climate-resilience of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has brought scientists a few strides closer to meeting their ambitions.

Grain yield has traditionally been an elusive trait in genomic wheat breeding because of its quantitative genetic control, which means that it is controlled by many genomic regions with small effects.

Challenges also include a lack of good understanding about the genetic basis of grain yield, inconsistent grain yield quantitative trait loci identified in different environments, low heritability of grain yield across environments and environment interactions of grain yield.

To dissect the genetic architecture of wheat grain yield for the purposes of the research, which appeared in Scientific Reports, researchers implemented a large-scale genome-wide association study based on 100 datasets and 105,000 grain yield observations from 55,568 wheat breeding lines developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

They evaluated the lines between 2003 and 2019 in different sites, years, planting systems, irrigation systems and abiotic stresses at CIMMYT’s primary yield testing site, the Norman E. Borlaug Experimental Research Station, Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, and in an additional eight countries — including Afghanistan, India and Myanmar — through partnerships with national programs.

The researchers also generated the grain-yield associated marker profiles and analyzed the grain-yield favorable allele frequencies for a large panel of 73,142 wheat lines, resulting in 44.5 million data points. The marker profiles indicated that the CIMMYT global wheat germplasm is rich in grain yield favorable alleles and is a trove for breeders to choose parents and design strategic crosses based on complementary grain yield alleles at desired loci.

“By dissecting the genetic basis of the elusive grain-yield trait, the resources presented in our study provide great opportunities to accelerate genomic breeding for high-yielding and climate-resilient wheat varieties, which is a major objective of the Accelerating Genetic Gain in Maize and Wheat project,” said CIMMYT wheat breeder Philomin Juliana.

“This study is unique and the largest-of-its-kind focusing on elucidating the genetic architecture of wheat grain yield,” she explained, “a highly complex and economically important trait that will have great implications on future diagnostic marker development, gene discovery, marker-assisted selection and genomic-breeding in wheat.”

Currently, crop breeding methods and agronomic management put annual productivity increases at 1.2% a year, but to ensure food security for future generations, productivity should be at 2.4% a year.

So, the extensive datasets and results presented in this study are expected to provide a framework for breeders to design effective strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change, while ensuring food-sustainability and security.

Scientist boosted global wheat yield with disease-resistant varieties

Written by Bea Ciordia on March 3, 2021. Posted in In the media.

Sanjaya Rajaram, a University of Sydney alumnus recognized with the World Food Prize, was a world-renowned wheat breeder and scientist. One of the world’s leading food scientists, he died on February 17 from COVID-19 in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico.

Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Retrospective quantitative genetic analysis and genomic prediction of global wheat yields

Written by Marcia MacNeil on September 17, 2020. Posted in Publications.

The process for breeding for grain yield in bread wheat at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) involves three-stage testing at an experimental station in the desert environment of Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley. Because the conditions in Obregón are extremely favorable, CIMMYT wheat breeders are able to replicate growing environments all over the world and test the yield potential and climate-resilience of wheat varieties for every major global wheat growing area. These replicated test areas in Obregón are known as selection environments (SEs).

This process has its roots in the innovative work of wheat breeder and Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug, more than 50 years ago. Wheat scientists at CIMMYT, led by wheat breeder Philomin Juliana, wanted to see if it remained effective.

The scientists conducted a large quantitative genetics study comparing the grain yield performance of lines in the Obregón SEs with that of lines in target growing sites throughout the world. They based their comparison on data from two major wheat trials: the South Asia Bread Wheat Genomic Prediction Yield Trials in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development Feed the Future initiative and the global testing environments of the Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trials.

The findings, published in Retrospective Quantitative Genetic Analysis and Genomic Prediction of Global Wheat Yields, in Frontiers in Plant Science, found that the Obregón yield testing process in different SEs is very efficient in developing high-yielding and resilient wheat lines for target sites.

The authors found higher average heritabilities, or trait variations due to genetic differences, for grain yield in the Obregón SEs than in the target sites (44.2 and 92.3% higher for the South Asia and global trials, respectively), indicating greater precision in the SE trials than those in the target sites. They also observed significant genetic correlations between one or more SEs in Obregón and all five South Asian sites, as well as with the majority (65.1%) of the Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trial sites. Lastly, they found a high ratio of selection response by selecting for grain yield in the SEs of Obregón than directly in the target sites.

“The results of this study make it evident that the rigorous multi-year yield testing in Obregón environments has helped to develop wheat lines that have wide-adaptability across diverse geographical locations and resilience to environmental variations,” said Philomin Juliana, CIMMYT associate scientist and lead author of the article.

“This is particularly important for smallholder farmers in developing countries growing wheat on less than 2 hectares who cannot afford crop losses due to year-to-year environmental changes.”

In addition to these comparisons, the scientists conducted genomic prediction for grain yield in the target sites, based on the performance of the same lines in the SEs of Obregón. They found high year-to-year variations in grain yield predictabilities, highlighting the importance of multi-environment testing across time and space to stave off the environment-induced uncertainties in wheat yields.

“While our results demonstrate the challenges involved in genomic prediction of grain yield in future unknown environments, it also opens up new horizons for further exciting research on designing genomic selection-driven breeding for wheat grain yield,” said Juliana.

This type of quantitative genetics analysis using multi-year and multi-site grain yield data is one of the first steps to assessing the effectiveness of CIMMYT’s current grain yield testing and making recommendations for improvement—a key objective of the new Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project, which aims to accelerate the breeding progress by optimizing current breeding schemes.

This work was made possible by the generous support of the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and managed by Cornell University; the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative; and several collaborating national partners who generated the grain yield data.

Read the full article: Retrospective Quantitative Genetic Analysis and Genomic Prediction of Global Wheat Yields

This story was originally posted on the website of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (wheat.org).

Cover photo: Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)