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In Memoriam: Dr Bart Lombard
– prolific wheat breeder
D
r Bart Lombard was born on 12 January 1936 on a Swart-
land wheat farm in the district of Malmesbury, and passed
away on 30 April 2015 at the age of 79 years.
A brief career history
In 1961 he completed a BSc(Agric) degree at the University of
Stellenbosch and subsequently his MSc degree in 1963 under the
tutorship of the legendary Prof F.X. Laubscher. The title of his thesis
was:
A study on the hereditary basis of stem rust resistance in
wheat
. In more than one way this study was to lay the foundation
for his life and his future career as a successful plant breeder.
He studied and consciously exploited the close host/pathogen
relationships, leading to many resistant and successful wheat,
barley and lupine cultivars; but more importantly, here in Stellen-
bosch he also met his future wife, Milly, who ably supported him
with technical pathologic assistance for many years.
In March 1963, Dr Lombard joined the Department of Agriculture
as a wheat breeder in Bethlehem, where he was tutored by
Mr Ernst Pieper (wheat breeder/agronomist) regarding wheat
production practices in the Highveld region. At that time, the cultivar
Scheepers was still the dominant cultivar used as a utility crop
for grazing, however it had poor baking quality and succumbed
to stem rust, until Dr Lombard released a selection named
Scheepers 69 which, due to its drought resistance is still in produc-
tion in marginal areas to this day.
During this period, Dr Lombard also established contact with
Prof Ian Watson and Prof Bob McIntosh at the University of Sydney,
Australia, and this collaboration was critical in his career as a
scientist and a successful researcher, and eventually culminated in
a PhD degree in 1986, conferred by the University of Stellenbosch
in collaboration with the University of Sydney, Australia, with the
title:
Host pathogen interactions involving wheat and
Puccinia
graminis tritici
in South Africa
.
At the Bethlehem Research Station (now the ARC-Small Grain
Institute), working with Pieper, the cultivars Betta, Belinda, Barta
and Benita were released, which made the production of high
quality wheat in the Free State a reality and paved the way for a
large expansion of wheat production in this region. In 1975,
Dr Lombard joined the Sensako Seed Company and was trans-
ferred back to the Welgevallen Greenhouse Complex, University
of Stellenbosch, where he worked until his retirement from
Monsanto in February 2000.
In 1977 an especially productive period started for Dr Lombard as
he masterfully exploited the backcross method to insert single
major resistance genes into already existing high yielding quality
cultivars of wheat, barley and lupines. The winter wheat cultivars
SST 102, SST 103 and SST 124 were released and a range of new
spring wheat cultivars emerged for the Western Cape. SST 44 and
SST 88 were probably the most important and emerged as dominant
wheat cultivars for a long period of time.
In the case of SST 88, this cultivar is currently still being produced
although it is not actively marketed any more. Using the same
methodology with different pathogens, he released the barley
cultivars SSG 525 and SSG 532, as well as lupine varieties SSL 2,
SSL 4 and SSL 6 that made significant contributions over many
years. In order to circumvent lodging in wheat due to eyespot
disease, Dr Lombard successfully introduced the solid stem genes
and released the cultivars SST 57 and SST 95 with this trait;
SST 57 being the more successful one as it also carried useful stem
rust resistance genes. Dr Lombard’s success can be attributed to
hard work, an intimate knowledge of the life cycle of various
pathogens, the genetics of host cultivars and especially the inter-
action between host and pathogen.
By nature, Dr Lombard was a quiet, soft-spoken and unassuming
individual. Due to his achievements he received various awards, viz.
Honorary Membership of the Western Cape Wheat Development
Committee (better known under the acronym KKOV). In 1998 he
was nominated as the Western Cape Scientist of the Year by the
Agricultural Writers Association and subsequently National Agri-
cultural Scientist of the year. In 2013 he was accorded Honorary
Membership of the Southern African Plant Breeders Association.
Dr Lombard will be remembered by his colleagues, friends and all
wheat breeders for his invaluable contributions.
KLAUS PAKENDORF,
extraordinary professor: Department Genetics, University of Stellenbosch
Dr Bart Lombard
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