SA Grain June 2017

June 2017

The science focus areas of the research projects from IWYP include:

Finding and employing traits and genes to increase photosyn-

thesis.

Testing genes to boost spike development.

Reducing respiration and thereby enhancing photosynthetic ef-

ficiency.

Optimising canopy architecture to increase carbon capture and

conserve nitrogen.

Using selected genes from other species and synthetics to in-

crease biomass and yield.

Optimising plant phenology leading to increased biomass and

harvest index.

Genome editing to switch the required genes on or off and

make needed edits within gene regions to release more genetic

yield potential in wheat.

These diverse funded and aligned research projects in the IWYP

research portfolio have been tasked to chase the scientific break-

throughs in wheat research to achieve the large single event yield

jumps required.

The privilege of being an aligned project

of IWYP

Dr Barnard and I, in collaboration with Mr Willem Botes of the

Stellenbosch University Plant Breeding Laboratory, have a nation-

al pre-breeding project titled

Integrated pre-breeding for wheat

yield improvement

which has officially started on 1 April 2017.

This pre-breeding project is jointly funded by the Winter Cereal

Trust (WCT), Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Department

of Science and Technology (DST). The project will make use of

marker-assisted selection of targeted yield component genes and

a holistic plant identification approach, assisted by high-resolution

phenotyping technologies.

After initial material screening and yield trials, a dedicated cross-

ing block will be established to stack favourable alleles for yield

potential and release high yielding potential germplasm panels.

This larger pre-breeding project was initiated to address the con-

tinual cries from South African wheat producers for higher yielding

wheat cultivars.

The research findings, germplasm identified and/or developed and

certain responsibilities will also be shared with the other project

collaborators and breeders from all three breeding programmes,

namely ARC-Small Grain, Sensako and Pannar. A part of this larg-

er pre-breeding project lead by me is now an official and accept-

ed aligned project of the IWYP research programme (AP06) titled

‘Chasing wheat yields in challenging environments’. This project is

expected to compliment and assist with marker and gene/trait vali-

dation of existing IWYP-funded project outcomes such as ‘Molecular

dissection of spike yield components in wheat’ lead by Mr Cristobal

Uauy (John Innes Centre, UK) and others.

It is also expected to assist with the development and identifi-

cation of novel high yielding potential germplasm for the

larger IWYP programme to be fed into the IWYP CIMMYT pre-breed-

ing hub.

1: Delegates from all over the world attending the CIMMYT visitors day

in Obregon, Mexico, with a statue of the legendary Norman Borlaug in

the background.

2a and 2b: IWYP delegates walking through CIMMYT breeding material.

3a and 3b: An exhibition of the latest technologies used by CIMMYT

researchers.