Updated Jun 10, 2019
High yielding genetically diverse wheat lines based on physiological traits delivered to public & private breeders globally
Part of CIMMYT
https://www.cimmyt.org/
Matthew Reynolds
Send MessageTranslational research delivers to breeders worldwide elite wheat lines made by adding newly discovered yield-related traits from research projects (https://iwyp.org) to double rates of genetic gain necessary to meet increasing demands for wheat.
For novel technologies to be applied in crop improvement, proofs-of-concept must be demonstrated in a breeding context. This necessarily involves translational research via pre-breeding that demonstrates genetic gains from new innovations across an appropriate range of target environments, and in lines that also contain the component agronomic traits essential to make new cultivars marketable. ...
SEE ALLStage 3: Proof of Concept
Novel research findings are validated to ensure that they can contribute to genetic gains in elite varieties. This is achieved through crossing and yield trialing at a range of international target environments.
Registered in Mexicoin Mexico
Focus Areas:
Agriculture and Climate Change and Resilience
Verified Funding
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Problem
There is an urgency to grow more food on less land with potentially fewer inputs, and in a more sustainable way, to support the rising demand for nutritious food from a burgeoning population. Wheat is a staple food for billions of resource-poor people, so increasing its genetic yield potential is an effective way to contribute to their food security. Furthermore, new varieties are easily adopted even by the poorest farmers, with strong likelihood of significant gains in net income.
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Solution
The solution involves these main steps; i) designing crosses to combine promising yield-boosting traits; ii) identifying the best sources of those traits among diverse genetic resources using field and laboratory techniques; iii) validating new trait combinations through crossing and measuring their impact on crop performance across target environments; and iv) sharing the new lines and breeding technologies with breeding programs globally.
Target Beneficiaries
Superior wheat lines are distributed to ~100 collaborators from >50 countries each year, including national wheat programs and private seed companies. The material can be released directly, crossed with elite local varieties to broaden the genetic base of locally adapted material, and used in research to further understand and boost yield potential, therefore serving a range of stakeholder needs. The work has also provided a valuable training platform for students of crop improvement up to doctoral level.
Mission and Vision
Many good ideas for improving crops exist but breeding programs typically lack resources to test new approaches. This creates a bottleneck that uncouples advances in plant science from crop improvement so many valuable technologies remain on the shelf. This innovation was designed to select the most promising ideas from plant experts and translate them into new higher yielding lines. Beneficiaries are breeders and ultimately resource poor farmers and consumers who eat wheat as a staple food.
Competitive Advantage
The IWYP Hub brings together ideas from an international network of plant experts who conduct research on different aspects of crop science, including photosynthesis, crop architecture, mobilization of resources to grain, crop development, plant growth regulators & genomics. This generates a synergy of ideas and research technologies for application in physiological pre-breeding. The best new lines yield ~7% over current CIMMYT elite lines averaged across international sites. The results also deliver a proof of concept –contrary to conventional wisdom- that use of relatively unadapted germplasm can deliver fast results through crossing and selection for specific physiological traits. The IWYP Hub also benefits from access to the World Wheat Collection and the International Wheat Improvement Network, both coordinated by CIMMYT, permitting genetic gains to be achieved in lines that encompass other economically important traits.
Planned Goals and Milestones
New innovations in the pipeline include: Genomic selection to increase breeding efficiency and accumulation of complex traits; Speed breeding to accelerate deployment when crossing parents that encompass both novel yield potential traits and the necessary disease resistance genes; New traits discovered through remote sensing as well as detailed dissection of growth patterns; New combinations of traits that simultaneously boost overall plant vigor as well as seed growth to drive yields higher.
The Team Behind the Innovation
The team encompasses experience in basic and translational crop research, coordination of international research networks, capacity building, publication in high-impact journals and project, financial & human resource management. We are multicultural spanning 7 countries and enjoying a 50:50 gender balance. These attributes foster an effective collaboration with the larger group of IWYP scientists, maximizing contributions to translational research and operational efficiency at the hub.
EXECUTIVE TEAM INCLUDES WOMEN
Milestone
Jul 2019
New Product Or Service
New international nursery (WYCYT) available for distribution (www.cimmyt.org/resources/seed-request)
May 2019
New Product Or Service
New partitioning traits validated (Rivera et al., in press)
Jan 2019
New Product Or Service
Genetic basis for RUE (Molero et al., 2019)
Jul 2017
New Product Or Service
New international nursery (WYCYT) available for distribution (www.cimmyt.org/resources/seed-request)
Jun 2016
Created
Date Unknown
Funds RaisedVERIFIED
$592,789
TITLEInternational Wheat Yield Partnership
TYPEGrant
FOCUS AREAS
Agriculture
Implemented InMongolia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and 34 more SEE ALLMongolia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, China, Chile, Canada, Burundi, Bangladesh, Australia, Argentina, Rwanda, Romania, Portugal, Norway, Morocco, Mexico, Libya, Kenya, Italy, Israel, India, Egypt, Uruguay, Ukraine, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Turkey, Tunisia, Tanzania, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, Madagascar, Iran, Myanmar and Pakistan SEE LESS
