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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Corn Host Plant Resistance Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315596
Title: Breaking wheat yield barriers requires integrated efforts in developing countries

Author
item ZAHARIEVA, MARIA - La Molina National Agrarian University
item RAUF, SAEED - University Of Sargodha
item Warburton, Marilyn
item ZHANG, PINGZHI - Anhui Agricultural University
item AL-SADI, ABDULLAH - Sultan Qaboos University
item KOZAK, MARCIN - University Of Technology And Life Sciences
item CHAUDRY, FARGHAMA - University Of Sargodha

Submitted to: Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/2015
Publication Date: 6/1/2015
Citation: Rauf, S., Zaharieva, M., Warburton, M.L., Zhang, P., Al-Sadi, A., Khalil, F.,Kozak, M., and Tariq, S.A. 2015. Breaking wheat yield barriers requires integrated efforts in developing countries. Journal of Integrative Agriculture. 14(8):1447-1474.

Interpretive Summary: Improvement of wheat yield is urgent as world population grows. However, current progress on increasing yield is actually slowing down due to a changing and unpredictable environment, degradation of natural resources, and the evolution of new diseases, movement of insects to new areas, and other problems. In order to keep developing ever higher yielding wheat cultivars, especially in the developing world, we must overcome problems and use all the newest tools available to us. These include using new genetic diversity, new molecular biology and genetic tools, and as many collaborations as possible. The present article reviews the potential contribution of these new approaches and tools to the improvement of wheat yield in farmer’s fields, with a special emphasis on the Asian countries, which are major wheat producers, and contain the highest concentration of resource-poor wheat farmers.

Technical Abstract: Most yield progress obtained through the so called “green revolution”, particularly in the irrigated areas of Asia, has reached a limit, and major resistance genes are quickly overcome by the appearance of new strains of disease causing organisms. New plant stresses due to a changing environment are difficult to breed for as quickly as the changes occur. There is consequently a continual need for new research programs and breeding strategies aimed at improving yield potential, abiotic stress tolerance and resistance to new, major pests and diseases. Recent advances in plant breeding encompass novel methods of expanding genetic variability and selecting for recombinants, including the development of synthetic hexaploid, hybrid and transgenic wheats. In addition, the use of molecular approaches such as QTL and association mapping may increase the possibility of directly selecting positive chromosomal regions linked with natural variation for grain yield and stress resistance. The present article reviews the potential contribution of these new approaches and tools to the improvement of wheat yield in farmer’s fields, with a special emphasis on the Asian countries, which are major wheat producers, and contain the highest concentration of resource-poor wheat farmers.