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The changing wheat breeding industry
E. SOUZA (1). (1) Bayer CropScience, Lincoln, NE, U.S.A.
Wheat breeding is responding to global climate change, population growth and greater demand for land use by investment in molecular breeding, information and sensing technology, and increasingly standardized germplasm development protocols. Wheat production increases globally but at a slower rate than observed from 1960 to 1990. Global production will not grow as fast as global population in the near term and demand for protein will continue to exceed production. Breeding programs increase in size and sophistication of data management to increase the gain from selection. The slowing growth in production is due in part to global climate change. To increase tolerance to abiotic stress, programs are developing high-throughput phenotyping to measure plant physiology. The most common high-throughput phenotyping uses remote sensing technology. The genetic complexity of wheat limits the application of high-throughput genotyping methodologies that are widely used in maize. Global initiatives and corporate investment are developing standardized molecular markers and genotyping by sequencing method. The cost and complexity of the molecular tools will cause standardization of breeding protocols and germplasm types. The impact for cereal chemistry may be mixed. Uniformity and reliability of product may be maintained in the face of increasingly variable climate. The cost increases associated with small carryover of wheat stocks will continue but hopefully mitigated by increased rates of grain yield improvement. However, grain protein concentrations will likely decrease. To increase yield more quickly, breeding should focus on quality per unit of protein. Procurement strategies to source wheat with high quality per unit of protein will be critical for maintaining reliable quality flour.
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