north america
5
members
3
countries
Harpinder Randhawa
Country: Canada
Institution: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Wheat production in Canada has been significantly impacted by various threats, especially by the effects of climate change, which creates new challenges for plant breeders. Reducing losses due to various biotic and abiotic stresses and by making selections under these stress conditions can enhance the competitiveness of wheat while ensuring sustainable production under climate resiliency. In this project Harpinder Randhawa and his team plan to integrate modern breeding tools to develop resilient high yielding cultivars targeted to the medium quality wheat classes with improvements in grain yield, agronomic performance, biotic and abiotic stresses tolerance and end-use processing quality to help keep Canadian farmers competitive.
Projects:
Integrated approaches to develop climate resilient high yielding spring wheat cultivars for Western Canada
Jatinder Singh Sangha
Country: Canada
Institution: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
In his project Jatinder Sangha and his team determine the variation in wheat lines for stable isotope composition (∆13C, δ18O and δ15N) as it relates to grain yield and protein content under irrigated and rainfed environments. They are interested to use this relationship in selecting wheat lines at early stage of breeding programs for high grain yield and protein content. They are also interested to associate the variation in stable isotopes with QTLs/SNPs.
Projects:
Early generation selection for high grain yield and grain protein content in wheat using physiological breeding
Raju Soolanayakanahally
Country: Canada
Institution: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
The project aims to study night-time water loss in Canadian heritage wheat cultivars under warmer climates. It seeks to quantify variations in cuticular wax and stomatal density to understand their impact on moisture retention and water productivity. By integrating these findings into breeding programs, the goal is to develop wheat varieties better suited for arid conditions, ultimately improving yields amidst climate change challenges.
Projects:
Matthew Reynolds
Country: Mexico
Institution: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
HeDWIC is a network that facilitates global coordination of wheat research to adapt to a future with more severe weather extremes, specifically heat and drought. It delivers new technologies to wheat breeders worldwide via the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN), coordinated for more than half a century by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
Projects:
Noah DeWitt
Country: United States of America
Institution: Louisiana State University
The SunGrains (Southern University Grains) group brings together seven public-sector small grains breeding programs into a single breeding cooperative to facilitate variety development for the Southeast United States. The scale of the combined SunGrains group allows members to collectively implement new technologies and trial lines across the region. Researchers at eight universities partner to accelerate genetic gain by pooling early generation lines for genotyping, multi-state trialing, and prediction through a shared genomics pipeline. The contribution of heat and other abiotic stresses to these differences in adaptation, and their basis in both differences in phenology and other processes, are a principal research focus. A better understanding of these relationships will improve predictive modeling of wheat yield, and lessons learned might facilitate other cooperative breeding efforts that span multiple target environments.
Projects: