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ICARDA
and CIMMYT Harnessing the Power of Partnership in Wheat Improvement |
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Research on Underground Problems has Aboveground Impact Soon after IWWIP researchers began working at the ANADOLU Agricultural Research Institute in Eskisehir, Turkey, they realized that they faced a serious limitation: zinc-deficient soils. Zinc deficiency is bad news for both plants and people. Zinc deficiency in wheat reduces yields as well as levels of zinc in the grain. People who consume large quantities of zinc-deficient cereal, especially women and children, can suffer from immune system and connective tissue disorders, stunted growth, and birth defects. Roots of zinc-deficient plants tend to be more susceptible to diseases such as root rots, which commonly reduce yields by up to 50% in winter wheats. Healthy roots are a plant's lifeline. They enable the plant to absorb micronutrients and to use water more productively-- an important necessity in CWANA, where most winter wheat is grown under rainfed conditions or reduced irrigation, and water is becoming increasingly scarce.
Zinc deficiency is not the only "underground" problem. Winter cereals in WANA, particularly durum wheat, are threatened by cereal cyst and root lesion nematodes and dryland root rot complex. Given that wheat originated in this part of the world, it is not surprising to find great diversity among the root pathogens that co-evolved with wheat in the region. Turkey, in collaboration with CIMMYT, has a project on cereal nematodes and another on cereal root rots to determine the variation of the pathogens, the damage they cause, and the sources of resistance in wheat germplasm. ICARDA has established collaborative research with NARS in the Magreb and Syria on dryland root rots and with INRA-Rennes, France, on cereal cyst nematodes. Techniques used for screening for resistance have been updated and will be used to train NARS for in situ evaluation of resistance of local germplasm. These combined actions of CIMMYT and ICARDA have led to the development of a systemwide initiative on soil biota, under the ‘Systemwide Program on Integrated Pest Management.’ Preliminary results show great promise for the eventual identification of sources of resistance using molecular and applied tools in breeding for resistance. Over the past three years, researchers have identified a series of cultivars that are more resistant to root rot. Now they want to develop wheats that possess the multiple characteristics of root rot resistance, nematode resistance, and the ability to use zinc more efficiently. Aside from seeking genetic solutions to these problems, researchers are building on crop management research in Europe, Australia, and the USA to understand how these pathogens behave, how they interact with other soil factors, and how to use this information to raise yields.
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