CURRENT ADVANCES IN GENETIC IMPROVEMENT IN WHEAT

The wheat breeding program at UC Davis includes subprograms in common wheat (white and red) and durum wheat. Every year hundreds of crosses are produced and thousands of headrows and yield plots are evaluated for agronomic traits, disease resistance and quality. During the last 17 years average yields have increased 1100 lb/ac for common wheat and 500 lb/ac for durum wheat documenting a continuous increase in productivity. The traditional field-based breeding efforts are complemented by marker assisted selection strategies to improve disease resistance, quality, abiotic stress resistance and nutritional value. Molecular markers have been used successfully to develop commercial varieties with improved resistance to stripe rust, increased grain protein content, and reduced cadmium content. The UC Davis program is also deploying genes for improved salt tolerance in durum wheat and improved draught tolerance in common wheat. Extensive research efforts continue to map and clone additional genes to improve resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and to improve quality and nutritional value of wheat. In addition to the breeding efforts, the UCD program conducts cereal evaluation tests in 15 locations in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Imperial Valleys; the intermountain valleys of northern California and in the south central coastal region. Results from these trials are summarized at http://smallgrains.ucdavis.edu/.