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FieldCrops A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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UC Davis gene discovery may increase wheat yields
ByBob Johnson University of California, Davis, researchers have pub- lished new discoveries about wheat genetics that could help breeders and farmers around the world increase yields by asmuch as 300 pounds per acre. The teamidentifiedageneresponsible for thenumberof wheat spikelets and grains per spike, which in turn deter- minesyieldperacre. Theirappliedresearchwaspublished lastmonth inPLOSGenetics, apeer-reviewed journal read by researchers around theworld. The researchwas part of the InternationalWheat Yield Partnership, which enlists the efforts of an alliance of universities, governmental aid programs and agricul- tural corporations. Because wheat provides more than 20% of the world’s food supply, which ranks second behind rice in feeding Earth’s population, even a slight improvement in yield could have great significance. “Hopefully, we can incorporate this gene into variet- ies,” said Saarah Kuzay, who discovered the wheat gene as part of her doctoral research. “Hopefully, we can do some testing to see whether varieties have the lower- or higher-yielding gene. Most of our wheat varieties have it, but it is not in durumwheat. We’re going to see if it could be bred into durum.” Thediscoverycameafterayears-longeffort ontheDavis campus to learnwhy somewheat produces ahighernum- ber of grains thanothers, someproduce larger grains than othersandwhether these twoqualitiescouldbecombined in new varieties that maximize yields with an abundance of large grains. Kuzay was the lead author of the PLOS Genetics article andworkedon the discovery as part of a teamof graduate students under the supervision of UCDavis plant geneti- cist JorgeDubcovsky. This was the latest discovery by researchers at the UC Davis Dubcovsky Lab. Under Dubcovsky’s leadership, it works to improve wheat by crossing desirable traits into existing varieties using traditional breedingmethods. Because grain researchers choose the highest-yield- ing options when breeding for disease resistance, bread-making quality, the ability to stay upright for me- chanical harvest or yield, they have selected this gene without knowing it. “All of theUCwheat varieties have the gene, but we still have to see if any of the other varieties that are out there could be improved,”Dubcovsky said. “At the beginning of thedomesticationofwheat, only2%of thewildwheat had it, but now it is in 80%of the varieties.” Themost immediatepayoff inCaliforniacouldbe the in- troductionof thisability toproducehigher yields indurum varieties that growers in the Imperial Valley and nearby areas sell at a premium in Italy, because their patented Desert Gold durumwheatmakes for premiumpasta. Nowthat thegene—termedWAPO-A1—hasbeen iden- tified, it can theoretically be crossed into wheat that does not already have it.WAPO-A1 preventswheat spikes from terminating their growth early.
Plant geneticst Jorge Dubcovsky heads a University of California, Davis, research team that works to improve wheat genetics using traditional breeding methods to cross desirable traits into existing varieties.
See WHEAT, Page 8
February 16, 2022 Ag Alert 7
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