Wheat Genetics & Germplasm Improvement
It’s invisible to the human eye, but measured in microseconds, and helping shape the future of Kansas wheat varieties. Sounds like science fiction, but research funded by the Kansas Wheat Alliance is using near-infrared light measurements to dramatically speed up the process of selecting higher yielding, more heat and drought tolerant wheat lines.
12.01.2015
Plant pathology graduate student Emily Delorean is the fifth K-State student to receive Monsanto’s prestigious Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program fellowship. Delorean was inspired at a young age to help others. This lead her into the field of plant breeding, where she hopes to contribute to developing improved crop varieties and change the lives of subsistence […]
09.28.2015
Crippling climate changes, coupled with a growing population, threaten food security, economic welfare and social harmony in South Asia—a region heavily dependent on wheat for its nutrition and income. But in the race to fight hunger, the development of new wheat varieties that can withstand harsh growing conditions is severely hindered by traditionally laborious and time-consuming breeding processes. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics(opens in new window), led by Kansas State University, works with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia to address this issue. It is creating new solutions and technologies to get high-yielding, climate-resilient wheat varieties into the hands of farmers in India and Pakistan years sooner.
09.23.2015
Kansas State University wheat researchers are leading efforts to develop a better understanding of the wheat genome.
08.04.2015
The Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) is taking advantage of new technological advances in phenotyping that have the potential to increase wheat yields, measure field data more efficiently and save farmers time and labor. Phenotyping involves measuring the observable traits of crops, a process that can be long and tedious for wheat breeders who walk through fields collecting data on individual plants. Uttam Kumar, associate scientist with CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, is testing several phenotyping innovations in collaboration with Jesse Polland, assistant breeder, and Daljit Singh, Ph.D. student, both from Kansas State University (KSU), in an effort to adapt new technologies to the specific needs of breeders in South Asia and make phenotyping wheat faster and more efficient.
05.25.2015
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