How hybrid wheat could change the future of farming

Source: https://www.sydney.edu.au/research/our-research/impact/how-hybrid-wheat-could-change-the-future-of-farming.html Parent: https://www.sydney.edu.au/research.html

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How hybrid wheat could change farming

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Working with local farmers, University of Sydney scientists have developed a hybrid wheat to deliver tougher, higher-yielding crops to support Australian growers and feed communities around the world.

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“Wheat provides 20 percent of daily calories around the world today. It’s a crucial source of protein and carbohydrate for billions of people,” says Professor Richard Trethowan, Director of the University of Sydney’s Plant Breeding Institute.

“But one of the biggest problems globally is that the yield of wheat is plateauing.”\

For Australia – one of the world’s major wheat exporters – keeping wheat healthy is vital for farmers and regional communities, as well as being key to food security – both in Australia and globally.\

“We haven't seen significant increases in yield all around the world for the past 10 to 15 years, and we are looking for new technologies that might be able to break what we call the yield barrier,” Richard says. “Hybrid wheat is one of those potential technologies."

Professor Richard Trethowan examines wheat crop with Associate Professor Peng Zhang. Credit: Stefanie Zingsheim.

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Scientists at the University of Sydney have been breeding or improving food crops – such as wheat, oats and barley – for more than 100 years. Much of their early work focused on rust resistance, tackling a major disease affecting wheat and barley.

“Today we have what we call a biologically perfect system for making wheat hybrids – it has taken us 30 years of research,” Richard says. “It’s a breakthrough for genetic technology, and we’ve used natural diversity to create this system, so we’re pretty excited about it.

So why the hybrid hype?

Isobella Revell, a PhD student and research assistant working with the team says hybrids are everywhere in the natural world – whether in plants or animals – and they’re powerful.\

“What makes them quite interesting is they sometimes create this phenomenon we call heterosis. Heterosis is basically where the hybrid offspring outperforms its parents. For crops, it could be more water efficient and drought resistance than its parents.”\

The challenge is that wheat doesn’t hybridise easily. As a self-fertilising crop, it limits its own potential to be adapted to different environments. That’s why the University’s unique system – which prevents wheat from self-pollinating and allows researchers to cross specific varieties – is so significant. It opens the door to adapting wheat with traits like improved heat tolerance and drought resilience.

On the farm

Wheat farmer Damien Scanlan on his farm on NSW-Qld border. Credit: Paulina Eaborn.

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Wheat farmer, Damien Scanlan, who farms near Goondiwindi on the NSW–Queensland border, knows just how much varying conditions can impact his crops.

He travels regularly to the University of Sydney’s state-of-the-art facility in Narrabri, in northwestern NSW to talk wheat with Richard and his team at the International Centre of Crop and Digital Agriculture.\

“Droughts in Australia are reasonably common,” Damien says. “And one of the things about a hybrid wheat program is that it might be able to give some more resilience to farmers – and that passes down through the chain to consumers and families and people in major cities. It helps reduce their costs of their inputs. If a farmer's doing it tough, the whole of the country's doing it tough.”\

Stronger, more stable crops mean lower costs, fewer losses and more reliable harvests for growers.

It’s a breakthrough for genetic technology, and we’ve used natural diversity to create this system, so we’re pretty excited about it.”

Professor Richard Trethowan

Director, Plant Breeding Institute

Wheat is also a staple in the diets of billions of people worldwide, with nearly 900 million people currently facing severe food insecurity. Richard and his team are working to make this unique technology freely available to farmers in countries like Pakistan, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

“If we can produce high-yielding wheats that are disease resistant and adapted to climate change, which have better drought and heat tolerance, and are more nutritious for you, then we could have a significant impact on global food security,” Richard says. “And we’re right now at the point of commercialising our system globally – to produce it on a really large scale.”

Backed by a century of crop research, new genetic insights and close collaboration with farmers on the ground, hybrid wheat is a major leap forward – set to shape the way we grow one of the world’s most essential foods.