In article ,
phorbin wrote:

In article wildbilly-A7A8AB.23214625062013@c-61-68-245-
199.per.connect.net.au, says...

Yield showed that it worked, but they don't know if there is an Achilles
heel to the plant, yet. Yield is important, resistance to mold and
mildew is important, cultivation parameters are important. Before you
send a plant to market, it's important to know all of the above, and
more.

This might be of interest and germane.


http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/black-harvest/

A tad verbose, but yeah, that is exactly the problem. Even a 100%
increase in yield would be insignificant, if the wheat was susceptible
to pathogens.

The development of high yield varieties meant that only a few species of
say, rice started being grown. In India for example there were about
30,000 rice varieties prior to the Green Revolution, today there are
around ten - all the most productive types. By having this increased
crop homogeneity though the types were more prone to disease and pests
because there were not enough varieties to fight them off.

This is also the problem with wheat, because domestication has eroded
wheat diversity and the possibilities for improvement from within the
current wheat germplasm pool are reaching their limit.

The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in Cambridge has
recreated the original rare cross between an ancient wheat and wild
grass species that happened in the Middle East 10,000 years ago.

The resulting hybrid plants produce the 'synthetic' seed which is now
used in crossing programmes with current varieties.

Senior plant breeder Dr Phil Howell says: "Based on early-stage trials,
we're confident that the performance gains and level of potentially
valuable variation observed, through this novel step of re-synthesising
the original wheat plant, points to a major transformation in the wheat
improvement process.

The winning wheat seeds will be the basis for the next dozen years of
wheat production.

Like a poker player, Borlaug was aiming for a perfect set,

"a royal flush of resistance genes".

And like a poker player he was subject to the rules of chance. To
increase those chances, he carried out a mind boggling 6,000 matings
between different wheat varieties each year. That created tens of
thousands of hopeful wheat progeny from which a few dozen were selected.

This is what National Institute of Agricultural Botany must also do so
that the wheat is resistant to Septoria, Fusarium, and for the rust
Ug99, among others.

A 50% increase in yield would be insufficient, if the wheat crop is
vulnerable to a disease that will turn the yield to zero.
--
Remember Rachel Corrie
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg