Wheat

The most recent success story in the USA-ICARDA collaboration in wheat breeding stems from a joint project with Kansas State University (KSU), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Moroccan national program. Scientists worked on Screening wheat germplasm for Hessian fly resistance under dryland conditions in WANA.
    The KSU team identified resistance genes which have already been incorporated into varieties of bread and durum wheats for release in Morocco and North Africa. Genes for resistance to US Hessian fly biotypes have also been identified in Moroccan wheats, and are being used in breeding programs in the USA. Hessian fly was accidentally imported into the USA during the War of Independence by mercenaries from Hesse, southern Germany, in straw brought for their horses. The fly’s larvae suck valuable nutrients from the plant and severe infestations can wipe out crops unless chemical control is used. The resistant varieties now being released reduce chemical use.
     CIMMYT, the International Wheat and Maize Research Center, ICARDA’s sister Center based in Mexico, has been a key partner in this pioneering work.
    Scientists from the University of California, Riverside, have worked with ICARDA scientists in a project on Collection of wheat wild relatives and inheritance studies of gliadins in diploid wheats. Washington State University, Texas A&M University and the European Parasite Laboratory (USDA-Agricultural Research Service or ARS) have collaborated on a Survey of Russian wheat aphid and its natural enemies in WANA. North Dakota State University (NDSU) collaborates with ICARDA on development of resistant/tolerant material to black point and Fusarium. The NDSU durum breeder identified durum lines with tolerance to Fusarium from ICARDA
material.
    At Cornell University, scientists have been working with the durum breeding program at ICARDA on Association of molecular markers with morphophysiological traits associated with constraints of Mediterranean dryland conditions in durum wheat. The project involves the use of molecular markers for genome mapping and for marker-assisted selection for stress resistance. ICARDA has also worked with Cornell University and the Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Egypt, on a project called Application of molecular genetics for development of wheat varieties possessing high-yield potential, stress tolerance, and improving grain quality. This project, started in 1997, was funded under USAID-ATUT (United States Agency for International Development—Agricultural Technology Utilization and Transfer Project), Egypt, as was Leveraging an integrated expert system/crop modeling system for farm-level wheat crop management, which involves ICARDA, ARC and Michigan State University (MSU). Prior to this, ICARDA worked closely with scientists from MSU on the development of the CERES-N crop growth simulation models for durum and bread wheats and for barley.
     Extending ICARDA’s use of biotechnology techniques is another project, Development of bread wheat cultivars facilitated by microsatellite DNA markers, in conjunction with the USDA/ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland.
     The US is a member of the ICARDA-coordinated SEWANA (South Europe-West Asia-North Africa) Durum Wheat Research Network, which links durum wheat breeders in these and other regions to promote the development of techniques and breeding material of high-quality durum wheat adapted to Mediterranean-type climates.

Wheat was a loser in the War of Independence which brought Hessian fly to the United States.

Scientists from the University of California, Riverside collected wheat wild relatives in Syria as part of a joint project with ICARDA.

Durum wheat produces the flour which makes many foods from spaghetti through to local African and Asian dishes.