High Hopes for Hybrid

wheat…...

Bill Angus

Or – to put it another way….

The Quest for the Holy Grail of wheat breeding….

Hang on… haven’t we been here before?

We have but life has changed and

we have learnt a few lessons

Hybrid wheat – what is it?

• Wheat is a self pollinating crop – does not out

pollinate much

• Hybrid wheat captures the value of combining two

sets of genetics through ‘cross pollination’

• Hybrid vigour is well established in many commercial

crops such as Maize (corn), barley and oil seed rape

• Hybrid winter barley gives an insight into the

potential for hybrid wheat – the highest yielding

varieties on the RL

Hybrid wheat – so what has changed

in the last twenty years?• Wheat yield progress has slowed as breeders have

utilised a lot of ‘yield traits’

• On farm yields have slowed as a result of shorter

rotations and low grain prices inhibiting investment in

wheat growing

• Environmental issues have increased in priority

• Effective fungicides are under increasing pressure

and the ‘pipeline’ is ‘challenging’

• New technologies are available to the breeding

community to enhance selection efficiency

A short history of hybrid wheat

breeding• 1951 – Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS) was

discovered but commercial hybrids were not

available until 1970s

• 1959 – Nuclear male sterility discovered but no

commercial activities

• 1970s – Chemical Hybridising Agents (CHAs)were

developed

• A number of CHAs were developed – WL84811

(Shell), Genesis (Rohm and Haas) Croisor (Saaten

Union)

• Croisor is registered for use in France and the

Czech Republic

So where did it all go wrong before?

• Every hybrid wheat activity in the UK has failed

because of the cost of seed production and/ or lack

of seed purity – not variety performance

• The two issues are intrinsically linked

Wheat flowering biology – the key to

hybrid seed production• Wheat has been selected by man to self pollinate for

thousands of years

• Now we have to change this crop to being an ‘out

pollinator’

• Fortunately there are a few varieties (very few) that

have this attribute

• When the first hybrids were made this was not taken

into account fully as breeders rushed to cross

‘anything with anything’ in the hope of exploring the

crops potential.

Wheat flowering biology – the key to

hybrid seed production -2• There is no shortage of pollen

• For every fertilisation event there are approximately

9,000 pollen grains available (3 anthers at 3,000 pollen

grains each

• However wheat pollen is very heavy and is not easy to

transfer by wind

• Wheat pollen has a short life – just 2 minutes under dry

conditions

• Early models were developed whereby strips of males

and females lines were used to produce seed

• This system was doomed to failure because of the

dynamics of poor wind transfer of pollen

So what can we do now?

• Develop male populations which exude their anthers

• Look within related species for larger anthers

• Look within related species for higher pollen grain

numbers

• Select for different flowering patterns – longer

duration of flowering or rapid flowering?

• Use new technology (molecular markers) to identify

flowering traits and use these to fast track material

for optimal flowering types

So that’s the males sorted – what

about the females?• Differences in female receptivity have been found –

these can be optimised

• Again molecular markers can be used to transfer this

rapidly (using other technologies such as single

seed descent or double haploids to speed up the

process)

• Consider other dwarfing genes previously discarded

for conventional breeding so as to be shorter than

the males and hence allow pollen to drop on to

receptive stigmas

• Develop a seed production system that depends on

a mixed male: female production (as for barley and

rye)

CONVERT THIS

TO THIS…..

THE WORST CASE SCENARIO

A ‘tell tale’ sign of poor flowering -ergot

Wheat yield frontiers

Source: FAO Expert Meeting on How to Feed the World in 2050 (Rome, 24-26 June 2009)

Best practice

New technology gap

Systems gap

Technologicalpossibility

Current technologypotential

Best Farmerpractice

Average yield

Based on Bio-Physical limits

PotentialYield (Plot Trials)

Top Quartile Farmers

Country Ave. Yield t/haPotential Yield t/ha

% Gap

Yaqui valley,Mexico

6 9 50%

Punjab, India 4.3 6.25 45%

Haryana, India

4.2 5.75 35%

Western Australia

1.8 2.6 45%

N Dakota, USA

2.5 3.7 50%

United Kingdom

8.0 10.4 25%

Eastern China 4.7 7.0 50%

Kansas, USA 2.6 3.9 45%

Benefits of Hybrid Wheat

• Consistent yields

• Second wheats

• Light land

• Take- all situations

• Good physical grain characters

• (Fusarium resistance)

• Potential competitiveness with Black grass

Hybrid Yield Performance

• Hybrid wheat HAS to solve a problem on farm – it is

not a panacea for higher yield in every situation

• The UK is one of the least favourable countries for

hybrid wheat because of its benign climate and high

yield potential

• Initial expectations were for high yield advantages

but these were often based upon small plots and/ or

plots not treated with fungicides

Norman S Morley ‘Quote’

• I don’t want the highest yielding variety this year – I

want one that will be in the top three every year…

Hybrid wheat: Stability of yield –Exploiting today’s potential

HybridsConventionalYield

Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6

Yield

Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6

Consistency of Performance

• The RL gives an interesting insight into year x year

interactions

• Hybrid barleys are an example of consistency over

years

• Hybrid wheats tend to be taller, have higher biomass

(6-8%) and good flowering characteristics (derived

from their male parent)

• Hybrid wheats ‘finish’ – they don’t die like

conventional wheats

Second wheats, light land and take-all

situations

• Better rooting, higher biomass and resilience >

better yields

Where does this leave hybrids in terms of

potential market shares in the UK?

• 20-25% of the UK could be hybrid wheat

So what else have we learnt?

• There are no market outlets that cannot be covered

by hybrid wheats

Feed

Bread

Biscuit

Distilling

• Hybrids fare better than conventional wheats in

untreated trials – even with the same level of

disease susceptibility – more resilient but why?

So is this just a ruse by seed companies

to make sure growers buy seed every

year?

• Farmers are wise enough to know whether an

investment (in this case seed) is appropriate

• Examples from other parts of the world (eg soya in

Argentina) show that when the product is good then

growers will adopt it (98% soya in Argentina is Round

Up Ready)

• Large companies know that the balance between

genetics and chemistry is changing and as such now

recognise the contribution that seed can make to their

businesses.

So what else will change?

• The continuing story of a greater technical approach

to growing crops will continue

• Hybrid seed rates will be lower than for conventional

wheat

• High speed precision drilling? – perhaps this will be

how a field of hybrid wheat will look….

Conclusions

• This is the continuing story of the development of hybrid

wheat….

• Breeders have learnt a lot over the last 30 years

• New technologies are available that will add significantly to the

efficiency of selection for hybrid wheats

• Major businesses such as Dow-Dupont, Bayer and Syngenta are

investing

• The current farming environment is very difficult and demands

radical solutions

• Wheat demand continues to rise and population projections

point to 9 billion people to feed by 2050

• We cannot afford to fail this time.