THE GENETIC MAPS OF WHEAT AND THEIR POTENTIAL IN PLANT-BREEDING

The further improvement of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) varieties represents a particularly difficult challenge for UK breeders. As one of the world's primary food sources, a great deal of effort over the past 30 years by breeders has resulted in remarkable improvements in-yield. The doubling of UK wheat yields since 1970 has been due to the release of varieties with much improved yield potential which are also compatible with the increasingly intensive farming methods that we have witnessed over the same period. Of course in recent years the goal posts have moved once again. The EC grain mountains and the erosion of price support for the European wheat growers - likely to be further exacerbated by the result of the current GATT talks - indicate a move towards sustainability and lower labour, energy and chemical inputs in the future. The farmer of the 1990s and beyond will expect high yielding crops with lower variable costs and added value from stable industrial quality, targeted probably at higher cost speciality products. With some estimates of the cost of producing and releasing a new wheat variety as high as 14 million Pounds it is not surprising that breeders are now turning to molecular genetic studies to help them assemble optimum combinations of genes that will allow them to produce the ideal varietal phenotype for the farmer of the 21st century.