Unleashing the power of wild wheat to boost disease resistance

Researchers tapped into the natural diversity of wild wheat relatives to introduce resistance genes against fusarium head blight (FHB) into commercial wheat.

A fungal disease that causes significant wheat yield losses, FHB produces mycotoxins that contaminate the grain, making it unusable for human consumption and toxic for certain livestock species.

FHB already thrives in the UK and countries with warm humid conditions – and with a changing climate, incidences could increase globally. Unlike the UK, low-income countries are less able to use fungicides to stave off outbreaks and are more reliant on innate genetic resistance.

The research carried out at the UoN has resulted in the development of new wheat lines with significantly more FHB resistance than the modern elite variety, Paragon.

Internationally, commercial wheat breeders are already embracing these resilient lines. But there's more to the story. One of the wild wheat relatives, Triticum timopheevii, has other beneficial traits like increased grain mineral content, which could also be transferred into commercial varieties.

But that's not all. BBSRC's investments at the UoN are improving wheat in other ways. Some wheat lines now boast higher zinc and iron content (via the University of Nottingham Future Food Programme), while other research that focuses on floral morphology traits such as smaller pollen grain size could potentially support hybrid wheat production.

Find out more about how BBSRC and the University of Nottingham are unleashing the power of wild wheat relatives to produce disease and climate resistant wheat.