Abstract in English and Russian.

Peer-review: No - Open Access: No

Peer review

During 1998 a shuttle breeding program was established linking research institutions in Kazakhstan and Western Siberia with the wheat program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The aim of this collaboration was to provide new genetic diversity for disease resistance, yield potential, drought tolerance and grain quality to regional wheat breeders. In its turn, the wheat breeding program at CIMMYT hoped to benefit from access to new and different genetic variability present in Kazakh and Siberian cultivars. This paper overviews the collaborative program, highlights some of the results and provides some insights into future collaboration and opportunities. In frameworks of the program breeding lines and cultivars from Kazakhstan and Western Siberia are sent to CIMMYT in Mexico for crossing each year. The objective of crossing is to combine the local adaptation of the Central Asian materials with improved rust resistance, yield potential and drought tolerance from CIMMYT lines and the high quality of the Canadian germplasm. The materials are selected in Mexico for stripe, leaf and stem rust resistance even though stripe rust does not yet occur in these areas in Central Asia. Only those lines with hard grain, high protein and strong extensible dough are sent to Kazakhstan for selection under local conditions. Once advanced lines have been identified locally, these materials are sent to CIMMYT for inclusion in crossing and shuttle breeding. The wheat breeding program at CIMMYT routinely uses molecular markers to track traits of relevance through the segregating phase (William et al., 2003). We propose to characterize parental materials from Kazakhstan/Siberia in a similar way and to make this information available to regional breeders. These data substantially improve the efficiency and effectiveness of crossing. Where appropriate, genes for traits of interest to local breeders (eg rust genes or genes that control root disease) will be introgressed using molecular markers and fixed in the F4 bulks before they are delivered to the region for reselection. Since recently the program of shuttle breeding has began making crosses with lines that have high Fe and Zn grain concentration as these minerals improve the nutritional quality of the grain, and the Harvest Plus Program has identified these source materials. Therefore, shuttle breeding between Mexico and Kazakhstan is working, and new and improved materials have been developed and tested regionally. This is a good opportunity for CIMMYT, American and Canadian breeders to extend diversity for yield and adaptation in their materials.

Global Wheat Program

Text in Russian

INT1787