Open Access

In accordance with its research mandate, CIMMYT devotes its resources to developing improved germplasm and making this material available throughout the world, primarily to crop improvement programs in developing countries. The fulfillment of this mandate makes it imperative that CIMMYT breeders concentrate not only on germplasm for more favored environments, where substantial yield improvements can and must be obtained, but also on materials for more marginal production areas, where drought, high incidence of diseases, acid soils, and extremes of heat or cold reduce yields. In these areas, where over one and a half billion people live, demand for wheat is rising rapidly while its production is hindered by numerous constraints. This situation is particularly acute in tropical countries, where about 85 % of the wheat consumed in 1983 was imported. Until production constraints are at least partially removed, it will be difficult to grow wheat with a great degree of success in these environments. CIMMYT is responding to this difficulty in two ways. First, the Center is using conventional breeding procedures to develop improved germplasm suited to less favorable production environments. Another approach likely to contribute to the resolution of production problems is research aimed at crossing wheat with related crops and wild species to obtain germplasm with characteristics desirable for marginal areas. Much of this breeding work is done at three locations in Mexico. Summer nurseries are grown from May through October at two highelevation sites: El Batan (CIMMYT headquarters, 40 km northeast of Mexico City) and Toluca (also in central Mexico). During the winter cycle, from November to April. nurseries are planted at the Yaqui Valley Agricultural Experiment station, a low-elevation site in the northwest. Still other sites in Mexico are used to screen germplasm for resistance and tolerance to specific diseases and stresses. The research done within Mexico is reinforced and complemented by CIMMYT's regional and bilateral programs. The Center's outreach staff play an increasingly vital role in developing and disseminating CIMMYT's research products. Working with personnel from national crop improvement programs, outreach staff help identify regional or national needs, expedite the exchange of germplasm, participate in an advisory capacity in crop improvement research, and assist with the training of technical personnel from national programs. The exchange of information among national program scientists and CIMMYT staff in Mexico and abroad is crucial for the rapid development of Widely adapted, improved wheats suited to a range of environments. The development of such materials is not the final step in crop improvement: the process is only complete when national program scientists have selected and refined gennplasm to suit specific local needs, and have successfully extended new varieties to producers.

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