Abstract only

Important trends in US agriculture can be considered as a return to basic good farming principles such as crop rotation, increased biodiversity, and conservation of soil and water. In the Pacific Northwest of the US, the main cash crop is winter wheat. Other important crops include spring wheat, spring barley, lentils and field peas. Farming is done on steep slopes that can result in severe soil loss due to water and wind erosion. Conservation tillage is gradually being adopted as a method of soil conservation but other problems ensue. Under conservation tillage, residue is left on the soil surface resulting in an increase of pathogen inoculum and colder soil temperatures in the spring. Plant breeding for genetic resistance to soil borne diseases such as eyespot and cephalosporium stripe of wheat and aphanomyces of pea is done through conventional means and through selection using molecular markers. Increased diversity within a field has resulted in durable resistance to stripe rust in the Club wheat multiline 'Rely' for over 10 years. Artificial screening tests are being used to increase the cold tolerance of winter wheat and winter peas and lentils. Wheat and legumes are being developed for specific markets through the use of quality tests that can be accomplished early in the breeding program. Successful completion of this research re- quires that plant geneticists be in good communi- cation with plant pathologists, agronomists, food scientists, and farmers.

English

0409|AGRIS 0401|AL-Wheat Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection