Increasing yield potential in wheat: breaking the barriers. Proceedings of a workshop held in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

CIMMYT's focus on developing wheat varieties that produce higher and more stable yields has made a tremendous difference in the lives of millions of people in the developing world. In the mid 1960s, the dramatic increases in world wheat production achieved by the improved semidwarf varieties of the Green Revolution staved off impending widespread hunger and starvation in Asia. In more recent times, the modern wheats that have gradually replaced those early varieties in farmers' fields have generated a 1 % average increase in wheat production each year. Today, however, yield increases in some of the most productive environments in the developing world have begun to level off. Productivity in those favorable environments must improve, but without straining the natural resource base that underpins agriculture today and in the future. Expanding the land under cultivation to fulfill the demands for more food is no longer possible. We need new, more resource-efficient varieties that produce higher and more stable yields to make up for the food deficit. Nonetheless, increases in wheat's genetic yield potential are becoming harder to achieve, and we have to find new approaches to break through the barriers before us. Success in raising wheat's yield potential will hinge on creatively combining strategies arising from different disciplines. To generate new thinking on ways to improve the wheat plant's ability to yield more, in March 1996 the CIMMYT Wheat Program organized a workshop in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, with the invited participation of 12 internationally recognized experts in the fields of plant breeding, physiology, and biotechnology. The three day workshop gave CIMMYT staff a unique opportunity to consider and explore novel approaches to the yield barrier problem. The ideas put forth by the specialists provided fertile ground for discussion, and the outcomes will no doubt influence the strategies the Wheat Program will adopt in facing this challenge. We are extremely grateful to the 12 experts who generously gave of their time to preparing and participating in an extraordinarily fruitful workshop. Their willingness to put before their colleagues new hypotheses, as well as their openness to questions and suggestions, set the tone for this event, which will be memorable as an exceptional example of thought-provoking, collegial debate.