Scientists Meet in Mexico to Tackle Potential Wheat Researches

Wheat is arguably the world's most important crop. Tens of millions of the world's poor rely on it for daily sustenance. Despite the crop's importance, the wheat plant is relatively inefficient in photosynthesis - the process by which plants convert sunlight to chemical energy - in comparison with other cereal crops such as maize (corn) and sorghum.

With this, the Wheat Yield Consortium, a unique group of scientists collaborating to dramatically increase wheat yields have met for the third time, bringing together a cross-disciplinary group of scientists to break wheat's "yield barrier". The meeting is ongoing from March 5-7 in Ciudad de Obregon, Mexico City.

The scientists are meeting this week to continue pursuit of a broad range of scientific possibilities for wheat. These include everything from optimizing leaf and spike photosynthesis, to genomic selection for increasing breeding efficiency, to exploring collections of landraces, to conventional breeding for yield potential. A recent meeting of potential sponsors from 16 countries unanimously agreed to expand the effort through a system of competitively funded grants that is currently being developed.

For more information, visit https://www.prbuzz.com/non-profit/100093-scientists-gather-in-mexico.html.