Useful Traits From Earliest Mexican Wheats

Hundreds of years ago, Spanish monks brought wheat to use in Roman Catholic religious ceremonies. Now scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are scouring for these sacramental wheats to be used as sources of traits like disease resistance and drought tolerance. Field trials at CIMMYT Cuidad Obregón wheat research facility show that some sacramental wheats have better early ground cover, quickly covering the soil and safeguarding moisture from evaporating. Others have enhanced levels of soluble stem carbohydrates which help fill the wheat grain even under drought, while some show better water uptake in deep soils thanks to their deep roots.

Sacramental wheats also proved to be useful in fighting a new leaf rust race that appeared on Altar 84, the most widely-grown wheat cultivar in Sonora, Mexico. The CIMMYT durum collection of sacramental wheats from Oaxaca, Mexico, displayed minor gene or major gene resistance to the new leaf rust race. CIMMYT researchers are still unlocking the potential of sacramental wheats. “We started to characterize them for resistance to leaf and yellow rust, and the collections from the state of Mexico for wheat head scab and Septoria,” says Julio Huerta, CIMMYT wheat pathologist. " We were surprised to find many, many resistant lines. “But until we finish characterizing all of them, we won’t know what else is there.”

The complete article is available at http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/news/2008/jun/earliest_mexican.htm.