As Technology Improves, Better Wheat Varieties Developed Quicker

It wasn't too long ago that it took ten years for a new variety of wheat to move from the greenhouse to the fields. That has all changed now as wheat lines are able to be diagnosed much quicker than their past counterparts.

In simple terms, a scientist looks for what they call molecular markers, which are what is measured to determine if a particular trait desired by the breeder is inherent in the plant.

The reason this quickens the process is the plants can be weeded out at the lab level rather than the field test level, streamlining the process.

So what breeders do is use that information to decide what plants should go forward in the program.

To that end, Shiaoman Chao, a molecular geneticist at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) laboratory at North Dakota State University, has put together a database on wheat molecular markers which will ultimately be put up on the GrainGenes Web site, where breeders will be able to search the database for information to help them decide which wheat lines they want to proceed with.