Global wheat production can be doubled, say scientists

UK: Scientists believe that global wheat production could be doubled by accessing into the crop’s “untapped genetic potential”.

By using modern techniques such as speed breeding and gene editing, the international team behind the new research say that it would be possible to cultivate new varieties of wheat tailored to each region that they’re grown in.

Depending on their genes, different varieties of wheat capture water, sunlight and nutrients in different ways.

The scientists propose that with an optimal genome wheat crops would be able to deliver a higher yield of grain per acre.

The study, led by the UK’s Rothamsted Research, used existing data on how different genes contribute to individual plant traits “such as size, shape, metabolism and growth”.

They ran millions of simulations to effectively design the perfect wheat plants suited to their local environments. Comparing these to locally adapted cultivars, they found in all cases that current wheat varieties were underperforming for grain yield.

– SKY NEWS