Archive Article: 2001/08/17
Straw is short enough as it is
BOTH finalists received a special tour of the facilities at Monsantos global centre for wheat breeding, formerly the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge.
Focused on varieties for the UK and Europe, the centre gives the company 25% of the European market, and accounts for about half the UK wheat crop.
It takes 10 years from first cross to final marketing of a new variety, even using latest methods to speed the process. But with breeding technologies improving all the time, the company expects to be able to bring significant advances to UK growers in future.
From a starting population of 2.5m individual plants each year, breeders select from crosses intended to produce high yield, disease resistance and specific qualities matched to end market requirements, says Dr Howie.
"We are getting an increasingly better understanding of the wheat plant. This should let us move plant breeding into new dimensions and provide growers with new opportunities to add value to their businesses."
He uses demonstration plots of wheats dating from the early 1900s to show the effect of dwarfing genes in modern shorter, stiffer strawed varieties.
Other advances include more erect flag leaves which reduce shading and minimise leaf splash infections, and squarer, lax heads allowing more space for regular-sized, bold grains to develop.
Challenge winner David Hinchliffe, a former qualified seed crop inspector and licensed sampler, accepts that improvements on the scale enjoyed by his father are increasingly hard to achieve.
He does not want straw shortened much further. "You need a decent gap between the leaves and above the ground, to reduce the rain splash effect," he says.
One promising variety is a Charger cross with Blazer, having short, stiff straw and good yield. Another nearing National Listing is a Consort/Madrigal cross which looks especially useful for biscuit making. It does well in the "crunch test" for biscuit flavour, notes Dr Howie.
lSee next weeks issue for details of Mr Hinchliffes winning strategy. *