High hopes for diseaseresistant wheat in U.K.

Press, 2 September 1983, Page 20

High hopes for diseaseresistant wheat in U.K.

High hopes are held for a new variety of disease-re-sistant wheat which is being developed in the United Kingdom. The new wheat stands about 45cm higher than the modern semi-dwarf varieties, but the length of its straw opens up new market Cibiiities, according to a ing British agricultural scientist, Professor Gordon Russell.

“Everyone expects a professor to be eccentric — and I am no exception in going against the trend of producing short-strawed wheats,” said Professor Russell, who visited Lincoln College recently. “A farmer goes to the trouble of producing straw and then either ploughs it under or wastes it by burning and causing pollution,” said Professor Russell. Straw was a valuable resource which could be used for the production of energy, either on individual farms or taken to a central unit for producing heat, said Professor Russell. In the United Kingdom there was a lot of interest in using straw as a cardboard substi-

tute for cartons such as eggboxes. But a major outlet in Britain for the straw from the new wheat, which has been code-named variety D, would be for thatching roofs. The long, strong straw is considered ideal for thatching, a process which requires the straw from almost 5000 hectares of wheat each year in Britain.

The new wheat is resistant to yellow rust, has a high grain yield and is of good baking quality. The wheat was developed by Professor Russell from a variety called Little Joss which was bred about 80 years ago and was once the mainstay of the British wheat crop. Little Joss is resistant to rust and this trait has been transferred to variety D in combination with high yielding and good baking qualities. Variety D has reached the first stage of experimental development, which involves testing on a wide scale in different countries under different conditions.

If the variety passes the .tests and performs well seeds should be available

commercially in Britain in 1987-88. As well as rust, variety D resists septaria and powdery mildew. Professor Russell, who is head of the Department of Agricultural Biology at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, met with New Zealand scientists on his way to the International Plant Pathology Congress in Melbourne. He has spent more than 30 years developing and selecting plants with pest and disease resistance, including the last 10 years dealing with stripe rust in wheat. He has been researching why some previously resistant varieties had subsequently been overcome by new races of fungus.

The breeding of plants which are resistant to pests and diseases will revolutionise world agriculture in the next 20 to 30 years, believes Professor Russell.

Resistant plants would not require spraying for pests and diseases as often resulting in lower growing costs. Some crops had already been developed which

required a lower level of protection than before and this trend would continue.

Genetic engineering would make it possible for breeders to transfer high levels of resistance from one species to another. Scientists in the United Kingdom and the United States were putting a lot of effort into genetic engineering and this would pay off in the long term.

Professor Russell said it was now much cheaper and 3uicker for breeders to prouce disease and pest resistant varieties than to develop pesticides and sprays. The technique of using both the northern and southern hemispheres allowed breeders to speed up their work. Plant breeders had not been very successful in breeding a variety of barley which was resistant to powdery mildew, but Professor Russell said he was optimistic that the breeders would overcome the problem. The mildew fungus has the ability to change races quickly and keep ahead of the efforts of breeders.