Kansas Wheat Commission / Kansas Assn. of Wheat Growers
Supplement to the Kansas Farmer magazine
June 2013
Inside: NFOB
Coming June 22 /
Harvest Outlook
Where the Wild Wheats Grow
Solutions to some of the most
vexing agronomic challenges
facing Kansas wheat farmers
today are very likely trapped in the
world’s most unique collection of
wheat and wheat-related genetic
material, located in Throckmorton
Hall at Kansas State University.
That is the home of the Wheat
Genetics Resource Center, where
researchers work to develop new
strains of resistance to pathogens
like leaf, stem and stripe rust; tan
spot, wheat streak mosaic virus,
fusarium head blight and barley
yellow dwarf virus. They do so
by testing the ability of ancient
plants – wild wheat relativess – to
withstand the same pathogens.
These plants, and many more that
are gathered each year, are grown
in the WGRC greenhouses and
screened for resistance by Bikram
Gill, university distinguished
professor at K-State, and his team
of scientists.
“Our goal is to see what
resistance they have in them, cross
them with improved cultivars and
get the genes
from the
“Our work has had a $100
wild species
million impact on the Great
into modern
Plains.” - Bikram Gill, WGRC
wheat
varieties,”
said Jon Raupp, senior scientist at
the WGRC.
More than 3,700 species are
housed in the WGRC collection.
Each has been grown in the
WGRC’s greenhouses on the
K-State campus, and seeds
collected from this generation of
plants are screened for their ability
to withstand a host of diseases and
insects.
Follow Kansas Wheat:
Jon Raupp, senior scientist at the WGRC at
Kansas State University, inspects wild relatives
of wheat for new traits that could be inserted
into future wheat varieties. The Kansas Wheat
Commission is a major funder of the WGRC.
There are other repositories
of wheat and wheat-relative
germplasm in the world, but the
WGRC’s is the most unique. Not
only do scientists at the Center
make germplasm readily available
for other researchers to use, but they
provide a level of detail about each
cultivar that is unmatched.
“Each species is characterized
and evaluated in terms of
usefulness in crop improvement,”
Gill explained.
Since the WGRC’s inception
in 1981, the Kansas Wheat
Commission has helped fund its
operations through the Kansas
wheat checkoff. The WGRC will
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14 from the Commission.
Germplasm containing WGRC
resistance are readily released to
wheat breeders around the world.
In fact, the WGRC has released 55
germplasm species containing new
resistance to a host of pests and
viruses.
Sid Perry, wheat breeder for
WestBred’s Hard Winter wheat
breeding program near Mount
Hope, said one WGRC leaf rust trait
was instrumental in the company’s
variety, WB Stout. “There are a
number of WGRC lines represented
in various WestBred pedigrees,”
Perry said.
Gill estimated that 30% of the
wheat cultivars grown in the U.S.
contain genetic material released
by the WGRC. “Since we arrived
in 1981, our work has had a $100
million impact in the Great Plains.”
‡ Learn how the WGRC gains access
to new genetic material on page 2.