Towards better European grain crops

Wheat production in the EU has faltered in the last 20 years, mostly due to an increasingly erratic climate. There is an urgent need to improve grain crops' resilience and stability while also increasing yield to meet growing consumer demand.

The EU-funded WHEALBI (Wheat and barley legacy for breeding improvement) research effort aims to address this problem by creating more productive and resilient wheat and barley strains using a multidisciplinary approach. Genetics, genomics, ecophysiology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, agronomics and socioeconomics will all contribute to improving the EU's wheat and barley production.

WHEALBI researchers began by collecting more than 500 different strains of both wheat and barley for further study. These are being used for both breeding trials and genetic research.

Researchers have begun seven winter trials for wheat and five trials for barley, in various locations around Europe. These field trials will show which cultivars are best suited to different climates. WHEALBI is also breeding different strains of wheat and barley, searching for more resilient new breeds.

On the genetics side, researchers have thus far reviewed the literature to find the appropriate tools and methods to use. Work has begun on a software tool for processing genetic data.

Another aspect of the project is figuring out the best quality and environmental traits to use in a computer simulation of wheat agriculture called SiriusQuality2.

This work will contribute new, more resilient wheat and barley strains, and provide software tools to help breeders advance more effective breeding programmes.