Target Crops

Wheat

Micronutrients such as iron, zinc, and vitamin A are so named because the human body needs minute amounts of each to stay healthy. A diet that provides insufficient amounts of these elements can seriously undermine human health. In emerging countries, particularly in South and West Asia, where the population does not regularly consume foods that contain enough micronutrients, many people, especially women and children, suffer the debilitating effects of deficiency. If nutritionally enriched wheat were widely available in those countries, the malnourished poor who eat wheat every day would automatically receive more iron, zinc, and vitamin A without having to take supplements or purchase more expensive foods.

Main objective

The main objective of the wheat component of HarvestPlus is to develop nutritionally enhanced wheat varieties that will automatically increase people’s intake of these essential dietary elements. Given that CIMMYT-derived spring bread wheat varieties are planted on 80% of the global spring wheat area, the impact of nutritionally enhanced wheat is expected to be wide-ranging.

Specific activities

For enriched grain to reach malnourished populations in the developing world, nutritionally enhanced varieties must also be high yielding and resistant to diseases, or farmers will not adopt them. Wheat varieties should have 50 to 80% more iron and zinc, and improved levels of beta-carotene (precursor of vitamin A) to make a difference in the lives of the micronutrient-deficient. To develop enriched wheats for the target countries (India and Pakistan, initially), we will:

• Screen and identify genetically diverse sources of high iron, zinc and beta-carotene that exist within wheat materials (99% of the accessions in CIMMYT’s wheat genebank remain to be screened).
• Cross high iron and zinc lines with high yielding, disease resistant wheat varieties.
• Gain an understanding of the genetics of high iron, zinc, and beta-carotene content and identify alternative gene systems so that genetic markers and/or “foreign” genes can be used to aid and accelerate conventional plant breeding.
• Incorporate promising gene systems into advanced materials adapted to South Asia through marker assisted breeding.

At the end of the project, we will deliver more nutritious wheat varieties to the national agricultural research systems of target countries for further testing and dissemination.

Achievements to Date

Research aimed at developing wheat varieties with higher levels of iron and zinc in the grain has been conducted at CIMMYT for the past five years, in collaboration with IFPRI, the University of Adelaide, and the Plant and Soils Nutrition Laboratory (PSNL) at Cornell University. This work was part of an earlier CGIAR initiative on micronutrients.

During that time CIMMYT screened approximately 1500 genebank accessions, including released varieties, landraces, wild relatives, and synthetic wheats. To date the best sources of high iron and zinc content in the grain are the wild relatives of wheat. The best donor lines have 50 to 100% more iron and zinc in the grain. Although most are low yielding and have shriveled grains, some are high yielding advanced lines. Since only about 1% of the materials in CIMMYT’s wheat genebank have been tested, the probabilities of finding better lines than we already have identified are good.

It is difficult to estimate at this point how much we can increase beta-carotene content in the grain. Initial screenings reveal that the main pigment in yellow wheat varieties tested so far is not associated with beta-carotene, which is what is needed. We are continuing to search for sources with beta-carotene as the main pigment, but if not successful, we will explore a genetic engineering approach.

Crosses between high yielding, disease resistant varieties and lines with high iron and zinc content are at an advanced stage of development. The progeny of these crosses should be available for field and laboratory studies in two years.

Project Facts

Crop leader: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

Institutional partners: Michigan State University, University of Adelaide, Emory University, Freiburg University, Wageningen University, Cornell University, Kansas State University, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Tropical Agriculture Center (CIAT), and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Location of research: CIMMYT/Mexico; University of Adelaide, Australia; Cornell University, USA; Wageningen University, the Netherlands, the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Denmark

Contact Information

Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio (i.ortiz-monasterio@cgiar.org) at CIMMYT, Wheat Crop Leader

Howard Bouis (h.bouis@cgiar.org) at IFPRI, Director of HarvestPlus, the Biofortification Challenge Program.

HarvestPlus Publications

Wheat Brochure
English (332 KB)
Español (107 KB)

Publications on Wheat