Early Mexican wheats:
The past unlocks the future

Centuries ago, Spanish monks brought wheat to Mexico to use in Roman Catholic religious ceremonies. The genetic heritage of some of these “sacramental wheats” lives on in farmers’ fields. CIMMYT researchers have led the way in collecting and characterizing these first wheats, preserving their biodiversity, and using them as sources of traits like disease resistance and drought tolerance.

“I’d say to Bent: ‘let’s look for the cemetery,’ ” recalls Julio Huerta, CIMMYT wheat pathologist, of his trips to villages in Mexico with his late colleague Bent Skovmand, CIMMYT wheat genetic resource expert (pictured left , above, with CIMMYT wheat physiologist Mattew Reynolds). “And the sacramental wheats would be there, sometimes hundreds of types.”