breeding
Plant breeding innovations
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Over millennia, natural selection and humans have systematically adapted the plant species that provide food and other vital products, changing their physical and genetic makeup for enhanced productivity, nutrition and resilience. Plant breeders apply science to continue improving crop varieties, making them more productive and better adapted to climate extremes, insects, drought and diseases.
New publications: Genome-wide breeding to curtail wheat blast
Environmental health and biodiversity
Researchers evaluate the use of genomic selection in wheat breeding against deadly fungal disease.
Climate change slows wheat breeding progress for yield and wide adaptation, new study finds
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Increasingly unpredictable weather poses challenges for breeding widely-adapted wheat lines, but stress tolerance breeding is boosting wheat’s hardiness under rising temperatures.
A decade of world-leading maize and wheat research
Capacity development
Legacy websites and photo exhibition mark the closing of the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat, and their impact on sustainable agricultural development.
Ravi Singh earns Lifetime Achievement award from BGRI
Environmental health and biodiversity
Renowned CIMMYT plant breeder recognized for elite wheat varieties that reduced the risk of a global pandemic and now feed hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Multi-trait genomic-enabled prediction enhances accuracy in multi-year wheat breeding trials
Innovations
Researchers found that prediction performance was highest using a multi-trait model.
CIMMYT scientists join 60th All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Meet
Innovations
Meeting highlights new varieties, production growth and strengthened collaboration through Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project.
Tracing the evolution of 50 years of maize research in CGIAR
Innovations
Publication reviews the history of CGIAR maize research from 1970 to 2020.
New CIMMYT maize hybrids available from Latin America breeding program
Innovations
CIMMYT is offering a new set of improved maize hybrids to partners, to scale up production for farmers in these areas.
When it comes to maize variety choices, can farmers have it all?
Varietal trait prioritization is important for balancing commercial realities and farmers’ diverse interests.
Buying into new seed
Climate adaptation and mitigation
A mock shop helps researchers understand how Kenyan farmers choose maize seed when their preferred varieties are out of stock.
CIMMYT releases 12 new maize lines
Innovations
CIMMYT maize lines CML604A to CML615A are adapted to tropical maize production environments.
Digitization equipment set to accelerate Kenya’s breeding programs
Capacity development
New equipment will speed up and enhance the accuracy of national breeding processes including seed preparation, data collection and inventory management.
Can we create a climate-resistant coffee in time?
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Source: The Guardian (27 Apr 2021)
Matthew Reynolds talked to The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast about the process of creating climate- and heat-resistant crops.
New zinc-fortified wheat set for global expansion to combat malnutrition
Nutrition, health and food security
Source: Reuters (15 Apr 2021)
Scientists at CIMMYT expect to sharply ramp up new wheat varieties enriched with zinc that can boost the essential mineral for millions of poor people with deficient diets.