Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops worldwide, and for centuries breeders strived to adapt it to different climates, enhance yield and increase the resistance to environmental stresses, microbial pathogenes and insect pests.
In the United States wheat is unique among the major crop plants in that public sector researchers are the main providers of the new varieties farmers grow. Public varieties account for a large fraction of the wheat production in the US.
The goal of this site is to increase the competitiveness of public wheat breeding programs through the intensive use of modern selection technologies, mainly Marker Assisted Selection (MAS).
The links below present more information on MAS and our work, educational and outreach materials and detailed laboratory methods.
MAS protocols: This part of the site contains detailed protocols for marker assisted selection and general lab procedures.
Education & Outreach: Learning resources related to molecular breeding: animations, interactive training tools and documents for the general public.
This project is funded by:
The
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) project of The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI)
MASWheat leader Jorge Dubcovsky
Site maintained by Marcelo A. Soria.
Department of Plant Sciences. University of California, Davis.
Last update: July 25, 2010.
The Hessian fly section was updated and includes protocols for Hdic, H9, H13, H25, H26 and H31.
The stem rust section now has protocols for Sr22, Sr24, Sr25, Sr26 and Sr36 and Sr39
Plant Breeding: A modern career
Sections most visited in the last six months:
Training tool: Test your skills scoring glutenin gels.
The WheatCAP project (2006-2009). A section covering our previous project.
IFAFS project (2001-05). A report our first consortium-based MAS project