What is Wheat CAP?
Coordinated Agricultural Project for Wheat is a multi-state, multi-institution project, funded by USDA/CSREES dedicated to the genetic improvement of US wheat through research, education and extension. A primary goal is to implement marker assisted selection (MAS) in more than 25 public wheat breeding programs.
A few facts about wheat
US wheat breeders are constantly improving wheat quality, yield, disease and pest resistance to maintain and expand domestic and international markets. Most of the wheat varieties grown in the US (78%) are developed by public wheat breeding programs. Each breeding program targets traits most important to its region. Wheat breeding programs develop varieties for 10 different wheat market classes, aimed at different end-products, such as bread, pasta and cookies. Each market class has different quality requirements. High quality adds value to wheat for producers and end- users. Each region has different pest and disease problems. Breeding for resistance decreases grower cost, increases yield and quality and is good for the environment.
Marker Assisted Selection
The molecular technique that uses markers to track genes is called marker assisted selection (MAS). Wheat CAP members are using MAS to select for a variety of quality traits (MAS traits).
Contact Information
Jamie Sherman (JSherman@Montana.edu) is the educational coordinator for the MASWheat project, you can contact her for comments and further information related to education and outreach.