Biotic Stress and Crop Improvement: A Wheat Focus Around Novel Strategies - Crop Improvement: New Approaches and Modern Techniques - page 259

attributes like Karnal bunt. Minor diseases like mildew, spot blotch, BYDV, aphids,
loose smut are additive and the environmental limitations imposed by heat, water
and salinity more complex.
Increasing yield per se must receive special attention as we project forward and
for that a holistic strategy is vital that embraces both biotic/abiotic stresses com-
plimented by exploiting targeted yield traits. Details to directly increase yield are
essential to have and it is prudent to be aware how we can get more per unit area
through focused research strategies. Crucial will be “food” security that emanates
from gene and varietal deployment. The tools are there in enormous untapped close
and distant genomic diversity mines, large spikes, 1,000 grain weight, photosyn-
thetic efficiency, root profile, various phenology parameters and efficient technolo-
gies that should be exploited for practical benefit. Advocates of food security must
set targets stringently and implement. The vision 2050 is excellent if we prepare
ourselves accordingly to combat those challenges by on ground outputs that capture
the wide expanses of allele rich diversity resources. Paramount would be holistic
strategies that maintain good multidisciplinary balance, embrace integration, ex-
ploit the conventional resources, selectively tap the high technology inputs, deliver
products that can redefine the output limits that currently exist and have built in du-
rability that can sustain the produce within the national boundaries and also protect
us from the vagrancies of pathogenic migrations via environmental means.
Turbulent environmental scenarios will necessitate researchers to harness genes
from close and distant species resources distributed within the three Triticeae gene
pools and utilize efficient technologies that can add efficiency to delivering varietal
output products in a swift manner. Efforts will rely more on the primary gene pool
species and accessions but not refrain to exploit those forms that are removed and
placed in the tertiary pool. Multiple stresses will be the order of research focus ad-
dressed through multidisciplinary research protocols mediated by novel techniques
that add efficiency to breeding like limited backcrossing, selected modified bulk,
doubled haploidy for rapid homozygosity at earlier segregating generations (prefer-
ably F 3 ), molecular diagnostics (marker assisted selection, gene pyramiding, choice
of linked genes and markers) that are allele specific correlated with agronomic prac-
tices that maximize production targets that fall under crop management.
True that research is the major factor of providing food security but we can safe-
ly say that management can provide faster returns if its cohesive structure is handled
astutely to maximize production via “IMPLEMENTATION” of major contributing
strategies. Objectivity has to guide progress with “creativity” being the pivotal word
in which “diversity” takes the lead for biotic stresses across all wheat genomic
levels. Integration of all available technologies shall be essential to cope with the
projected population increases that will be dictated by availability of practical out-
puts (varieties) that have built in stability for agricultural sustainability on farmers
fields by agglomeration of genes that offer disease resistance durability that can
tackle the volatile dynamic nature of the pathogenic interplay as well as possessing
abiotic tolerance for traits that have a static system and thus generally have a longer
performance tolerance life. For biotic stresses and use of genomic resources for im-
provement the diversity combination permutations are excessive and offer abundant