Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and we have new technologies to strengthen
mainstream breeding efforts. For example,
Reynolds (2007) found that increasing biomass
before anthesis would increase grain yield, and
Babar et al. (2006) and Prasad et al. (2007) recently
proposed to do precisely that using spectral refl ec-
tance. New technologies to accelerate and improve
selection effi ciency are becoming a routine part of
breeding programs. Marker-assisted selection
and doubled haploid production are components
of many breeding programs today (Rajaram 2001;
Brennan and Martin 2007). Transgenic wheat
and perhaps hybrid wheat will likely be commer-
cialized in the not too distant future.
Brennan and Martin (2007) evaluated the rate
of return on new technologies in plant breeding
and suggested that savings from new technologies
can be reinvested in the breeding program to
increase genetic gain. Investments in plant breed-
ing have paid excellent rates of return (Frisvold
et al., 2003; Pardey et al., 2006). Fernandez-
Cornejo (1999) reported that rates of return on
plant breeding can vary from 30% to as much
as 90%. Wheat breeding is no exception. With
continuous investment in new technologies
and mainstream breeding, genetic gain in wheat
will accelerate and sustained yield increases of
100 kg ha
−1
yr
−1
are not unrealistic.
estimate genetic variation for in-season biomass, leaf chlo-
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Bell, M.A., R.A. Fischer, D. Byerlee, and K. Sayre. 1995.
Genetic and agronomic contributions to yield gains: A case
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improvement of agronomic traits of winter wheat cultivars
released in France from 1946 to 1992. Crop Sci.
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Brennan, J.P., and P.J. Martin. 2007. Returns to investment
in new breeding technologies. Euphytica 157:337-349.
Calderini, D.F., M.F. Dreccer, and G.A. Slafer. 1995.
Genetic-improvement in wheat yield and associated
traits—a reexamination of previous results and the latest
trends. Plant Breed. 114:108-112.
Calderini, D.F., and G.A. Slafer. 1998. Changes in yield and
yield stability in wheat during the 20th century. Field
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Chloupek, O., P. Hrstkova, and P. Schweigert. 2004. Yield
and its stability, crop diversity, adaptability and response
to climate change, weather and fertilisation over 75 years
in the Czech Republic in comparison to some European
countries. Field Crops Res. 85:167-190.
Cox, T.S., J.P. Shroyer, L. Ben-Hui, R.G. Sears, and T.J.
Martin. 1988. Genetic improvement in agronomic traits of
hard red winter wheat cultivars from 1919 to 1987. Crop
Sci. 28:756-760.
De Vita, P., O.L. Nicosia, F. Nigro, C. Platani, C. Riefolo,
N. Di Fonzo, and L. Cattivelli. 2007. Breeding progress in
morpho-physiological, agronomical and qualitative traits
of durum wheat cultivars released in Italy during the 20th
century. Eur. J. Agron. 26:39-53.
Donmez, E., R.G. Sears, J.P. Shroyer, and G.M. Paulsen.
2001. Genetic gain in yield attributes of winter wheat in
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advances in maize (
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