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  Reuters 8 Feb 06
Grasses helping wheat survive climate change

LONDON (Reuters) - Wild grasses that survive well in hot, dry places are helping create new drought-resistant wheat varieties, a science magazine said on Wednesday.

Scientists at the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico have cross-bred "synthetic wheats" created from emmer wheat and goat grass with conventional wheat to create varieties with up to 50 percent higher yields in drought conditions.

The technique was originally developed 15 years ago and is now beginning to show its worth with climate change, disease and drought threatening a crop that provides the main source of food for two billion people, New Scientist magazine reported.

"These relatives (of wheat) have carried on evolving in very hot, dry places," Jonathan Crouch, head of the genetic resources program at CIMMYT, told the magazine on Wednesday.

Richard Trethowan, senior wheat breeder at CIMMYT, said the new synthetic breeds are ugly but they contain valuable genes. A rise in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius could depress wheat yields by up to 15 percent in warm countries such as India and Pakistan, according to the magazine.

"If wheat production falls in those countries, you're talking about considerable social and economic instability," Trethowan said.

CIMMYT has also identified synthetic wheats with other desirable traits such as 50 percent more iron than usual or 80 percent more zinc.
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