Increasing Wheat Yield by Enhancing Plant Architecture

The U.S. is the largest wheat exporter globally, yet the competitiveness of U.S. wheat, both globally and domestically, is declining significantly. Planted acreage is down thirty percent since the 1980s, in large part due to competition from other crops with higher returns. Net returns to farmers from wheat are consistently half or less than that from corn and soy. Further, the rate of growth in wheat yield has stalled and historically has grown at one fourth that of corn (USDA ERS). The Economic Research Service posits that genetic improvement of wheat has been slower due to the complexity of the wheat genome and the lower value capture opportunities for the private sector from investments in research (USDA Wheat Baseline 2012-21). The competitiveness of U.S. wheat will depend upon reversing these trends, including stimulating yield growth rates through private sector investment.With the aim of increasing yield in wheat, we have used TILLING, a reverse genetics tool, to identify novel alleles of candidate wheat yield genes in tetraploid and hexaploid wheat. These alleles will be evaluated for the ability to alter wheat architecture and improve yield in the greenhouse and field during the scope of this proposal. Following successful field trials, Arcadia will license these technologies for commercialization through one or more of our current wheat partners. As a non-GM technology, products from TILLING can rapidly advance to commercialization and do not face market or regulatory restrictions. With a conservative 5% increase in yield, the yearly value creation to the U.S. farmer is estimated at over $30/hectare. In addition, the value of higher yielding wheat varieties to a seed company arising from this research in the U.S. alone is more than $40 million annually. In summary, by incorporating favorable alleles of plant architecture genes into a commercial wheat breeding program we believe we can make a significant contribution to improving yield in this vital food crop.