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Kai Voss-Fels on the wheat test site.Credit: Kai Voss-Fels
The myth that modern wheat varieties are more dependent on pesticides and fertilizers is debunked by new research published in Plants Nature June 17th.
The main author of the article, Dr. Kai Voss-Fels, a researcher at the University of Queensland, stated that modern wheat crop varieties outperform older varieties under growing conditions optimal and difficult.
"Some believe that the intensive selection and breeding that has produced the high-yielding wheat cultivars used in modern cropping systems has also made modern wheat less resistant and more dependent on chemicals to grow," said Dr. Voss-Fels.
"However, the data unequivocally show that modern wheat varieties outperform older varieties, even under conditions of reduced quantities of fertilizers, fungicides and water," he said. .
"We also found that the genetic diversity within the modern wheat gene pool, often criticized, is rich enough to generate an additional 23% increase in yields."
Dr. Voss-Fels said the results might surprise some farmers and environmentalists.
"Many people will be amazed at the harshness of modern wheat varieties, even in difficult growing conditions, such as drought, and using less chemical inputs."
Mr Voss-Fels said the results could have potentially important consequences for increasing the productivity of organic farming systems. "It has been widely accepted that older wheat cultivars are more robust and resilient, but it is actually modern cultivars that work best in optimal and suboptimal conditions."
Wheat is the most important food crop in the world.
However, with reduced global wheat yields due to droughts in recent years and increased climate risk anticipated in the future, the hardiness of modern wheat varieties is an issue of global importance.
The study is believed to provide the most detailed description of the consequences of intensive selection and genetic selection on the high grain yield and badociated traits of European wheat over the last 50 years.
It was headed by Professor Rod Snowdon of the University Justus-Liebig Gießen (JLU), also honorary professor at the UQ, in collaboration with seven other German universities.
The genetic badysis was undertaken at QAAFI under the direction of Professor Ben Hayes.
The first part of the study consisted of testing 200 wheat varieties essential for agriculture in Western Europe over the past 50 years.
Performance was compared between these varieties when tested side by side under high, medium and low chemical input conditions. The second part of the study was undertaken at QAAFI, in order to match performance differences with the genetic makeup of different varieties.
"This genetic information allows us to take the discovery to a higher level," says Dr. Voss-Fels.
"We can use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to predict the optimal crossovers needed to bring together the most favorable segments as quickly as possible."
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