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Higher Wheat Yields and Protein Content on the Horizon

Higher Wheat Yields and Protein Content on the Horizon

A team of international researchers has discovered a way to produce higher quality wheat. The scientists from the University of Adelaide and the UK's John Innes Centre have identified a genetic driver that improves yield traits in wheat, which unexpectedly can also lead to increasing protein content by up to 25 percent.

"Little is known about the mechanism behind drivers of yields and  in wheat production," said the University of Adelaide's Dr. Scott Boden, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine who led the research.

"Discovering a gene that controls these two factors has the potential to help generate new wheat varieties that produce higher quality grain.

"As wheat accounts for nearly 20 percent of protein consumed worldwide, the impact of this research can significantly benefit society by providing grains with a higher protein content, which could therefore help produce more , such as bread and ."

The work is the first known example where a forward-genetics screen of a mutant population has been used to identify a gene that controls reproductive development in wheat and insights from this research has the potential to help improve the nutritional and economic value of wheat.

"The genetic variation we identified provides a 15-25 percent increase in protein content for plants grown in the field. These varieties also produce extra spikelets, known as paired spikelets," said Dr. Boden.

"We have not yet detected an increase in yield with the extra spikelets, but we hope a yield increase might come in elite varieties grown by farmers.

"The increase in protein content occurs without the trade-off of a reduced yield so this discovery has even better potential to provide  to breeders and growers than just the increased  by itself.

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Grains on Tap | Episode 1: MP Branden Leslie

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Our journey through the corridors of power and the fields of grain begins with a special guest, Branden Leslie, Member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar and a proud alumnus of the Grain Growers of Canada. Branden, a native of Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, brings a wealth of knowledge from his time as a political advisor and his tenure as the manager of policy and government relations with the GGC, to his recent election to the House of Commons.

As we sit down with Branden on a late Friday afternoon, fresh from his duties at the House of Commons, we'll dive into the intersection of agriculture and politics, his journey from advocacy to elected office, and how these experiences shape his views on the future of Canadian agriculture. And, as we're doing this over a couple of well-deserved beers, we'll also touch on the lighter side of life, including Brandon's recent venture into fatherhood.