Transferring genes from the wild species D. villosum to wheat for increasing adaptation to sustainable agricultural systems: results from the research collaboration between Italian Universities and the University of California. Foreword

Abstract

In the short term, the use of the most fertile areas for the production of wheat, could continue to meet, at least temporarily, the worldwide demand for wheat (about + 1% per year) despite the reduction, in recent decades, of the genetic progress for grain yield per unit area. However, in the long term, effective genetic strategies to enhance the grain yield progress in the new wheat cultivars, should be pursued. If the breeders will include the wheat-Dasypyrum villosum "Introgression breeding lines" (IBLs) developed from the cooperation of the Italian and U.S.A. universities and research institutions, in the pedigree of future wheat cultivars, then further progress in cereal production meeting the sustainability standards at the national and international level, will be achieved. Through this publication, it is intended to describe the main genetic and phenotypic features of the wheat lines obtained from the introgression process of the D. villosum chromatin and genes into the wheat genomes, and on the suitability of those lines as breeding materials for the trait enhancement of the wheat lines that could be used as base material to release improved wheat cultivars for sustainable agricultural systems.