The workshop “Bridging Fundamental Research and Applied Wheat Breeding – Improving Yield, Climate Resilience, and Resource Use Efficiency in Wheat” brought top scientists to the JKI in Berlin-Dahlem.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has established a strong foundation for new corn and wheat varieties, many of which exhibit improved heat and drought tolerance, according to a press release. As a key player in crop breeding and an important research partner for the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), CIMMYT recently facilitated a workshop in Berlin, held on Feb. 11-12, 2025.
Organized by JKI and CIMMYT, the workshop brought together representatives from various European research institutions to foster collaboration between basic research (pre-breeding) and applied breeding. The 50 selected participants exchanged ideas on scientific approaches and methods while presenting and discussing their findings.
Topics covered included genome editing, pangenome formation using advanced sequencing methods, and modeling genotype-environmental-management interactions. Discussions addressed plant-microorganism interactions in the root zone, factors influencing plant architecture and metabolic pathways, and genetic variations related to root traits. Additionally, in light of climate change and extreme weather, sessions focused on stress tolerance, yield stability, source-sink relationships, and the effects of rising CO2 levels on these characteristics.
Experts from various disciplines identified a key challenge in generating large, suitable datasets, standardizing them, and processing them effectively. In the future, AI approaches will play a crucial role in this processing. Collaborative community research can help address these challenges.
“For CIMMYT, this workshop was important to use the knowledge generated in the European research landscape for our work aimed at ensuring food security in the Global South. In return, we were able to take the opportunity to pass on our findings and selected results from our worldwide field trials to European partners,” said Prof. Dr. Bram Govaerts, the Director General of the International Center for the Improvement of Corn and Wheat, in Spanish Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo, CIMMYT for short.
“I am pleased that we organized this high-level workshop together with CIMMYT, in the course of which a great interest in the exchange between basic research and applied wheat research became clear,” says Prof. Dr. Frank Ordon the President of the Julius Kühn Institute.
