CROP BREEDING INNOVATION HUB: NIFA IWYP WINTER WHEAT BREEDING INNOVATION HUB AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Overall goal:Establish the USDA NIFA Winter Wheat Breeding Innovation Hub as a translational platform that feeds the outputs of the International Wheat Yield Partnership research projects into the pre-breeding and breeding pipelines of the public and private wheat improvement programs to increase the yield performance of US winter wheat varieties.The specific objectives of the project:1) In coordination with a steering committee comprising members of the public and private scientists and stakeholders, identify the recipient germplasm, traits and their donors for genomic-assisted breeding, manage the nomination process for new traits/alleles/QTL and recommend the appropriate breeding strategies for each.2) Build yield trait packages in elite germplasm and advanced breeding lines for testing in the pipelines of the public and private breeding programs, and implement fast breeding pipelines to accelerate the incorporation of targeted genes and traits.3) Evaluate the performance of elite and trait source germplasm, and early generation converted lines in field trials, in collaboration with public and private breeding programs.4) Develop an extension program to educate farmers, agricultural professionals and the downstream industries on genomics-assisted improvement of yield potential in wheat by stacking yield component and resistance genes.