SA Graan July 2018

he Winter Cereal Trust and Technology and Human Re

sources for Industry Programme have invested in a rust

resistance wheat pre-breeding programme at Stellenbosch

University’s Plant Breeding Laboratory (SU-PBL) since 1998.

he pre-breeding programme is based on a male sterility mediated

marker assisted recurrent selection scheme, which was concep

tualised and developed by the plant breeding laboratory.

Why pre-breeding?

Pre-breeding is one of the most effective ways to achieve the intro-

duction of existing and/or novel genes and/or traits into breeding

programmes. Typically, material stemming from such a pre-breed-

ing effort, usually done in the public domain, is then introduced into

private and/or commercial breeding programmes as crossing par-

ents and/or by direct selection. Thereby breeding programmes are

enabled to achieve quicker, better results.

Proven versatility of

developed germplasm

The plant breeding laboratory was able to release annual nurseries

consisting of several hundreds of lines that were used as crossing

parents and/or as direct introductions by recipient breeding pro-

grammes for more than a decade addressing mostly disease resist-

ance. Although the primary focus of the pre-breeding effort has

been on rust resistance through a concerted effort, the base popu-

lation has been improved to also display acceptable quality char-

acteristics, a competitive grain yield and agrotype which assist in

making nursery lines acceptable crossing parents for collaborators’

breeding programmes.

The material from the population, although aimed at a pheno-

type suitable for the Western Cape production area, has also

proved suitable for use under irrigation and in other diverse dry

land conditions.

Establishment of platform

With improved grain yield being the foremost identified need

from a producer’s perspective, Grain SA facilitated the establish-

ment of the National Wheat Breeding Platform in 2015, funded by the

Department of Science and Technology as part of the national Bio-

economy strategy, with the aim of improving on-farm grain yields.

The SU-PBL, ARC-Small Grain, Sensako and Pannar are all partici-

pants in the platform and during 2016 the Winter Cereal Trust also

started making funding available. On 31 October last year the then

minister of the Department of Science and Technology, Naledi

Pandor, officially launched the venture during a visit to the Welgeval-

len experimental farm, Stellenbosch.

Pre-breeding aimed at yield improvement

Internationally a lot of momentum is currently gathering in this field

and South Africa therefore desperately needs to capitalise on the

new developments with regards to wheat genetics, improved breed-

ing methodology and the complimentary agronomic practises that

are currently being implemented. Given the proven track record of

developed germplasm, versatility of the base population, experience

in seed production and surrounding logistics in the distribution of

nurseries, the plant breeding laboratory’s pre-breeding programme

was dramatically expanded with the aim to include specifically

yield related traits.

Objectives

In order to realise this new emphasis several objectives, formulated

as work packages, were identified and are currently being pursued.

The first is stakeholder engagement which is vital to making a

modern-day pre-breeding programme a success as well as mak-

ing it relevant. Stakeholders in the programme comprise of the

Relevant

Willem Botes,

senior lecturer and head: Plant Breeding Laboratory, Stellenbosch University and

research leader for the DST-Grain SA National Wheat Breeding Platform

Julie 2018

Currently more than a dozen students are reliant on the programme for

their projects and are contributing to the success of it.