When Norman Borlaug first came to India in 1963, millions of Indians lived from “ship to mouth,” surviving on boatloads of wheat imported from the United States. In the 50 years since, India went from producing less than 10 million tonnes of wheat a year, to record production of more than 93 million tons in 2012. That could all be compromised by the dreaded strain of wheat rust called Ug99, which has spread across Africa into Yemen and Iran. The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) Project, a collaborative effort begun in April 2008, links Cornell University with 22 research institutions and other partners around the world in an effort to mitigate that threat. One of those partners, Indu Sharma (pictured), head of the Directorate of Wheat Research in Karnal, India, was recently featured in Science magazine, discussing how wheat farmers across the country now use their cell phones to send pest sightings and general growing conditions to her agency. She will also be hosting an international gathering of scientists and policymakers–including several from CALS–in Delhi in August for the 2013 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative meeting.
According to its 2012 Annual Report, DRRW made significant strides last year, including:
- >35 plant genes identified as sources of resistance to Ug99;
- 97 high yielding lines that carry near-immune to moderately resistant adult-plant resistance responses;
- 342,598 tons of seed for rust-resistant wheat candidate varieties were available for planting in eight at-risk countries; a further ~324,000 tons were produced for Iran;
- 65,894 lines screened in international screening nurseries in Kenya and Ethiopia
