Shuttle breeding for wheat, a strategy created by 1970 Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr. Norman Borlaug, was put under the technical microscope by CIMMYT’s team of more than 30 wheat scientists in a forum held at the research station in Ciudad Obregón, in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora State, northwest Mexico, during 30 March-02 April. The issue? Does the method still deliver the best new wheat varieties to the world’s most vulnerable wheat farmers? The wheat group’s answer: Yes, but...

In shuttle breeding at CIMMYT, two different experiment stations in Mexico are used back-to-back to develop new wheats. This is part of conventional breeding—that is, the careful cross-pollination of thousands of plants and the selection of offspring with desirable traits. The two main locations used are the Ciudad Obregón station, a dry site situated at sea level in northwest Mexico, and Toluca, a cool highland environment near Mexico City. Since day length, temperatures, diseases, and other conditions differ radically between the two sites, wheat lines that prosper at both are automatically adapted to many growing environments. As an added bonus, by immediately moving the selected seed from one location to the other, it is possible to grow two generations a year, halving the time required for developing a new variety.

However, CIMMYT’s team of breeders, biotech specialists, pathologists, physiologists, and agronomists has lately been applying cutting-edge molecular breeding approaches to help deliver new, relevant wheat varieties more quickly, and some felt that certain of the new methods could provide the benefits of shuttle breeding at a lower cost. In addition, most needy wheat farmers that CIMMYT serves are located not in Mexico but in many other, much more marginal settings of the developing world.

During the Obregón meeting, the wheat group evaluated the shuttle approach in round-table discussions that included input from John Dixon, director of the Impacts Targeting and Assessment Program, and considered data from geographic information systems, international trials, genotype adaptation studies, and economic analyses of shuttle breeding, to name a few areas of expertise. This examination was prefaced by a lively email debate to which CIMMYT wheat scientists worldwide contributed.

The conclusion? The shuttle approach still gives good value for the investment, especially in the early stages of breeding. But the group also recommended that breeding of certain lines be moved closer to their target areas, to maximize possible adoption in places with very specific requirements.

The continued relevance of one of CIMMYT’s most time-honored breeding practices was one of several scientific questions intensely debated at the Obregón event. According to wheat group leader, Richard Trethowan, such discussions are part of CIMMYT’s continuous efforts to deliver the best wheat science most likely to impact the livelihoods of the rural poor. “In the next couple months, the team will move forward on the plans we’ve made here,” says Trethowan. “We’ll be tackling some of the key issues confronting wheat improvement at CIMMYT today.” To achieve this, they will focus on applying biotechnology, restoring training programs, and improving partnerships, to name a few activities.

The meeting itself was also a guinea pig to demonstrate and test a new way of working together. As part of a pilot project on better methods of knowledge management and with the help of talented facilitators, the wheat group broke with many traditional norms associated with scientific meetings. Instead of formal presentations and other, often superfluous practices, the group went back to the basics and met in an open circle. After deciding their own agenda, the participants dispersed into smaller discussions, mulled over topics, and pinned down action plans. Among other outcomes, a special on-line forum was created that allows the scientists to “get together” no matter where they are.

“This was a very fruitful exchange with colleagues,” says Julie Nicol, a CIMMYT wheat pathologist based in Turkey, “I believe it served to develop our science and improve wheat production systems, and I look forward to future meetings.”