3-7 FB Drought Wheat.doc

 U-Idaho Wheat Breeder to Study Wheat, Barley Water- and Fertilizer-use Efficiency

A $750,000 project to analyze the water- and fertilizer-use efficiency of 3,000 wheat and barley lines will occupy University of Idaho wheat breeder Jianli Chen for the next five years at the university's Aberdeen Research and Extension Center.

The project is part of a $25 million USDA-funded project led by University of California at Davis wheat geneticists to develop new varieties of wheat and barley to help farmers prepare for climate change. Here’s Dr. Chen: “ Idaho is a desert environment and our agriculture, especially wheat and barley, depend on irrigation.”

Chen’s preliminary research into drought stress supported by the Idaho Wheat Commission helped her to become a key part in the grant to do screening for water and nitrogen use efficiency. I asked her if, in the face of certain climate change that will bring less water to Idaho, if she was optimistic and her answer was comforting. YES!