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Disease-resistant wheat varieties debut in KenyaNew seeds are resistant to wheat stem rust (Ug99) - Multinational programme supported by FAO and IAEA 6 September 2013, Vienna/Rome - A multinational effort supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency and FAO marked a key milestone this week when a Kenyan university debuted two new varieties of disease-resistant wheat to the nation's farmers. Supporting the development of the new varieties were the IAEA's Technical Cooperation Department and the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. Ug 99 "Improving food security in developing countries through the use of nuclear techniques is an important priority of the IAEA," said IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano. "I am pleased that we have been able to make an important contribution to fighting wheat stem rust." "Wheat rusts, particularly the Ug99 strain, are a major threat to food security because rust epidemics can result in devastating yield losses. This international project involving affected countries, plant scientists and breeders and international organizations is a major breakthrough. It clearly shows the benefits of FAO/IAEA collaboration and that working together we can overcome the challenges we face," said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva. The rust-resistant wheat varieties were developed with the support of an IAEA technical cooperation project, Responding to the Transboundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust (Ug99), which involved more than 20 nations and international organizations. The varieties were developed using a nuclear technique for crop improvement known as mutation breeding. By exposing seeds, or plant tissue, to radiation, scientists accelerate the natural process of mutation, and then breeders are able to select and develop new varieties. In 2009, Miriam Kinyua, a Kenyan plant breeder, sent 10 kilograms of five varieties of wheat seed to the FAO/IAEA laboratories in Seibersdorf, south of Vienna, where they were irradiated for mutation breeding. These seeds were returned to Kenya where they were planted in a hot spot for the disease for screening and selection. Kinyua and her colleagues at the University of Eldoret's Biotechnology Department identified eight lines resistant to Ug99. Four of these lines were submitted to Kenyan national performance trials, and two were officially approved as varieties by the national committee of the Ministry of Agriculture. About six tonnes of seeds of the new varieties will be made available this month for the next planting season in Kenya. |
[2013 103/en] Tools for journalists & editors
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