---
title: Researchers Seek Ancient Answers to Safeguard Modern Wheat Strains
date: 2022-02-11T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/researchers-seek-ancient-answers-to-safeguard-modern-wheat-strains"
section: Articles
---
# Researchers Seek Ancient Answers to Safeguard Modern Wheat Strains

*February 11, 2022* — by [Kimbra Cutlip](/author/kimbra-cutlip)


> $800K USDA Grant Supports Method to Breed in Pathogen, Pest Resistance  

*I Stock 465910852 1920x1080 — UMD researchers are seeking to breed increased disease and pest resistance into modern wheat (below, at left) using an ancient form of the grain (right).*

A University of Maryland-led international team of researchers is working to identify genes for pathogen and pest resistance in an ancient species of wild wheat, with the goal of breeding tolerance traits into domestic varieties of the vital staple crop.

The effort, supported by a new $799,775 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) could help safeguard a crop that provides[ 20% of all calories](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-013-0263-y) consumed globally.

The three-year plant breeding partnership is led Vijay Tiwari, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, whose work was instrumental in[ sequencing the wheat genome](https://agnr.umd.edu/news/assistant-professor-puts-umd-small-grains-breeding-and-genetics-program-map-receiving) in 2018.

“Our goal is that by the end of this three-year cycle, we will have identified some very unique genes that provide resistance against a list of nearly a dozen pathogens that affect wheat crops around the world,” he said. “And we hope to have cross-bred these traits from einkorn”—a distant ancestor of domesticated wheat—”into bread wheat.”

Considered a foundation of human civilization, the wheat we eat today has been cultivated over thousands of years to produce desirable traits such as large grains and high yields. But modern wheat lacks the genetic diversity that is essential for adaptation to emerging threats such as a changing environment, pests and diseases. As the global population continues to expand, modern wheat producers will need more resilient forms of wheat to continue feeding the world.


*Hand showing one larger and one smaller stalk of wheat*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Plant Science and Landscape Architecture](https://today.umd.edu/topic/plant-science-and-landscape-architecture), [Research Impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Agriculture and Natural Resources](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-agriculture-and-natural-resources)