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Volume 4, Issue 3 (Suppl) Adv Crop Sci Tech
ISSN: 2329-8863 ACST, an open access journal
Page 49
Notes:
Plant Genomics 2016
July 14-15, 2016
conferenceseries.com
July 14-15, 2016 Brisbane, Australia
4th International Conference on Plant Genomics
Developing climate resilient wheat
Kulvinder S Gill
Washington State University, USA
To meet the food security demands of growing human population, yield of majority of the crop plants needs to be doubled by 2050
while dealing with the climate change. With the increasing temperature trends and unusual climatic changes, crops in future
climates will experience frequent temperature extremes causing significant yield losses. Heat stress is a serious challenge to wheat
production as every 1 °C increase above the optimal temperature results in 4-5% yield loss. Rainfed areas of the US are projected to
decrease wheat production by 20-40% due to climate change. Thus, developing climate resilient wheat is crucial in today’s context.
As a public-private partnership, Feed the Future Innovation lab-Climate Resilient Wheat is developing heat tolerant varieties by
exploiting natural variation. A short period of heat stress during germination had serious and long-term effect on plant development
and yield. A ten-day heat stress at germination reduced germination percentage, coleoptile length and yield. Sugars availability maybe
a reason for the effect on germination as external application of sucrose showed significant recovery in germination percentage and
coleoptile length. Heat stress during vegetative phase significantly affected tiller number, flowering time, pollen fertility, plant height
and yield. During the reproductive stage, heat stress adversely affected photosynthesis and increased membrane disintegration due to
decreased chlorophyll index and increased ROS and lipid peroxidase activity. The identified heat tolerant lines will be used to transfer
the trait into wheat cultivars by simultaneous detection and utilization of QTLs. Various molecular and physiological studies for the
trait are underway and update will be presented.
Biography
Kulvinder S Gill has completed his PhD from Kansas State University followed by Postdoctoral studies at the same university for about 3 years. He is the Professor
and Director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab: Climate Resilient Wheat. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals. His research program
focuses on understanding and utilizing chromosome pairing control in polyploids, developing alternate dwarfing gene systems for wheat and on using modern tools
and technologies for crop improvement.
Kulvinder S Gill, Adv Crop Sci Tech 2016, 4:3 (Suppl)