(Rothamsted Research and the University of Reading) Wheat Production and Improvement in the UK Peter Shewry (Rothamsted Research and the University of Reading)

Wheat is the major arable crop in the UK Total area of crops grown in UK, June 2014 Source: Defra Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2013 and 2014

UK crop-based agriculture (2014) Area (million ha) Yield (t/ha) Production (million tonnes) Wheat 1.936 8.6 14.38 Barley 1.08 6.4 6.91 Oilseed rape 0.67 3.6 2.46 Sugar beet 0.12 80.1 9.31 Potatoes 0.14 42.0 5.92 Oats 4.0 0.06 Pulses 0.014 6.0 0.82 Defra Agriculture in the UK 2014

Major wheat-growing areas in the UK 3 More than 50% cereals 40-50% cereals 20-40% cereals Less than 20% cereals

Wheat consumption in the UK: % usage of flour milled Total wheat production: 15 million tonnes/pa Total flour production: 5 million tonnes/pa Source: NABIM

Long and short term trends in wheat yields UK YIELDS 1988-2008 Recommended list Farmers 1888 2008

BBSRC Spend on Crops and “models”

Institutions with wheat spend *

a cross institutional strategic programme for wheat improvement 2011-2017 www.wheatisp.org

Designing Future Wheat Germplasm (Historic collections, mapping populations, synthetics, introgressions Topic 1 Optimizing ideotypes Topic 2 Durable resistance to pathogens and pests Enhancing resource use Increased efficiency and sustainability Added value and resilience Healthy grain TRAITS Improved data access and analysis (Post genomics, tools, databases and bioinformatics) Stakeholders 2016

Challenges for Wheat Quality in Europe Major priorities Reduce N requirement for growing high yielding bread making wheats Increase stability of yield and quality Improve health benefits: increase dietary fibre amount and composition

Diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012. Higher blood glucose was responsible for an additional 2.2 million deaths Many of these deaths (43%) occur under the age of 70 422 million people had diabetes in 2014 (8.5% of adults) The prevalence has increased for the past 30 years and is growing most rapidly in low- and middle-income countries Associated risk factors such as being overweight or obese are increasing. Diabetes is an important cause of blindness, kidney failure, lower limb amputation and other conditions. April 2016

Diabetes in Turkey: an Example Increased from 7.2% to 13.7% of adults between 1998 and 2010 Estimated to affect 7.2 million adults (3 million undiagnosed) Consumes almost a quarter of Turkish health care budget Source: Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology March 2016

Whole Grains and Health The Benefits of Wholegrain 1999: FDA Approval of health claim submitted by General Mills: “Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers." Whole Grains and Health Symposium VTT, Espoo, 2001 2005-2010 EU FP6

The benefits of wholegrain wheat relate largely to the dietary fibre content: 11.5 to 15.5% (mean 13.4%) (data from analyses of 129 winter wheat lines) Also resistant starch (2-3% total starch?) Source: Andersson et al. Food Chem 2013 136: 1243-1248

Cardio-metabolic health Conclusions of the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition on Carbohydrates and Health: Benefits of Fibre Cardio-metabolic health CVD TDF, insoluble fibre, soluble fibre, total cereals, wholegrains coronary events TDF, insoluble fibre, cereal fibre, high fibre breakfast cereals stroke TDF, wholegrains hypertension wholegrains blood pressure Oat bran/oat or barley β-glucans blood lipids and cholesterol Type 2 diabetes TDF, insoluble fibre, soluble fibre, cereal fibre, high fibre breakfast cereals, whole grain bread, wholegrains Colo-rectal health faecal weight TDF, wheat fibre, non-wheat cereal fibre intestinal transit time constipation cereal fibre colo-rectal cancer TDF, cereal fibre colon cancer TDF, cereal fibre, wholegrains rectal cancer

The content and composition of DF varies between tissues with the major components being arabinoxylan (AX) and β-glucan (BG) White flour 2-3% TDF Cell Walls 70% AX 20% BG 10% other Aleurone 60 AX 29% BG 11% other Pericarp 60% GAX 30% cellulose 10% lignin Bran 45-50 %TDF ALSO Fructans Raffinose Resistant Starch Embryo AX BG

The contents of soluble and total AX fibre vary widely in bran and white flour of 150 wheat lines Data of Kurt Gebruers, Christophe Courtin and Jan Delcour (KU Leuven)

But most wheat products are Kyrghystan But most wheat products are made with white flour UK China Turkey Palestine India Yemen

Exploiting natural variation in AX: improved poultry feed Yumai 34 x Ukrainka F5 RILs Relative viscosity AX content Yumai 34 Control

UK : Turkey Wheat Workshop Konya and Cappadocia, May 2016 30 Senior scientists from UK, Turkey, CIMMYT and ICARDA Aims: Discuss sources of variation in traits of common interest: drought and heat stress, yield potential, grain quality, resistance to Septoria and other pathogens 2. Share novel technologies for improving the efficiency of breeding, particularly applied genomics and markers and automated field phenomics 3. Identify collaborative activities including exchanges of expertise and germplasm, providing training to students and young scientists and mechanisms for funding joint programmes 4. Provide an opportunity for UK scientists to examine Turkish germplasm in the field, including traditional land races.