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

2. 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

3. 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

4. Major wheat-growing areas in the UK3
More than 50% cereals
40-50% cereals
20-40% cereals
Less than 20% cereals

5. 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

6. Long and short term trends in wheat yields
UK YIELDS
Recommended list
Farmers

7. BBSRC Spend on Crops and “models”

8. Institutions with wheat spend*

9. a cross institutional strategic programme for wheat improvement

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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
EU FP6

15. The benefits of wholegrain wheat relate largely to the dietary fibre content: 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 :

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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)

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

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

21. 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.