© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 77
M. Molnár-Láng et al. (eds.), Alien Introgression in Wheat,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23494-6_3
Chapter 3
Wheat Breeding: Current Status
and Bottlenecks
Zoltán Bedő and László Láng
3.1 Aims and Importance of Wheat Breeding
Wheat is traditionally one of the main food sources for mankind, providing 19 % of
the food calories and 20 % of the protein consumed by the world population (Braun
et al. 2010 ). In addition to its favourable nutritional properties and to the fact that it
can be cultivated under a wide range of conditions, its grain can be easily stored and
transported, which explains why both food reserves and the food trade are based
largely on wheat.
Over the last 50 years, the sowing area of wheat has fl uctuated over a narrow
range, being between 204 and 239 million hectares. It is grown on the largest scale
between latitudes of 30° and 60°N and 27° and 40°S, primarily in South and East
Asia, North America and Eastern Europe. The countries producing wheat on the
largest areas are the EU , China, India, Russia, the USA, Australia and Kazakhstan.
It can be grown in such a wide variety of environments partly because several dif-
ferent wheat species are cultivated, and partly because most of these species have
winter, facultative and spring types.
Common wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) is grown on the vast majority of wheat-
growing areas. The winter type has the highest yield potential, as it is able to develop
a deep root system during its long vegetation period, which helps the plants to sur-
vive dry periods and also contributes to effi cient nutrient uptake. The vegetative/
generative transition requires several weeks of cold weather (2–5 °C), i.e., the plants
have a well-defi ned vernalisation requirement. Wheat can thus be grown on areas
with a continental climate, where the winter is cold enough for vernalisation, but not
cold enough to kill the plants.
Z. B e dő (*) • L. Láng
Agricultural Institute , Centre for Agricultural Research,
Hungarian Academy of Sciences , 2462 Martonvásár , Hungary
e-mail: [email protected]