World’s first successful development of wheat that shows high productivity with less nitrogen fertilizer

―Use of ammonium to prevent nitrogen pollution and increase food production at the same time―

JIRCAS, in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), University of the Basque Country and Nihon University, has succeeded in developing biological nitrification inhibition (BNI)-enhanced wheat that shows high productivity even when the amount of nitrogen fertilizer is reduced.

The BNI-enhanced wheat was obtained by intergeneric cross of a closely related wild wheat species (Leymus racemosus) with high BNI potential and a high-yielding wheat cultivar with BNI capacity. As a result, we were able to identify the chromosome region that controls the BNI ability of the wild wheat, which enabled us to introduce the BNI ability by crossbreeding.

In addition, BNI-enhanced wheat improves soil ammonium concentration by delaying ammonium nitrification in the soil, thereby increasing wheat productivity even in low nitrogen environments. This research is also positioned as part of the “Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems, MeaDRI” of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

By adding the BNI ability derived from the wild wheat to various wheat cultivars for the world's approximately 225 million hectares of wheat-growing areas, we can expect to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from wheat farming and water pollution caused by nitrification, and mitigate global warming while improving productivity.

Authors

GV Subbarao, M Kishii, A Bozal-Leorri, I Orits-Monesterio, X Gao, MI Ibba, H Karwat, MB Gonzalez-Moro, C Gonzalez-Murua, T Yoshihashi, S Tobita, V Kommerell, HJ Braun, M Iwanaga

Title

Enlisting wild grass genes to combat nitrification in wheat farming: A nature-based solution

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of United States of America (PNAS)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106595118

JIRCAS President :   KOYAMA Osamu
Program Director :     HAYASHI Keiichi  
Principal Investigators : SUBBARAO Guntur (Crop, Livestock and Environment Division) and YOSHIHASHI Tadashi (Biological Resources and Post-harvest Division)

Press Coordinator:   OMORI Keisuke (Head, Information and Public Relations Office)
E-mail : koho-jircas@ml.affrc.go.jp