| Abstract |
The CIMMYT Wheat Improvement Program serves all the major wheat, triticale and barley-producing countries of the developing world. We maintain the widest possible variation in our germplasm so that advanced materials which are well suited for the important producing regions are available to our cooperators. Since its inception, the Wheat Program has endeavored to produce highyielding, broadly adapted, and disease-resistant semidwarfgennplasm. The Program's research emphasis. however, is shifting toward improved yield dependability under diverse production conditions. This shift is a deliberate attempt to better serve the changing needs of our national program cooperators, both in traditional wheatproducing countries and in those in which wheat is not a traditional crop. Because our priorities are changing, this introduction (which begins with an update of the world wheat situation) briefly describes some of the more important research we are doing in the area of yield dependability. Regional and cooperative programs, as well as the staff changes that occurred during 1982, are also discussed.In 1982. the worldwide production of wheat reached a new high of 481 million tons, with the largest production increases occurring in the USA and Canada. Despite the implementation of Government programs in the USA to reduce the area planted to wheat, unprecedented yields produced an additional 2.5 million tons of grain over the record harvest of 1981. Western Europe also enjoyed above average harvests. The EEC produced a record crop about 60 million tons, eventhough the wheat area changed little from 1981. The UK alone with an estimated yield of 6.2 Uha on 1.7 million hectares, set a new standard for commercial wheat production over a large area. Australia experienced a major drought in 1982, and production dropped to little more than half of the country's 1978- 80 average. The USSR again experienced production difficulties; they were able to harvest only 85 million tons in 1982. considerably less than the 120 million tons harvested in 1979. |
ICAR Research Data Repository for Knowledge Management