Optimizing wheat development to a range of winter climates.
Hirsz D, Dixon LE
Climate Adaptation
The bread, pasta, and cereals on your grocery store shelves depend on wheat farmers being able to predict when their crop will flower each spring—and erratic winters are making that harder to guarantee.
Wheat is a plant that uses winter cold and the lengthening days of spring as signals to know when to flower and set grain. Climate change is making winters less consistent, which confuses the plant and can throw off its growth cycle. Researchers are studying which genes control these responses so they can breed wheat varieties that stay flexible and productive even when the winter doesn't follow its usual patterns.
Key Findings
Wheat flowering is primarily controlled by the combination of day length (photoperiod) and temperature cues, making it highly sensitive to shifts in winter climate patterns.
Winter-grown wheat varieties are especially vulnerable because they depend on sufficient cold exposure and the transition to longer spring days to develop properly and achieve high yields.
Breeding climate-resilient wheat requires tailoring the genetic response so plants can survive variable winters without needing a 'standard' cold season every year.
chevron_right Technical Summary
As winters become less predictable due to climate change, wheat crops—which rely on cold temperatures and longer spring days to flower at the right time—face growing risks of crop failure or reduced yields. Scientists are working to identify the genes that control how wheat responds to winter conditions so they can breed more resilient varieties.
Abstract Preview
The effects of climate change are highly disruptive for reliable and sustainable crop production as crops have been regionally adapted to respond favourably to a set of regular, combined environmen...
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