Investment

The CAIGE program coordinates the importation, quarantine, multiplication, distribution and evaluation of bread wheat, durum wheat and barley lines from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and manages the capture and dissemination of data on the imported materials. The program derives maximum value for Australian grain growers by leveraging the enormous investment in international wheat and barley breeding. The program is coordinated by the University of Sydney under one project umbrella comprising two components; wheat, led by the University of Sydney and barley led by the University of Queensland.

This project will build on improvements in previous projects to better target and streamline germplasm identification and acquisition. New materials imported from CIMMYT and ICARDA will be carefully selected by Australian breeders to meet Australian requirements. In this iteration, lines will be selected using addition information from the CGIAR centres including genotypic and phenotypic data. The imported material will be genetically diverse but also carry potentially new genes for traits of interest to Australian breeders and grain growers. Selected lines will be phenotyped using the CGIAR's international phenotyping platforms to further narrow selections for Australian evaluation. Once imported, materials will be multiplied post-quarantine and subsequently evaluated for key disease resistances and yield in trials around Australia managed by commercial partners. Thus, complete multi-locational yield data and disease information will be available in the same year. All data are managed using the Breeding Management System and optimised trial designs and data analyses provided to all collaborators. A steering committee meets biannually to ensure the CAIGE work plan is implemented optimally, and a Breeder Reference group meets biannually to review strategy. A newsletter is distributed quarterly to inform collaborators of developments and an annual meeting of all stakeholders offers opportunity to present and discuss results.