Seeds of Discovery (SeeD)

Un-tapping Crop Biodiversity for Climate Change and Sustainable Food Production

Kevin Pixley -- K.Pixley@cgiar.orgThe World Bank, 14 January 2015

CIMMYT’s Mission

Sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems for global food security

and poverty reduction

“The seriousness or magnitude of

the world food problem should not

be underestimated. Recent

success in expanding wheat, rice

and maize production in Asian

countries offers the possibility of

buying 20-30 years of time”

N.E. Borlaug, 1969 –A Green

Revolution Yields a Golden Harvest

Borlaug’s 1969 prophecy

“In the next 50 years we will need to produce as much food as has been consumed over our entire human history.”

Megan ClarkCEO of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)Australia

US Census Bureau & International Data Base, 2011

Population growth projections by region

General scientific consensus on climate change: Tropical areas will be strongly affected (drought + heat)

Sources: Krechowicz, et. al., 2010; Lobell et al 2011

The World Bank, Food Price Watch, August 2012

Concern: Food and energy price inflation may

exceed income growth of the poor

Biodiversity – the genetic resources increasingly only found in CIMMYT’s and other germplasm banks – can help breeding programs bridge the gap between current and needed rates of productivity gains.

Current breeding materials contain only a fraction of the useful genetic variation available [e.g. like the visible portion of an iceberg].

Much of the needed diversity exists, like needles in a haystack, on the shelves of gene banks.

Genomic tools enable us to search for and use valuable diversity much more effectively.

SeeD’s Vision of Success: the wealth contained in the world’s genetic resources is ‘unlocked’ for breeders globally to make new varieties

≈ 28,000 maize ≈ 140,000 wheat

Genetic resources

Heat tolerance

Drought tolerance

Nutritional value New diseases

SeeD priorities

Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition

Percentage change in nutrients at elevated (546-586 ppm) (note: 550 ppm isexpected by 2060) CO2 relative to ambient (ca 400 ppm) CO2

Myers et al., 2014. Nature

Appliance of cutting edge science – why now?

Ed Buckler, USDA-Cornell (SeeD partner)

19931,500 bp/day

201238,400,000,000

bp/day

And cheaper…

What does it mean to get 25-Million-Fold Better?

SeeD – high-density genetic profiles

25,000 Maize ( 9̴0%)

40,000 Wheat ( ̴30%)

Sequencing the entire “library” of maize and wheat is now feasible. DNA sequence differences underlie useful variation to address current

and future challenges to plant breeding.

Genebanks = supermarket

Genebanks today are like supermarkets full of tins without labels; finding what you need is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

SeeD will label the genebank tins with genotypic and phenotypic information making it much easier to use this biodiversity in breeding programs.

Use biodiversity for bio-fortification

Zinc deficiency afflicts 2̴ billion people

Fishing in the wheat gene bank: evaluated ~15,000 landraces

Nu

mb

er

of

lan

dra

ces

Zinc (ppm)

Stunted & underweightchildren

Brain development disorders

SeeD develops bridging germplasm – “half-way” between accessions and elite varieties.

ARS agronomist Cecil Salmon acquired seeds from Japan in 1946.

ARS plant breeder Orville Vogel worked with it for 13 years.

Borlaug crossed these with Mexico's best wheats.

Borlaug's semi-dwarf wheatsenabled India to launch its Green Revolution.

Wheat production doubled by 1970 and tripled by 1982.

+ 30 YEARS!

Successful use of ‘dwarf’ gene

Successful use of ‘exotic’ sources of high provitamin A

3 high provitamin A hybrids released in Zambia in 2012

Sources from Thailandand USA - 2003

9 years from source to release

• Train a new generation of agricultural scientists Strategic research impact-driven research

and/for development (R&D) Rejuvenate interest in agricultural R&D Huge datasets are a magnet to attract talent

to agricultural R&D

• Workshops and 1:1 training Building capacity of scientists entering ag

R&D Enhancing capacity in the existing generation

of ag R&D scientists

• Links to post-graduate programs opportunities for many MSc and PhD projects

Capacity-strengthening: facilitating equity by enabling access to information and knowledge

Why CIMMYT?

Most extensive wheat & maize collections in the world.

>50 years working with maize & wheat genetic resources.

Unparalleled network of partners and testing sites around the world.

SeeD has a plan, with a timeline for delivering products

Seeds of Discovery (SeeD)

Our current challenge: to attract global support for an

initiative with truly global impact

Initiated in 2011 Mostly funded by the Mexican government Four Components

1. Molecular & phenotypic characterization open-access database(s)2. Informatics tools & knowledge extraction3. Bridging germplasm4. Capacity building

Progress snapshot 2014– Valuable biodiversity has been identified (tar spot, zinc, heat, drought)– Foundations established for more and continued value generation

– Extensive molecular data– Phenotypic data “important momentum”– Tools platform in development– Bridging germplasm started– Capacity building plans initiated

“We know that if we don't confront climate change, there will be no hope of ending poverty or boosting shared prosperity.”

“…lay out clear policy frameworks for how forestry and agriculture can achieve the needs of nutrition and food security, the support of rural livelihoods, and reduced emissions from land use.”

“…insured losses from weather-related events are growing… …fully 75 percent of catastrophe-related losses worldwide are still uninsured.”

“…the longer we delay in tackling climate change, the higher the cost will be to do the right thing for our planet and for our children.”

“The costs of inaction are rising.”

World Bank Group President Jim Yong KimSpeech at the Council on Foreign RelationsWashington D.C., United StatesDecember 8, 2014

Partners voices

• “SeeD will realize breeding gains that are impossible to reach through traditional means”

• “A truly global public good – it benefits ALL!”

• “We want … heat, drought, NUE, yield, quality ….”

• “SeeD is the backbone for international efforts in this field”

• “SeeD will contribute to breakthroughs in developing new breeding methods”

• “A new wave of research, a new way of breeding”

CG Consortium Office: “we are fullysupportive of this project… thesegenotyping approaches with accuratephenotyping and pre-breeding will allowto speed up our CGIAR breedingprograms for the smallhoders’ benefit…”

Global Crop Diversity Trust: “SeeD is a “blueprint” and “foundational initiative” for the Diversity Seek (DivSeek) initiative for other crops.”