ABSTRACT
The current world population of approximately 6 billion people is predicted to increase to 9 billion by 2050 and will require high-yielding crop varieties to meet the future global demand for grain and food. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major crop where §our produced from grain is used for a range of end-products suitable for human consumption. It has been reported that the annual production of wheat grain needs to increase from 600 million to 750 million tonnes to meet future demands (Lantican et al., 2002). Although the aim of breeding programmes is to develop commercial wheat varieties with signicant yield improvements, they will be challenged with constant environmental changes that constrain grain production. Therefore, there is need to develop and apply modern technologies that will make a signicant contribution towards wheat improvement to mitigate the effects of climate and seasonal variability and develop adaptable, high-yielding varieties to a range of different and changing environments for future grain production.
