Wheat strains to reduce
phosphate pollution
An international
collaboration could
result in feed that
generates less
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reduction strategies, see:
pollution.
Concerns about the environment, as
well as a desire to grow and use feed
more e;ciently, are the driving forces
behind a new project to reduce di;use
phosphate pollution by developing
new improved wheat lines.
The partners behind this
ground-breaking research include
scientists at the UK’s University of
Reading and the National Institute
of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), the
University of Nottingham and Harper
Adams University College, who are
collaborating with researchers from
the University of Idaho in the US.
They are being supported by
several allied industries, including
Cargill, Sun Valley Foods, AB Agric
Ltd, JSR Farms Ltd, Frank Wright, the
British Poultry Council and the British
Pig Executive (BPEX).
Gene mapping
The aim of the project is to
provide adapted germplasm and
tools for marker-assisted breeding
of Highly Available Phosphate (HAP)
wheat that will have the potential
to significantly reduce di;use P
pollution when used in pig and
poultry diets.
The scientists are also hoping to
determine the e;ect of P fertiliser
treatment on the P metabolism
within the wheat plant and grain,
as well as on the grain composition
of other important nutrients and
micronutrients.
Led by NIAB, the consortium has
already initiated the production of
wheat germplasm with low phytate
content in the grain, thus increasing
the bio-availability of phosphate to
monogastric animals. This should, in
turn, reduce the level of phosphates
entering the environment from
animal wastes.
The UK’s National Institute of Agricultural
Botany (NIAB) is leading a project that
has already started production of wheat
germplasm with low phytate content
in the grain, thus increasing the bio-availability of phosphate to monogastric
animals.
explained that they were mapping
the genes involved in this process
in an e;ort to learn more about the
plant physiology underlying the
changes in phytate content, together
with related mineral nutrition.
The precise e;ect of changes in
feed quality will be assessed through
controlled pig and chicken feeding
studies using the newly identified
low phytate lines.
Scope for improvement
Recent data has shown that while
the addition of microbial-derived
phytases to pig diets can help reduce P
excretion by pigs, there is still scope to
further reduce di;use P pollution from
pig enterprises by using HAP wheat in
the diets.
The major form in which
phosphorous occurs in plants is myo-inositol - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6-hexakisphosphate,
commonly referred to as phytic acid,
inositol, or InsP6; it is an important
antinutritional factor for farm animals
