The increasing production and consumption of wheat faces two challenges. These are to increase the sustainability, including reducing the requirement for high levels of nitrogen fertilization to produce high protein wheat for breadmaking and to increase the contributions of wheat-based foods to the health of consumers. We are addressing these challenges by identifying and exploiting genetic variation in the underlying traits, including modern cultivars, heritage lines and landraces of the Watkins collection. This has allowed us to map QTLs and identify candidate genes.

Our studies of nitrogen use efficiency focus on variation in nitrogen translocation into the developing grain, a phenomenon known as grain protein deviation, while studies of diet and health have focused on increasing the contents of mineral nutrients (notably iron and zinc) and of dietary fibre components in the starchy endosperm of the grain and hence foods make from white flour.