I am working on pre-breeding for cereals at ICARDA. My work focuses on accelerating the identification and introgression of useful gene bank material. I also focus on using the diversity in the more distal crop wild relatives of wheat and barley. These are difficult to assess, and crossing barriers are in the way. However, CWR introgressions have shown great potential in breeding for dry areas. I believe germplasm diversity, but equally in the workplace, will be essential for future crop improvement. Furthermore, I am keen to advance the application and use of next-generation sequencing data in breeding and pre-breeding.
