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Revolutionising wheat: Developing cultivars that maintain their quality in heat and drought

28 April 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

UFS PhD student and food scientist Schae-Lee Olckers’ research could contribute to a stable supply of good quality wheat and bread, even in the face of climate change.

Follow your passion in order to find your purpose. This is the mantra of food scientist and University of the Free State (UFS) PhD student Schae-Lee Olckers, whose research is set to improve wheat quality by identifying which types of wheat are better able to tolerate stress, and which proteins are most important for producing high-quality bread.

“By grasping this, it is possible to ensure that we continue to have a stable supply of good quality wheat and bread, even in the face of climate change,” says Olckers, who believes wheat is one of the most important food grains in the human diet, and one of the most important staple cereal crops in the world.

Her PhD study, ‘The influence of abiotic stress on gluten protein and baking quality in bread wheat’, under the supervision of Dr Angie van Biljon and Prof Maryke Labuschagne in the Department of Plant Sciences, and Prof Garry Osthoff in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, is investigating how different levels of heat and drought stress – mostly due to climate change – affect the gluten protein composition of high-yield bread wheat.

Olckers is a food scientist at StartWell Foods (Pty) Ltd, a non-profit organisation that produces high-quality extrusion products for feeding schemes around the country. The products help to eliminate stunted growth among children.

Improving wheat breeding programmes

This research could help us find ways to adapt to climate change and continue to produce high-quality wheat and bread for people around the world. – Schae-Lee Olckers

Her research focuses on examining different types of wheat and investigating how proteins are affected by stressors like heat and drought, to understand how these stressors impact the quality of bread. She uses new proteomic methods to look at the different proteins in the wheat flour, to gain a better appreciation of how gluten proteins react to stress.

In this study Olckers is able to see how the proteins change in the various wheat cultivars, helping us to understand how the different types of wheat perform in baking, and how the proteins affect the final product.

She collaborates with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, that releases new wheat cultivars for developing countries. Their aim is to develop wheat cultivars that maintain their quality in different environments. To investigate the performance and characteristics of the seeds, both in the field and in the laboratory, CIMMYT did the field trials, quality assessment, and supplied the seeds for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and proteomics analysis.

Finding ways to adapt to climate change

She believes that understanding how these stressors impact the production of bread-baking quality in wheat will help scientists gain important insights into how climate change affects our food supply.

“Taking into consideration the current and projected intensifying heat and water deficit stresses, it is crucial to improve the understanding of these phenomena in order to implement new breeding strategies for sustainable wheat quality. This research could help us find ways to adapt to climate change and continue to produce high-quality wheat and bread for people around the world,” Olckers says.

News Archive

Volksblad (Editorial) Transformation recipe (Afrikaans)

2007-02-13

(Editorial - Afrikaans)

Dinsdag 13 Februarie 2007
Hoofartikelblad

Transformasie-resep

DIE transformasieproses in Suid-Afrika kan vooruitgang pootjie as dit nie reg aangepak en deurgevoer word nie.

Anders gestel: 'n Onbekookte, ondeurdagte proses kan soveel skade aanrig dat dit die land jare gaan neem net om weer op die been te kom.

Dit is hierdie slaggate waarteen prof. Adam Habib, direkteur van demokrasie en regering by die RGN, waarsku. Transformasie in die hoër onderwys is hier ter sprake, maar belangrike lesse is ook vir die res van die staatshuishouding te leer.

Habib het op 'n gespreksgeleentheid op die Wits-kampus gesê universiteite kan binne 10 tot 15 jaar sterf as niks gedoen word om nuwe, jong akademici van gehalte te werf nie. In hul poging om te transformeer en "swart boude op sitplekke te kry" het universiteite so agtergeraak met hul doelwitte dat hulle nou selfs van swakker gehalte is as vroeër. "Speletjies" word met transformasie gespeel en 'n "malheid" rondom syfers is aan die gang.

Instellings fokus so daarop om hul kwota-mikpunte te bereik, sê die professor, dat dienslewering en kundigheid die kreeftegang gaan. "So kry 'n mens 'n situasie waar die adjunk-president dan aankondig sy moet Indië toe gaan om vaardige mense te kry."

'n Mens kan net hoop dat hierdie waarskuwings op die regte ore val.

Transformasie is nodig, maar beslis nie tot elke prys nie.

Dit kan die hoëronderwys-sektor loon om te kom kyk waarheen die Universiteit van die Vrystaat met sy Institusionele Manifes op pad is.

Die manifes, tans nog 'n besprekingsdokument, gaan die transformasieproses van die UV rig met as einddoel 'n instelling waar alle Suid-Afrikaners plek sal hê en tuis sal voel, maar waarin kernwaardes soos akademiese gehalte en die volgehoue versterking van kernbevoegdhede en -vermoëns ononderhandelbaar is.

Dit is sekerlik die enigste pad na transformasie-welslae wat Suid-Afrika kan en moet loop.

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