Recent Improvement of Japanese Wheat

Abstract

In Japan, the cultivation of new wheat varieties for use in bread and in Chinese and other noodles is an important and urgent objective for increasing the domestic wheat production and the food self-sufficiency ratio. Many molecular markers are currently available; those used in wheat breeding programs in Japan are generally employed to assess the amylose content, dough strength, grain hardness, wheat yellow mosaic virus, and preharvest sprouting. Molecular markers for flour color and grain yield will be developed in the next few years.