**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** WITH THE GLOBAL POPULATION PROJECTED TO SURPASS 9 BILLION BY 2050, MEETING THE DEMAND FOR WHEAT-BASED PRODUCTS WILL REQUIRE DOUBLING THE RATE OF ANNUAL WHEAT YIELD GAIN FROM THE CURRENT LEVEL OF 1%. THIS TASK IS ONE OF THE GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES OF THE DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING WORLD THAT IS CRITICAL TO BE ADDRESSED IN ORDER TO ENSURE FOOD SECURITY WHILE SUSTAINABLY UTILIZING LIMITED LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES. THE MOST LIKELY PATH TO ACHIEVING THIS GOAL LIES THROUGH THE CONCERTED SCIENTIFIC EFFORTS OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND AND OPTIMIZE THE DEVELOPMENTAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF WHEAT AND THE UNDERPINNING GENETICS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO OVERALL YIELD POTENTIAL.OVER 30 HIGH-LEVEL RESEARCH PROJECTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL WHEAT YIELD PARTNERSHIP (IWYP) ARE NOW INVOLVED IN A SEARCH FOR NOVEL TRAITS AIMED TO RAISE THE GENETIC YIELD POTENTIAL OF WHEAT BY UP TO 50% BY 2035. THE IWYP PROJECTS USE ADVANCED GENOMIC TECHNOLOGIES, HIGH-THROUGHPUT OR HIGH-RESOLUTION PHENOTYPING, CUTTING EDGE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR METHODS, AND GENE EDITING TO ELUCIDATE THE GENETICS OF EXISTING AND NEWLY DISCOVERED TRAITS AFFECTING WHEAT YIELD POTENTIAL. THE TRAITS OF FOCUS INCLUDE PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND ENERGY USE DYNAMICS, PLANT BIOMASS ACCUMULATION, HARVEST INDEX, PLANT ARCHITECTURE, GRAIN SIZE AND WEIGHT, SPIKE DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT-TUNED PLANT PHENOLOGY, AND MORE. THE AVAILABILITY OF THE WHEAT GENOME SEQUENCE AND NEW GENOMIC RESOURCES HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY ACCELERATED THE IDENTIFICATION OF GENES/ALLELES THAT UNDERLIE THESE TRAITS. THE MARKER-TAGGED ALLELES WERE SHOWN TO BE EFFECTIVE TOOLS FOR MARKER-ASSISTED SELECTION AND ARE BROADLY USED IN BREEDING PROGRAMS. WITH THE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF IDENTIFIED MARKER-TAGGED TRAITS, IT BECAME FEASIBLE TO ASSEMBLE COMPLEXES OF ALLELES TAILORED TO SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE. HOWEVER, THE DEPLOYMENT OF THESE NEW ALLELES AND THE TESTING OF DIFFERENT POSITIVE ALLELE COMBINATIONS IN WINTER WHEAT HAS LAGGED BEHIND. A GOOD SOLUTION TO ADDRESS THIS BOTTLENECK ARE THE CENTRALIZED HUBS TASKED WITH THE TRANSLATION AND VALIDATION OF RESEARCH PROJECT OUTPUTS IN ELITE GERMPLASM.OUR PROJECT AIMS TO BRIDGE THIS EXISTING GAP IN THE IWYP NETWORK AND CONNECT DISCOVERY OUTPUTS WITH WINTER WHEAT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS IN THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTORS IN THE U.S. THE FOCUS OF THE NIFA INTERNATIONAL WHEAT YIELD PARTNERSHIP (IWYP) WINTER WHEAT BREEDING INNOVATION (WWBI) HUB WILL BE CREATING OPTIMAL COMBINATIONS OF BENEFICIAL GENETIC ELEMENTS IN ELITE WINTER WHEAT GERMPLASM TO REALIZE SUBSTANTIAL GAIN IN YIELD. THE WWBI HUB IS THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL WHEAT BREEDING PROGRAMS, GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND INDUSTRY. THIS PARTNERSHIP IS ESTABLISHED TO MAXIMIZE THE VALUE OF RESEARCH INVESTMENTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF GLOBAL AGRICULTURE BY FACILITATING THE TRANSLATION OF RESEARCH OUTPUTS INTO COMMERCIAL BREEDING PRODUCTS. THIS WWBI HUB, IN COORDINATION WITH THE CONSORTIUM OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WHEAT BREEDERS, GENETICISTS, AND EXTENSION SPECIALISTS WILL SELECT AND DEPLOY BENEFICIAL TRAITS AFFECTING GRAIN YIELD IN DISEASE RESISTANT GERMPLASM LEADING TO MORE PRODUCTIVE WHEAT VARIETIES. THIS WWBI HUB AIMS TO DELIVER KEY YIELD TRAITS TO U.S. GROWERS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO REVERSE THE DECLINING TREND OF U.S. WINTER WHEAT ACREAGE AND ADD SIGNIFICANT VALUE TO THE U.S. AND GLOBAL WHEAT INDUSTRIES.THE WWBI HUB WILL FOCUS ON ALL FOUR MARKET CLASSES OF WINTER WHEAT GERMPLASM: HARD RED WINTER, SOFT RED WINTER, HARD WHITE AND SOFT WHITE. A FINAL LIST OF GERMPLASM WILL BE NOMINATED BY THE STEERING COMMITTEE (SC), REPRESENTING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WHEAT RESEARCH AND BREEDING PROGRAMS, TO INCLUDE WINTER WHEAT ELITE LINES/VARIETIES THAT WILL HAVE THE BROADEST APPLICABILITY TO US GERMPLASM, AND THUS UTILITY IN BREEDING PROGRAMS. THIS WILL FURTHER PROVIDE SUITABLE GENETIC BACKGROUNDS IN ORDER TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT AND POTENTIAL YIELD IMPACT OF TRAITS INTROGRESSED INTO ELITE LINES.IN COORDINATION WITH THE STEERING COMMITTEE, THE WWBI HUB TEAM WILL PRIORITIZE SETS OF TRAITS FOR ASSEMBLING INTO TRAIT PACKAGES IN THE ELITE GERMPLASM FOR TESTING IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BREEDING PIPELINES. TRAITS TAGGED WITH MOLECULAR MARKERS WILL BE INTROGRESSED INTO ONE OR MORE ELITE LINES USING A STRATEGY CALLED BACKCROSS BREEDING. THE RATE OF GERMPLASM CONVERSION IS LARGELY DEPENDENT ON THE TIME REQUIRED TO CYCLE PLANTS FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION. A METHOD FOR RAPID GENERATION ADVANCEMENT KNOWN AS SPEED BREEDING (SB) WILL BE APPLIED IN OUR PROJECT TO ACCELERATE DEVELOPING NEW INBRED WINTER WHEAT LINES.THE EFFECT OF TRAIT INTROGRESSION ON YIELD POTENTIAL WILL BE MEASURED BY COMPARING THE YIELD OF ELITE LINES WITH AND WITHOUT THE TRAITS. THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE WWBI HUB WILL BE TO COMBINE SOURCE (FOR EXAMPLE, BIOMASS) AND SINK (FOR EXAMPLE, GRAIN SIZE AND WEIGHT, OR NUMBER OF GRAINS PER SPIKE) TRAITS USING THE OUTPUTS OF THE IWYP AND IWYP ALIGNED PROJECTS. WHILE TRAITS INCREASING YIELD POTENTIAL WILL BE THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE WWBI HUB, THEIR DEPLOYMENT IN THE ELITE GERMPLASM CAN BENEFIT FROM HAVING COMPLEMENTARY TRAITS THAT CAN EITHER MAXIMIZE YIELD POTENTIAL OR PROTECT THE GENETIC GAINS IN YIELD POTENTIAL. THE COMPLEMENTARY TRAITS WILL BE SELECTED BASED ON THEIR PRESENCE IN THE DONOR/RECIPIENT GERMPLASM TO MINIMIZE CROSSES REQUIRED TO COMBINE TRAITS.THE WWBI HUB'S GOAL IS TO CREATE TRAIT STACKS (TRAIT PACKAGES) IN THE ELITE WINTER WHEAT LINES THAT AVOID POTENTIAL NEGATIVE TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN TRAITS. THE WWBI HUB WILL COLLABORATE WITH THE WHEAT CAP, IWYP PROJECT SCIENTISTS AND THE IWYP HUB AT CIMMYT WHERE THE PROCESS OF TRAIT STACKING AND VALIDATING IS ONGOING IN SPRING WHEAT GERMPLASM TO GAIN ANY EARLY INSIGHTS INTO SUCCESSFUL OR PROBLEMATIC TRAIT COMBINATIONS. SINGLE TRAIT CONVERSIONS IN WINTER WHEAT WILL BE USED TO BUILD TRAIT STACKS USING THIS INFORMATION. IN ADDITION, THE WWBI HUB WILL CONSIDER USING GERMPLASM CONVERTED WITH AVAILABLE TRAIT STACKS CREATED IN SPRING WHEAT TO INITIATE MARKER-ASSISTED TRANSFER TO WINTER WHEAT.DEVELOPED GERMPLASM WILL BE EVALUATED IN COLLABORATION WITH THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC BREEDING PROGRAMS TO DETERMINE COMBINATIONS OF TRAITS WITH THE HIGHEST POTENTIAL TO INCREASE TO GRAIN YIELD. THE WWBI HUB WILL COLLABORATE DIRECTLY WITH THE IWYP RESEARCH TEAMS WHO CONTRIBUTE TRAITS AND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BREEDING PROGRAMS TO ADEQUATELY EVALUATE THE EFFECTS OF ALLELE INTROGRESSION ON TARGETS TRAITS AND YIELD POTENTIAL. FIELD TRIAL DATA WILL BE COLLECTED BY THE WWBI HUB, ANALYZED, AND THEN MADE AVAILABLE FOR ALL TO USE.THE WWBI HUB WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH THE KSU WHEAT EXTENSION PROGRAM TO EDUCATE FARMERS, AGRICULTURAL PROFESSIONALS AND INDUSTRY ON GENOMICS-ASSISTED STACKING OF MULTIPLE YIELD COMPONENT AND DISEASE RESISTANCE TRAITS IN ELITE WINTER WHEAT GERMPLASM TO ENHANCE YIELD POTENTIAL. INTEGRATED EXTENSION ACTIVITIES SERVE AS A CONDUIT FOR STAKEHOLDER EDUCATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN RESEARCH EFFORTS. THE WWBI HUB WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE GENERATION OF NOVEL TRAIT PACKAGES THAT WILL ULTIMATELY BECOME THE BASIS OF NEW HIGH-YIELDING VARIETIES. THEREFORE, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO BEGIN INTEGRATED EXTENSION EFFORTS AT THE ONSET OF THE PROJECT TO INCREASE GROWER, AGRICULTURAL PROFESSIONAL, AND INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE UTILITY OF GENOMICS-ASSISTED IMPROVEMENT OF YIELD POTENTIAL IN WHEAT BY STACKING YIELD COMPONENT TRAITS AND DISEASE RESISTANCE GENES. ANALOGOUSLY, ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF DISEASE AND THE PHENOTYPIC RESPONSE OF RESISTANCE GENES DURING DISEASE PRESSURE ARE KEY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT WHEAT DISEASES IN ORDER TO PROTECT YIELD PRODUCTIVITY IN A SUSTAINABLE SYSTEM.