🧬 GENOMICS — CEREALS — FOOD SECURITY

Scientists from CONICET and INTA identified two genomic regions that control the fertility of the wheat ear. The favorable allele increases yield by 5% and grains per square meter by 8%. The data is public and is already of interest to seed companies.

By Scientific Staff —  Sunday, February 22, 2026   ⏱ Read: 6 min

Published in: Field Crops Research   • Authors: Nicole Pretini (INTA Pergamino), Fernanda González (CONICET / CIT NOBA), Leonardo Vanzetti (INTA Marcos Juárez)

 

More than fifteen years ago, a group of Argentine scientists asked themselves a question that seemed simple but hid an enormous complexity: why do some ears of wheat produce more grains than others? The answer, forged between laboratories and batches in Buenos Aires, has just been published in the specialized journal Field Crops Research and is already resonating in the most important seed companies in the country: there is a region of the wheat genome that, when it carries the correct allele, improves yield by up to 5% and the number of grains per square meter by 8%.

The finding is the work of Nicole Pretini, researcher at INTA Pergamino and first author of the study; Fernanda González, CONICET researcher at CIT NOBA (Center for Research and Transfer of the Northwest of the Province of Buenos Aires) and INTA Pergamino; and Leonardo Vanzetti, from INTA Marcos Juárez, Córdoba. The three have been working for decades on the reproductive efficiency of the ear as a key to multiplying Argentine wheat production.

 

📊 RESEARCH IN FIGURES

 

🌾 19M ton ANNUAL PRODUCTION IN ARGENTINA

📈 5 % HIGHER YIELD (FAVORABLE ALLELE)

🧬 8 % MORE GRAINS PER M² (QTL QFFE. PERG-5A)

 

🔬 THE FINDING

Two genomic markers, a productive leap

QTLs (Quantitative Trait Loci) are regions of the genome that span several genes and are associated with observable quantitative characteristics, such as the height of a plant or, in this case, the number of grains produced by an ear. The team identified and validated two of these regions in real field conditions:

🧬 THE TWO QTLS IDENTIFIED 🟢  QFFE.perg-5A: the most powerful. When it carries the favorable allele, it consistently improves yield in all evaluated environments: +8% in grains per m² and +5% in total yield. 🟡  QFEm.perg-3A: Its effect is dependent on the environment, suggesting interaction with specific climatic or soil conditions.

 

The name 'QFFE' comes from the acronym for Spike Fruiting Efficiency, the conceptual axis of this entire line of research. What makes QFFE.perg-5A special is not only that it improves performance, but that it does so in two simultaneous ways: the individual ears produce more grains and, at the same time, there are more ears per square meter.

"In addition, we were able to establish that this improvement was a consequence not only of greater reproductive efficiency of the ears but also of the establishment of more ears per m²," Pretini said. The combined effect of both mechanisms is what makes this marker a high-value target for breeding programs.

 

"Under these conditions we observed that QTL QFFE.perg-5A affected performance in all the environments studied. Not only were there more efficient dowels, but also more dowels per square metre." — Nicole Pretini — INTA Pergamino, first author of the study

 

🌿 FROM THE LABORATORY TO THE FIELD

The Missing Test: Full-Scale Trials

Identifying a genomic region under controlled conditions is one thing. Showing that its effect is sustained when wheat is grown in a real field—with wind, climatic variations, competition between plants, and heterogeneous soils—is another story. That's exactly what the team did at this stage of research: bring the previous findings into the field.

The assays were carried out in multiple environments, using isogenic lines (genetically identical plants except in the region under study). The result was conclusive for QFFE.perg-5A: the favorable allele showed consistent improvements regardless of location, season, or soil conditions. This environmental robustness is, for specialists, a fundamental quality in a marker intended to be used in genetic improvement programs.

"Ear fertility or fruiting efficiency (FE, grains per g of ear dry weight at anthesis) was proposed as a promising trait to improve wheat yield potential, based on its functional relationship with the determination of grain number and evidence of trait variability in elite germplasm adapted to Argentina's productive conditions,"  González explained at the time of publication of the work.

 

👩 🔬 THE TEAM BEHIND THE DISCOVERY

 

🔬 Nicole Pretini Researcher — first author INTA Pergamino / CONICET	🌾 Fernanda González Director of the study CONICET CIT NOBA / INTA Pergamino
🧬 Leonardo Vanzetti Molecular Biology INTA Marcos Juárez (Córdoba)	🎓 Giuliana Ferrari Doctoral Fellow R+D+i Agency — candidate genes

 

🇦🇷 ARGENTINA TRIGUERA

A discovery with a Pampean name and surname

Argentina is not only a wheat-producing country: it is one of the great breadbaskets of the world. With an average production of 19 million tonnes per year, wheat is the country's second most important winter crop after barley, and one of the pillars of national agri-food exports.

Of those 19 million tons, between six and seven million are consumed domestically – in the form of bread, noodles, semolina and multiple derivatives – while the rest is exported. Advancing the potential yield of the crop, even by one percentage point, has a direct economic impact on millions of dollars in foreign exchange and on the food security of countries that depend on Argentine imports.

"Advancing in basic and technological knowledge that allows us to increase crop yields in a more efficient and sustainable way could, firstly, improve national production and exportable balances and, secondly, contribute to global food security," said González when presenting the results.

 

"This line of work began more than fifteen years ago, when we identified the reproductive efficiency of the ear as a promising trait to improve wheat yield, particularly in Argentine varieties." — Fernanda González — CONICET / CIT NOBA / INTA Pergamino

 

🏭 PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Seedbeds, fields and technology: science comes out of the laboratory

One of the most outstanding aspects of the finding is its immediate applicability. Unlike many genomic discoveries that remain in the experimental stage for years, the QTLs identified by the team are tools that can be integrated into conventional breeding programs today, without the need for gene editing or state-of-the-art technologies.

In the short term: Wheat breeding companies can use identified QTLs to perform molecular marker-assisted selection at early stages. This means crossing varieties and, through a simple DNA analysis, identifying which of the hundreds of resulting plants carry the favorable allele, without the need to wait for harvest.

In the medium term: the team is working on identifying the specific genes that are within the QTL regions. Once these genes are known, new doors are opened: precision genetic editing, improvement of varieties with greater climatic adaptation, and multiplication of the effect in combination with other agronomic characteristics.

🔓 PUBLIC DATA, FREE ACCESS FOR ALL COMPANIES ✅  The data of the identified QTLs are freely accessible and are already available to all companies in the sector through CONICET. 🤝  Several breeding companies have already contacted the team to begin applying the results in their selection programs. 🎓  Giuliana Ferrari, a doctoral fellow at the R+D+i Agency, joined the team to continue identifying the specific genes within the key regions.

 

"The identified QTLs could be used to select lines during the breeding process, with the aim of obtaining wheat varieties with higher yields," Vanzetti explained. He added that the long term is also promising: "This would allow us to understand in greater depth some of the mechanisms that regulate performance and would open the doors to applying new breeding technologies, such as gene editing."

 

🌱 BEYOND WHEAT

Barley, rice, corn: the scope of a cross-sectional finding

One of the aspects that most excites the scientific community is the possibility that the mechanisms identified in wheat are not exclusive to this species. Many processes that determine yield in cereals are evolutionarily conserved: similar genes can serve analogous functions in wheat, barley, rice, and maize.

"What we found in wheat may provide clues to investigate similar mechanisms in crops such as barley, rice or corn. In fact, within the region of the genome that we identified, we found candidate genes whose function has already been described in other crops, which reinforces the idea that these are conserved mechanisms. This opens the door to comparative studies and more integrated breeding strategies between species," Pretini said.

In practical terms, this means that the Argentine find could become the seed of a new generation of research into crops that feed billions of people around the world. Rice is the basis of the diet in Asia; maize is essential in Latin America and Africa; Barley is key to beer and animal feed. If the same QTLs identified in wheat have functional analogues in those species, the potential impact is multiplied exponentially.

 

🕰️ THE STORY BEHIND THE DISCOVERY

Fifteen years of patient science

 

2007	The INTA Pergamino team, led by Fernanda González, begins to study the reproductive efficiency of the ear as a promising characteristic for wheat yield. First working hypothesis.
2012	First results in trials at the individual plant scale. Patterns in wheat DNA related to fruiting are identified. The team is consolidated with the incorporation of researchers from INTA Marcos Juárez.
2018	Formal identification of QTLs QFFE.perg-5A and QFEm.perg-3A under controlled conditions. The markers are named and larger-scale validation studies begin.
2021	INTA Informa publishes the team's advances on the physiology and genetics of spike fertility. The work is beginning to arouse interest in the seed companies of the private sector.
2025	🌟 Publication in Field Crops Research: QTLs are validated in real field conditions, with consistent impact in multiple environments. Giuliana Ferrari joins in to identify specific genes. Seed companies are beginning to apply the results.

 

✍️ EDITORIAL

An ear that holds more than grains

In a country accustomed to celebrating its natural advantages in agricultural production, this finding reminds us that the real competitive advantage of the future is not only in the quality of the soils or in the climate of the humid pampas. It is in knowledge: in the quiet work of scientific teams that for fifteen years pursued a difficult question in university laboratories, experimental stations and borrowed lots.

The work of Pretini, González and Vanzetti is, in this sense, a model of applied science with real impact. They are not just looking to publish; They want seed companies to use their results, so that the varieties planted in the next decade are more efficient, so that each hectolitre exported represents more grains and more foreign exchange. And that, in the long term, this knowledge will also serve to better feed a planet that in 2050 will have 10,000 million mouths.

An ear of wheat, seen from the outside, is almost invisible in the immensity of the pampas. But inside their cells, a handful of genes contain the difference between a mediocre harvest and an exceptional one. Argentine science has just found some of these genes. Now, the challenge is not to let that knowledge get lost in an academic journal and I really got to the fields.

 

Tags: 🌾 Wheat 🧬 Genomics 🔬 CONICET 🌿 INTA 🇦🇷 Science Argentina 🌍 Food 📊 Safety Field Crops Research

© 2026 — Sources: CONICET, INTA Informa, Field Crops Research, La Nación, Infobae Revista Chacra, Agencia DIB, Radio Nacional.

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