ABSTRACT
Wheat is one of the most important staple food crops of the world, occupying 17% (one sixth) of crop acreage worldwide, feeding about 40% (nearly half) of the world population and providing 20% (one fifth) of total food calories and protein in human nutrition. Although wheat production during the last four decades had a steady significant increase, a fatigue has been witnessed during the last few years, leading to the lowest current global wheat stocks ever since 1948/49. Consequently, wheat prices have also been soaring, reaching the highest level of US $ 10 a bushel as against US $ 4.50 a year ago (https://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory. cfm/newsid/44968/story.htm). As against this, it is projected that, in order to meet growing human needs, wheat grain production must increase at an annual rate of 2%, without any additional land to become available for this crop [1]. In order to meet this challenge, new level of understanding of the structure and function of the wheat genome is required.
