Karim Ammar is a principal scientist and head of durum wheat and triticale breeding at CIMMYT. He conducts a globally-focused, extensive and proactive breeding effort to produce improved germplasm of high value and relevance to collaborators worldwide.
Durum wheat profitability requires sustained gains in genetic yield potential, adaptation to a wide range of water availability and temperature conditions, durable genetic protection against major pathogens and quality attributes that allow harvests to be marketed readily.
In addition, Ammar is involved in research that widens the genetic bases of resistance to rusts and septoria diseases, develops molecular tools to select more durable resistance, enhances breeding capacity for effective drought and heat tolerance, and to diversify quality characteristics of durum wheat grain. He also focuses on improving and promoting triticale as an input saving, low production cost feed and forage option in livestock-cereals operations.
Climate adaptation and mitigation 
