With some pesticides being restricted in the UK and Europe and climate change shifting pest pressure, seed companies are building more protection into crops' genetics, Andrew Walker, vice-president of production at gene-editing company Cibus, told AgNavigator at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London.
Insect control is a big driver. Walker pointed to the loss of neonicotinoid seed treatments in the UK as one change that has put pressure on growers. "A lot of seed companies are trying to put some of those improvements into the genetics," he said, to offset losses from restricted chemistry. Breeders are also looking for traits that make crops less susceptible to disease, so they rely less on fungicides, with genetics working alongside chemical control in integrated pest management.
One example is a Defra-backed project on light leaf spot, one of the most damaging diseases of UK oilseed rape. Cibus is contributing its gene-editing technology to find and develop the genetic basis for resistance, working with the John Innes Centre, the University of Hertfordshire and the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN). The goal is to cut losses to the disease and keep oilseed rape viable as a break crop in UK rotations.
Walker said priorities are changing too. Yield still matters, but interest is growing in resilience to insects and disease and to heat, drought and other climate stresses, as well as consumer traits such as better nutrition and improved oil profiles in oilseed rape and sunflower.
For growers facing more disease and tighter rules on inputs, AgNavigator notes, traits built into the seed could be a more durable way to protect yields, and the project could become a template for tackling other crop diseases with gene editing.
Photo: Oast House Archive / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Source: AgNavigator
Comments
(0)