International partnership to improve soybean breeding
Production of hybrid seed using apomixis technology
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Hybrid seeds, which are produced by cross-pollinating crops, achieve significantly higher and more stable yields. This can increase farmers' profits and improve global food security.
"In Germany, for example, 100% of maize, sugar beet and sunflowers and the majority of rapeseed is hybrid seed," explains Regensburg-based cell and developmental biologist Prof. Dr. Thomas Dresselhaus. "However, the production of hybrids is labor-intensive and difficult to carry out for many important crops, including soybeans, wheat and rice."
4 million US dollars for the development of hybrid soybeans
To increase yield and profit for soybean farmers, among other things, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and its Crops of the Future (COTF) partners - including Bayer, KWS and the United Soybean Board - are providing a $4,050,000 grant to an international research team, the ApoSoy project, which includes the University of Regensburg. The aim is to develop a more cost-effective process for the production of hybrid soybeans.
"To meet the needs of farmers and provide them with a broader range of tools, we are working with partners of all sizes to actively seek new, creative ideas in the agricultural field," said JD Rossouw, Head of Breeding at Bayer's Crop Science business unit. "In this way, fundamental ways of thinking are promoted while helping to shape the agriculture of tomorrow."
Apomixis process creates genetic clones of the parent plant
"Breeding soybeans with consistently high yields at lower prices will be a boon to farmers around the world who grow this widely consumed, nutritious and versatile crop," said Dr. Kathy Munkvold, FFAR Scientific Program Director. Although hybrid seeds outperform their parents in terms of yield, this advantage is not transferred to the hybrids' progeny. Breeders must therefore continuously cross-pollinate to develop the next generation of hybrids. However, since soybeans reproduce by self-pollination and the structure of the soybean flower makes cross-pollination difficult, this process is very costly. ApoSoy aims to develop a cost-effective hybrid system for soybeans using a process called apomixis, which produces seeds that are genetic clones of the parent plant.
ApoSoy brings together researchers from the University of Regensburg, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Radboud University, the University of Georgia, Wageningen University, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT and the University of Zurich. The team is researching apomixis technologies in model plants and now wants to transfer these techniques to soybeans in order to develop a new type of hybrid seed whose progeny achieve high yields without cross-pollination. "Apomixis does not occur in our crops," says co-project leader Prof. Dresselhaus, "but we can already genetically control the three components of apomixis - apomeiosis (meiosis without reduction division), parthenogenesis (autonomous egg cell development without fertilization) and autonomous endosperm development - and successfully transfer them to crops such as rice and maize in initial trials." These techniques are to be further improved and transferred to soybeans.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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