Company uses the technology to develop new varieties that will target pod shatter, sclerotinia and herbicide resistance
SASKATOON — Canola growers can expect a bunch of new seed traits to hit the market in coming years as gene-editing technology takes off, says an industry official.
Cibus is one company doing a lot of work on that front and is expected to commercialize three new traits in Canada before the end of this decade.
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The first one to market will be its pod-shatter resistance trait, which has been extensively field tested and placed into germplasm provided by a variety of seed companies.
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The trait could be commercialized as early as next year in the United States, said Norm Sissons, senior vice-president of seeds and traits with Cibus.
It will take a little longer to arrive in Canada due to the country’s variety registration system.
Keith Fournier, chair of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, said the pod shatter trait is essential for any new variety release these days.
“Even if we’re not straight cutting, it allows us to delay swathing and just get more seed size, more bushel weight and more bushels out of that variety,” he said.
Sclerotinia resistance is the next trait Cibus intends to commercialize.
“That one is really exciting,” said Sissons.
“We see this as potentially the first sclerotinia trait that will largely eliminate fungicide application for most growers.”
Sclerotinia resistance has been a tough nut to crack for conventional breeders because it does not naturally exist for many crops.
And it has not been a practical trait to develop via genetic modification.
A recent study shows developing and commercializing a GM crop takes an average of 16.5 years and costs US$115 million. That is not a good use of time and money for a trait that constantly needs to stay ahead of the pathogen.
A gene-edited trait takes three to five years to make it to market.
Fournier said sclerotinia takes more money out of farmers’ pockets than any other disease, and it is difficult to properly time spraying.
A variety with good resistance would eliminate one of the big headaches for growers.
“We’d be able to go to the lake in the summer instead of spraying a fungicide on our canola,” he said.
Cibus is in the process of evaluating multiple modes of action for combating the disease.
“We’re trying to determine what are the most impactful ones that can give the best product in the simplest way and in the fastest time,” said Sissons.
Some initial modes of action were field tested last year, but the “best ones” are just coming through the final greenhouse evaluations and will be in field trials next year.
The company will be concurrently introducing those traits into germplasm supplied by interested seed companies.
The third trait to market will be Cibus’s HT2 herbicide tolerance trait.
Sissons could not yet divulge what the active ingredient is in the HT trait, but the company has already field tested an early version of it.
Improved versions of the trait are in greenhouse evaluations this year and will be field tested next year.
It will provide canola growers with enhanced broadleaf weed control and address the herbicide resistance issues that are plaguing the glyphosate and glufosinate systems.
Fournier said there is a dire need for new chemistries to deal with mounting resistance issues.
He said there is a particular need for a chemistry that can control kochia, which has become resistant to glyphosate.
Glufosinate offers effective control, but it would be good to have another chemistry on the market for that troublesome weed, said Fournier.
Cibus launched a sulfonylurea tolerant canola in North America in 2016, but it failed to capture much market share and is no longer sold by the company.
That trait was developed using mutagenesis, not gene editing.
“Suffice to say, what we’re working on today is quite different than that,” said Sissons.
The HT2 trait is at the same stage of development as the sclerotinia resistance trait, but it will take longer to get to market because the chemical must go through the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s registration process.
“That’s an added step that needs to happen with herbicide tolerance,” he said.
Both traits are expected to be commercialized in Canada in 2027-30.
The traits will be priced according to what value they deliver to farmers.
For instance, the sclerotinia resistance trait will be based on how much farmers are expected to save in fungicide costs.
Rory Riggs, Cibus’s chief executive officer, recently said during a BMO Capital Markets presentation that the sclerotinia trait could fetch US$10 per acre when it is commercialized in soybeans.
Riggs had a slide showing the target market royalties for all three canola traits. The pod shatter resistance was pegged at $200 million, HT2 at $225 million and sclerotinia at $300 million.
Sissons said about half of the canola acres today contain existing pod shatter traits, leaving the other half up for grabs.
The sclerotinia resistance trait will depend on the number of affected acres, which typically ranges from one-third to one-half of the crop, although it has been less of late due to drought.
The HT2 trait will be sold wherever there are herbicide resistance issues, an area that keeps expanding every year.
Gene-edited crops are regulated the same as conventional crops in Canada and the U.S. There is also draft legislation in the European Union that “looks positive,” but that will likely take another year or two to be finalized, he said.
Contact sean.pratt@producer.com
