Breeding technology | University plant breeders say the agreement will speed development of new wheat varieties
Wheat breeders at North Dakota State University have reached an agreement with Monsanto that will allow the university to use the company’s proprietary plant breeding technology.
The deal, announced Sept. 21, should allow NDSU wheat breeders to speed up the development and release of new wheat varieties that offer higher yields, better end-use quality and improved agronomic performance.
It also allows for shared access of Monsanto and NDSU wheat germ-plasm and will enable the two organizations to collaborate on the development of new marker assisted breeding technology.
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Monsanto offered few other details, but Sara Miller, the company’s director of corporate communications, said the deal will benefit the university, North Dakota wheat growers and Monsanto, which is showing increased interest in wheat breeding programs in North America.
Monsanto reached a similar agreement with wheat breeders at Kansas State University in 2010.
It also has a similar deal with re-searchers at Virginia Tech and is looking at establishing collaborative relationships with other university-based wheat breeding programs, said Miller.
“We have a rich history of collaboration with universities and public sector institutions around the world … and we truly believe that growers will continue to benefit from these types of collaborations,” Miller said.
Ken Grafton, NDSU’s vice-president for agricultural affairs, said the deal will give the university access to Monsanto’s high-throughput molecular technology, allowing NDSU plant breeders to assess the genetic makeup of wheat germplasm resources more rapidly and more efficiently.
“We will have access to their high throughput modular system to … help us evaluate our materials using molecular analysis, and that’s something that’s very powerful,” said Grafton.
“We’re currently using molecular markers in our breeding programs, including our hard red spring wheat programs, but we don’t really have the high-throughput capacity that Monsanto has.… I think what it will mean, first and foremost, is that we’re getting … (new varieties) out to the growers more rapidly and more efficiently.”
Provisions that give Monsanto access to NDSU germplasm will benefit both organizations and should not be viewed as a threat to publicly funded wheat breeding programs, Grafton added.
“There is a germplasm exchange included in the agreement, and that’s always good,” he said.
“Whenever you’ve got various breeding programs that exchange germplasm, that helps broaden the germplasm pool for each program, and that’s important to maintaining genetic variability.”
The deal is unlikely to change the way NDSU wheat varieties are commercialized, Grafton said.
“In terms of the North Dakota producer, I don’t think he or she will see any major differences five or 10 years down the road … in terms of revenue structures,” he said.
“We fully anticipate that NDSU (wheat) varieties will remain in the public domain.”
In Canada, the development of public-private partnerships in plant breeding programs is generating both interest and concern.
With federal support for public plant breeding increasingly uncertain, many observers expect private sector companies to play a more prominent role in developing and commercializing new crop varieties.
Monsanto has not reached col-laborative agreements with wheat breeding programs at Canadian universities, said Miller.
Wheat is not a core crop for Monsanto’s Canadian business, so the company has not finalized any long-term business plans for the crop in Canada, she said.
However, the company is open to suggestions.
“In terms of Canada, as we develop advanced breeding technologies in wheat, we are hopeful there will be opportunities for us to bring im-provements to wheat in varieties adapted for the Canadian climate,” Miller said in an e-mail.
“At this time, though, we have not initiated any discussions with academic institutions, nor do we have a wheat breeding program in Canada. Monsanto remains open to dialogue, though, and we are interested in working with the industry to develop a path forward for enhanced research and a higher level of wheat investment in Canada.”
