A new yield protection technology helps plants handle the heat on dry days without producing ill effects under normal growing conditions.
Performance Plants Inc.’s system, known as Yield Protection Technology, will be genetically inserted in corn and soybean seeds, following a licensing agreement with Syngenta Seeds announced in October.
The technology works only during drought, said David Dennis of Performance Plants, who added farmers can expect to see these seeds available by 2009-10.
“As soon as it detects drought, the whole thing switches on and as soon as it gets water again, it switches off,” he said.
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Yield Protection Technology protects plants against yield losses from heat stress during flowering, he said, citing corn cobs that fail to fill as an example. It works by stimulating the early closure of leaf stomata before wilting.
Yield Protection Technology may help irrigators use less water and enable farmers to plant different crops on marginal land.
The agreement with Syngenta follows four years of field trials conducted on canola in southern Alberta.
Syngenta is expected to begin field tests in the United States on corn, soybeans, turf grass and ornamental flowers.
Performance Plants, an ag-biotechnology company, has offices in Kingston, Ont. and Saskatoon, Sask.
