随着小麦产量每年增长不到 1%，而全球年需求增长大约是该百分比的两倍，拜耳作物科学等公司正在签署协议，以推进小麦育种以提高产量。
根据拜耳的一份声明，拜耳作物科学与美国南达科他州布鲁金斯市的南达科他州立大学 (SDSU) 签署了一项关于小麦育种和种质获取的非排他性协议。
此次合作使双方能够进一步改进各自的小麦育种计划，为小麦种植者提供所需的创新，并为小麦育种领域的高级教育提供资源。
“This public-private agreement with SDSU is part of our strategy to establish relationships with the leading global institutions working on the improvement of wheat”, said Hartmut van Lengerich, head of Cereals and Fungicide at Bayer CropScience in a recent statement. “Our R&D efforts are focused on the most urgent problems facing wheat growers today and in the future. We are working on the development of wheat varieties with higher yield, more efficient nutrient utilization and tolerance against abiotic stress such as drought or heat.”
With this agreement, Bayer gains access to a selection of SDSU’s spring wheat germplasm, thereby increasing the available genetic resources to improve wheat varieties, according to the company. The University gains resources for advanced education in the field of wheat breeding through the establishment of an endowed chair in wheat breeding and genetics.
The new agreement will further complement Bayer’s other wheat agreements and collaborations wit NARDI (Romania), RAGT (France), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA), Evogene (Israel), Sort/EuroSort (Ukraine) and CSIRO (Australia). Additionally, it builds on an on-going winter wheat partnership between Bayer CropScience, SDSU and the US wetlands and waterfowl conservation organization Ducks Unlimited, according to the company.
财务细节没有披露。
-Stefanie A. Toth