© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Breeding for the future
Merja Veteläinen
Director, Plant Breeding
International Seed Seminar 10th September 2019, Turku, Finland
19/16/2019
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Contents
• Scope of plant breeding
• Major challenges
• Plant breeding progress
• Future outlook
216.9.2019
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Plant breeding – long term product development activity
39/16/2019
DEFINE GOALS
STUDY
• TRAITS
• INHERITANCE
PLAN
• BREEDING PROJECT
• TARGET AREA
ACT
• CREATE VARIATION
• SELECT
• TEST
10-15years
Product: Variety
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Plant breeding in the food system
49/16/2019
Research
Plant breeding
Seed production and sales
Farmer
Grain trade
Processing industry
Retail
Consumer
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Future global challenges
1. Population growth and need for more and nutritive food
2. Climate change and decrease of arable land → Crop certainty needed→ Higher yields needed from less .land→Maintenance of soil fertility
3. Maintenance of clean environment→ Improved nutrient use efficiency and resistance to pests and diseases needed
59/16/2019
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Local climate change challenges in the North
• Seasonal changes in temperature and moisture conditions
• Increasing precipitation late season or/and at ripening
• Weather extremes e.g. rainstorms, drought
• Variation in over-wintering conditions
• New pests and diseases
616.9.2019
Source: kaleva.fi POHJOIS-SUOMI 9.6.2019 13:10
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Plant breeding progress
79/16/2019
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Increased yield – case early maturing Finnish oats
816.9.2019
1981 1995 2002 2009 2014
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Improved crop security with better straw and stem stiffness
99/16/2019
Spring barley “Kaarle” Spring turnip rape: new and old variety
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Improved winter hardiness and pest resistance
Tall fescue trial with non-hardy and hardy genotypes
Screening winter wheat for snow mold
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Improved end-users quality
9/16/2019 11
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Future outlook
129/16/2019
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Challenges and goals
• Crop diversity
• Sufficiency of genetic variation for traits needed to tackle the new challenges
• Time and accuracy required to select superior varieties
• Identifying testing environments for the future climate
139/16/2019
Genetic gain
Time
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Future crops – Nordic considerations
• Adaptation to local conditions, local food and feed systems
• Protein self-sufficiency
• Crop diversity: Economic and farming sustainability
• Financial resources of local plant breeding companies
1416.9.2019
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Genetic variation is the raw material for plant breeding also in the future
159/16/2019
… when available can be utilized through crossing
… when NOT available couldbe created with NBTs
New traits
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Big data and intelligent data management enable the development of varieties for future conditions
1616.9.2019
Genotype
Phenotype
Environment
Information
systems
Modelling and Data Mining
Decision support tools
New climate
resilientvarieties
© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |
Conclusions
• Plant breeding can provide solutions for the future food systems
• Plant breeding needs to be accelerated in order to provide solutions for the needs of a growing population in time
• Speedup requires availability, know-how and investments on new breeding technologies
1716.9.2019
DIVERSIFY CROPS AND VARIETIES
CULTIVATE WITH
PRESICION TECHNIQUE
S
MAINTAIN SOIL
FERTILITY
CLIMATE RESILIENT FARMING