b'ON THE EDGESyngenta Launches New Plant Growth RegulatorGlobal Team Led by U of S Sequences Genomes for 15 Which Fights Lodging Wheat VarietiesSyngenta Canada has registered Moddus in Canada, a new plantA landmark study led by researchers at the University of growth regulator which helps to reduce lodging risk in wheat,Saskatchewan has sequenced the genomes for 15 wheat barley and oat crops, a news release from the company says. varieties representing breeding programs around the world, the We know that lodging means major headaches and reduceduniversity says in the news release. These genomes will allow income, Eric Phillips, fungicides and insecticides product leadscientists and breeders to more quickly identify influential with Syngenta Canada, says in the news release. With Moddus,genes for improved yield, pest resistance and other important we are providing a solution that improves harvestability, letscrop traits.growers push for higher yields and ultimately, get more in the bin. The results were published in Nature and provide the most Crops which have lodged may have lower yields, poorcomprehensive atlas of the wheat genome sequences ever grain fill and lost grain, the release notes. It often causesreported. The 10+ Genome Project collaboration involved more delayed harvests, heavier workloads and increased grainthan 95 scientists from universities and institutes in Canada, cleaning, drying and storage costs. Lodged crops are also moreSwitzerland, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Saudi susceptible to disease infection. Arabia, Mexico, Israel, Australia, and the United States, the Moddus contains trinexapac-ethyl, an active ingredient withrelease notes.years of proven use to manage lodging in cereal crops, theIts like finding the missing pieces for your favourite puzzle release notes. It works by redirecting the plants production ofthat you have been working on for decades, Curtis Pozniak, gibberellic acid, a hormone responsible for growth, to reduceteam-lead and wheat breeder and director of the U of S Crop cell elongation. This results in plants with shorter, thicker stemsDevelopment Centre, says in the release. By having many and improved overall standability. complete gene assemblies available, we can now help solve the We want growers to be able to push for higher yields andhuge puzzle that is the massive wheat pan-genome and usher in have more freedom to explore other varieties that might havea new era for wheat discovery and breeding.otherwise been impacted by lodging, says Phillips. Scientific groups across the global wheat community are Moddus will be available for the 2021 growing season, theexpected to use the new resource to identify genes linked to release says. in-demand traits, which will accelerate breeding efficiency, the release notes. In 2018 as part of another international consortium, U of S researchers played a key role in decoding the genome for the bread wheat variety Chinese Spring, the first complete wheat genome reference and a significant technical milestone. The findings were published in the journal Science.Given the significant impact of the Chinese Spring reference genome on research and application, it is a major achievement that just two years later we are providing additional sequence resources that are relevant to wheat improvement programs in many different parts of the world, Nils Stein of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) and project co-leader from Germany, says in the release.The 10+ Genome study represents the start of a larger effort to generate thousands of genome sequences of wheat, including genetic material brought in from wheats wild relatives, the release says. The research team was able to track the unique DNA signatures of genetic material incorporated into modern cultivars from several of wheats undomesticated relatives by breeders over the century. Pozniaks team, in collaboration with scientists from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and National Research Council of Canada, also used the genome sequences to isolate an insect-resistant gene (called Sm1) which enables wheat plants to withstand the orange wheat blossom midge, a pest which can cause more than $60 million in annual losses to Western Canadian producers, the release notes.136seed.ab.ca'