BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, and Cibus, a leading plant trait development technology company, say they have reached a significant research milestone for developing Clearfield Production System plants in Brassica winter oilseed rape and in spring canola.
Cibus’s patented Rapid Trait Development System (RTDSTM) was used to enhance the tolerance levels of spring canola plants to BASF’s popular Clearfield herbicides. Data from both greenhouse and field trials show that the new generation of products demonstrates enhanced tolerance levels to Clearfield herbicides. Additionally, the new and improved Clearfield traits will enable canola breeders to develop high-yielding hybrids more quickly with greater efficiencies.
Read Also
How much nitrogen can farmers really cut?
Manitoba fertilizer trials look for nitrification inhibitor sweet spot, to lower greenhouse gas emissions and cost without hurting yield.
The development will enable a more cost-effective hybrid development program to provide farmers with higher-yielding, superior-performing hybrids for the Clearfield Production System in oilseed rape-canola. BASF anticipates commercializing the new trait as early as 2013, the company says in a release.
“This innovative new technology adds further confirmation that valuable traits can be developed in plants without the insertion of foreign DNA into plants. This is a milestone development for Cibus and BASF,” said Cibus chairman Stephen Evans-Freke.
