DuPont and Evogene form research partnership

Seed developers DuPont and Evogene have formed a research partnership to develop a strain of soybeans that are resistant to soybean rust. Evogene is based in Rehovot, Israel, and focuses on developing new traits to insert into commercial crops such as corn and soybeans. DuPont said "the research with Evogene will focus on soybean rust, a fungal pest that can wipe out 80 percent of affected soybean fields. Soybean rust is estimated to cost farmers US$1.5 billion (€1.112 billion) annually in lost soybeans. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers.

Molecular technique advances soybean rust resistance research

A new tool is available to select for soybean rust resistance in breeding populations, said Glen Hartman, University of Illinois professor of crop sciences and United States Department of Agriculture -ARS scientist. Hartman and his team of researchers successfully used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) assays to assess fungal DNA in soybean leaf tissue to quantify the level of resistance in individual plants with resistance to soybean rust.

"This is not a new technique," Hartman said. "But it is a new tool for use in soybean rust resistance breeding, which has typically used phenotyping or visual assessment to measure resistance. We discovered that we can perform more precise and quicker assessments using this molecular technique." Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers