The trait race

by Owen Roberts and Kevin Hursh

It would take a book to describe all the traits being developed in all the crops grown in Canada. Here’s a look at a few of the traits coming down the pipeline that promise new opportunities for growers.

Soybeans
In soybeans, public breeding programs have a history of developing groundbreaking varieties (such as OAC Bayfield) with major performance advantages, particularly yield. Now private researchers are beginning to introduce food and industrial traits. The low linolenic acid trait – one that imparts no trans fats into soybean oil during processing – is expected to be an industry staple in another decade.

Peter Hannam, former co-owner of First Line Seeds and president of Woodrill Farms Ltd. just outside Guelph, predicts as much as 50 per cent of the varieties on the market will bear this trait in another decade. They’re already sweeping the U.S.; there, farmers grew 500,000 acres last year of low linolenic acid soybeans (marketed under the brand name Vistive, from Monsanto), and it’s predicted they’ll grow twice that number this year. That prediction became more of a sure thing in December when Kellogg’s, one of America’s main food manufacturers, announced it would use Vistive soybeans to eliminate trans fat in its products.

Canada is behind on the low linolenic acid frontier, but will likely see field trials in Ontario in 2006 to start establishing parameters for low linolenic acid soybean production and processing. Because low linolenic acid soybeans are identity preserved, they need to be treated separately, from planting through harvest, delivery, handling and processing – just like the specialized food soybean products that have been shipped to Japan for the last 25 years.

Among the other new varieties on tap are those with extra vitamin E, extra isoflavones and more digestible protein, all directly targeted at a health benefit for consumers, and all with the potential to provide a premium for farmers.

Canola
Canola is ahead of soybeans with regard to varieties being grown to address the trans fat issue. For several years, substantial acreages of high oleic varieties have been grown under IP contracts with producers.

The two companies involved in this market are Dow AgroSciences (Nexera canola) and Cargill Specialty Canola Oils. In most regions of Western Canada, contracts for 2006 were filled quite quickly last fall. Although the specialty varieties do not deliver top yields, many producers believe the price premiums more than make up that difference.

Numerous other canola traits are in various stages of development by both small and large companies. Roy Button, executive director of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, is in a unique position to monitor the traits that have been publicly announced.

“Most of the traits are transgenic,” notes Button. “That means they’ll need approval in a number of countries before registration can proceed and that will slow the process down.”

Developers hope new traits will confer drought tolerance, cold tolerance, sclerotinia resistance, and resistance to flea beetles. Each would be a major benefit to producers.

Shatter resistance has the potential to turn canola into a crop that can be straight combined, thus avoiding the cost of swathing.Yellow seeded canola has the potential to produce a more valuable canola meal. Another exciting development is a trait that seems to confer increased nitrogen-use efficiency.

How many traits will be stacked within varieties and when these varieties will be commercially available is difficult to estimate. In the meantime, Button notes hybrid canola varieties now account for 45 to 50 per cent of the acreage and yield potential continues to increase.

Corn
In corn, trait stacking with new combinations is the big news for 2006. Jamie Rickard, marketing manager for Guelph-based DEKALB, expects his company’s triplestacked corn varieties to be hot, combining Roundup Ready weed control, Bt rootworm control and Bt corn borer control. (Bt is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that can be added to plants by transgenic means for insect resistance.) DEKALB’s three varieties will cover 2,800-3,000 heat unit growing areas. Rickard thinks they will likely account for one to two per cent of the market.

This particular trait stacking mainly offers agronomic benefits to farmers growing multi-year corn, but has some advantages for the public, too. “It’s better for the environment, it’s easier to use and there’s less user exposure,” says Rickard. “For growers who have traditionally used a seed box insecticide, it’s a great alternative.”

Durum
In North America, soils naturally contain the heavy metal cadmium. Certain grains and vegetables, including durum wheat, take up cadmium. More and more markets are asking for reduced cadmium levels, including customers that need durum for the production of pasta and couscous.

A new variety of durum called Strongfield addresses the cadmium issue. Developed by Dr. John Clarke at the Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre (SPARC) in Swift Current, Sask., Strongfield contains a gene for low cadmium uptake. All future varieties will require that trait.

In addition to cadmium levels cut roughly in half, Strongfield has stronger gluten strength and higher yield. It is expected to become the standard for durum varieties on the Canadian prairies.

Alfalfa
In alfalfa, there’s a lot of interest in traits, but not in genetic modification. A bid by Monsanto to introduce Roundup Ready alfalfa was poorly received. There’s a limited market for it and Canada does not have a specific-trait production and processing system.

For now, Roundup Ready alfalfa is on hold, although a genetically modified alfalfa variety equipped with a gene to make the plant’s fibre up to 20 per cent more available is in the works. Bill Brown, agronomy and seed specialist for Kitchener-based GROWMARK, says that alfalfa is about three years from market.

In non-GM alfalfa, Brown says two traits in particular have become popular with growers. The first is late fall dormancy; it allows the alfalfa to shut down later in the fall, without affecting winter hardiness. The result is a variety of alfalfa that gives more cuts, with faster regrowth and good winter survivability. The second trait is leafhopper resistance, which has been highly effective against these insects as they blow up from the U.S.

Other developments
Barley is being developed with traits that will make it more valuable for human food markets. Meanwhile, there’s work to develop barley varieties more suitable as forage crops.

CLEARFIELD wheat has been introduced on the prairies. CLEARFIELD red lentils and sunflowers are coming soon. These non-GMO crops from BASF have resistance to a broad-spectrum herbicide providing new options for weed control. The CLEARFIELD wheat is called CDC Imagine and the herbicide resistance allows growers to remove barley and other types of wheat from the crop – something never before possible.

Name almost any crop and there are new traits on the horizon.

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