breeding for the future - ruokavirasto · © boreal kasvinjalostus oy | breeding for the future...

© BOREAL Kasvinjalostus Oy |

Breeding for the future

Merja Veteläinen

Director, Plant Breeding

International Seed Seminar 10th September 2019, Turku, Finland

19/16/2019


Contents

• Scope of plant breeding

• Major challenges

• Plant breeding progress

• Future outlook

216.9.2019


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


Plant breeding in the food system

49/16/2019

Research

Plant breeding

Seed production and sales

Farmer

Grain trade

Processing industry

Retail

Consumer


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


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


Plant breeding progress

79/16/2019


Increased yield – case early maturing Finnish oats

816.9.2019

1981 1995 2002 2009 2014


Improved crop security with better straw and stem stiffness

99/16/2019

Spring barley “Kaarle” Spring turnip rape: new and old variety


Improved winter hardiness and pest resistance

Tall fescue trial with non-hardy and hardy genotypes

Screening winter wheat for snow mold


Improved end-users quality

9/16/2019 11


Future outlook

129/16/2019


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


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


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


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


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

breeding for the future - ruokavirasto · © boreal kasvinjalostus oy | breeding for the future...

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