Plant Breeding MattersThe business and science of crop improvement

Access to improved crop varieties – delivered tomarket by the commercial plant breeding andseeds sector – is the foundation for successful,productive agriculture. Over the past 30 yearsmore than 90% of the yield gains in our majorcrops are due to plant breeding innovation.

Faced with the global challenges of food security,climate change and pressure on the world’s finitenatural resources, reports from Foresight (Futureof Food and Farming) and the Royal Society(Reaping the Benefits) have highlighted the needfor continued progress in plant breeding as thesingle most important factor in meeting the food,feed and fuel needs of a world population set toreach 9.6 billion by 2050.

Plant Breeding Matters is a unique source ofinformation about the business and science ofplant breeding, produced by the British Society ofPlant Breeders (BSPB).

With a focus on key themes such as food, health,economy and the environment, this bookletexplains how plant breeders develop, test and

bring new crop varieties to market, and howinnovation in plant breeding contributes toimproving the quality, performance and productivityof our agricultural and horticultural crops.

For more information about the BSPB and thelatest plant breeding news go to www.bspb.co.uk

PLANT BREEDING - THE ESSENTIAL

PLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULT

URE

Richard SummersRichard Summers, BSPB ChairmanMay 2014

Economy 15

Environment 18

Food 20

Health 24

Lifestyle 27

Origins of plant breeding 4

Creating new varieties 6

Testing plant varieties 10

Producing seed 12

Funding plant breeding 14

Plant BreedingMattersPlant breeding is the business and scienceof crop improvement. It is an innovation-based sector, focused on developing plantsbetter adapted to human needs.

The demand for new varieties of agriculturaland horticultural crops, adapted to ourunique growing conditions, is never ending,driven by the challenges of new pest anddisease pressures, weather patterns andchanging market requirements.

The development of crop varieties withimproved yields, end-use quality andenvironmental performance provides theessential foundation for sustainable, efficientagriculture, and the starting point for theUK’s £90bn food supply chain.

As the world faces up to the majorchallenges of population growth, climatechange and pressure on natural resources,the contribution of plant breeding isincreasingly recognised as a key factor inaddressing global concerns over foodsecurity and sustainable development andin stimulating a vibrant economy.

Contents

An introduction to plant breeding

Why plant breeding matters to:

The origins of plant breeding stretch back thousandsof years to the first primitive farmers who selectedthe best plants in one year to provide seed for theirnext crop. More recent scientific and technologicaldevelopments have allowed a much greater rate ofimprovement.

Until the early 1960s, plant breeding in Britain waslargely confined to publicly funded research. Thissituation changed dramatically in the mid-1960s, withthe passing into law of the 1964 Plant Varieties &Seeds Act. This legislation introduced a system ofroyalty payments on individual plant varieties, knownas Plant Variety Rights, and triggered a rapidexpansion of plant breeding as a commercialenterprise in its own right.

Gregor Mendel firstprovided a scientificexplanation of geneticinheritance in the mid-19th century. In hisexperiments withpeas, Mendelcrossed plants withdifferent characteristicssuch as whether the seed is round or wrinkled.He found that the offspring had either round orwrinkled seed, the same as the parents with nointermediate types, and that when these offspringwere crossed with each other, the round andwrinkled seed types were inherited in a stable 3:1ratio. Mendel’s work went largely unrecognised inhis own lifetime and it was not until the early 20thcentury that it was rediscovered to form theexplanation of heredity and pave the way formodern plant breeding.

4

Origins of plant breeding

Visit www.plantbreedingmatters.com/history.php

to see a video clip on ‘Variation, inheritanceand the work of Mendel’

wrinkled peas

round peas

Norman Borlaug and his colleagues working in Mexico made a major breakthroughin scientific plant breeding when they were able to introduce dwarfing genes intowheat to produce new varieties with much higher yield potential and greater responseto fertiliser than traditional varieties. This started the Green Revolution, a step changein the development of higher yielding varieties for the developing world and thefoundation of much of today’s crop breeding.

Norman Borlaug

To see a video clip on ‘Norman Borlaug

and selective breeding of wheat’ visitwww.plantbreedingmatters.com/history.php

Gregor Mendel

None of the major food crops grown in Britain are native to this country. The cereals, rootcrops, pulses and oilseeds which make up the familiar patchwork of our farmed landscapehave their origins in many different parts of the world. They have all been adapted, throughplant breeding, to thrive under UK growing conditions.

5

Download a copy of the independent study atwww.plantbreedingmatters.com/history.php

Plant breedingtoday

Modern plant breeding is asophisticated, high investmentbusiness. Much of the basicunderpinning crop geneticresearch is still conducted in thepublic sector, but commercial plantbreeders provide the only route tomarket for improved crop varieties.

More than 60 plant breedingcompanies, based in the UK, areactive across the entire spectrumof plant species used for food,feed and energy.

Plant breeding makes a significantcontribution to the nation’s grossdomestic product and to thegrowth and competitiveness of theUK’s food economy.

An independent study concludedthat every £1 invested in plantbreeding generates at least £40 inadded value within the wider UKeconomy, from higher yields and inputsavings at the farm level through toimport substitution, export earningsand enhanced processing efficiencywithin the food and drinkmanufacturing sector.

Economic Impactof Plant Breedingin the UK

Every £1 investedin plant breeding

generates at

least £40 inadded value

within the wider

UK economy

6

The basic aim of all plant breeding techniques is togenerate new genetic diversity and then select plantswith the desired improved characteristics.

The creation of each new variety is a complex, costlyand skilled operation. It is also time-consuming –early-stage varieties in today’s breeding programmesmust anticipate the needs of farmers, consumers andthe environment in ten years’ time and beyond!

Breeding techniques vary between crop species, butthe scientific principles of plant breeding remain trueto Mendel’s first discovery that selected parent plantscan be cross-pollinated to combine desiredcharacteristics in a single variety.

These characteristics are determined by genes –units of hereditary material that are transferred fromone generation to the next.

Since each plant contains many thousands of genes,and the breeder is seeking to combine a range oftraits in one plant (such as high yield, quality andresistance to disease), developing a successfulvariety has been compared to playing a fruit machine

– not with three reels but several hundred. The skillof the plant breeder lies in improving the chances ofhitting the jackpot by combining all the desiredcharacteristics in the same variety.

”Future food-production increaseswill have to come from higher

yields. Unless progress with

agricultural yields remains very

strong, the next century will

experience sheer human misery

that, on a numerical scale, will

exceed the worst of everything

that has come be fore...”Norman E. Borlaug, 1970

Creating new varieties

The female parent isemasculated so that

it cannot selfpollinate and pollenis transferred fromthe male parent

with a paint brushto make the cross

Pollinated plants arebagged to ensurethat the femaleparent receives

pollen only from thechosen male parent

Seed is collectedfrom the pollinatedplants and sown outto produce an F1population in whichall the plants areuniform; this isoilseed rape

Seed from the F1plants is collected

and sown to producean F2 population inwhich the plants, inthis case wheat, are

genetically verydiverse

1

Plant breeding in practice

7

The plant breederstarts to select theplants with the bestcharacteristics fromwhich seed will besaved for sowing

the next generation;these are field beans

The process ofselection and

resowing continuesand moves from theglasshouse into smallplots in the field

At each stage thebreeder is measuring

yield and qualitycharacteristics andlooking for disease

resistance

The final stage ofselection is from

yield plots grown inthe field at diverselocations around thecountry before thevariety is enteredinto registration

trials. This is an oattrial being harvested

5

6

Pedigree plant breeding involves crossingcarefully chosen parent plants then selecting the bestplants from the resulting offspring to be grown on forfurther selection.

For cereal crops, hundreds of individual crosses arecarried out to create seed for the first filial (or F1)generation. The resulting F1 plants are uniform, but thefollowing (F2) generation segregates out into manythousands of different plants. It is this enormousdiversity of new gene combinations which may hold thekey to a successful new variety.

Seed from the best of these F2 plants is grown on insmall rows or plots and the best plants again selected.As promising new lines emerge, tests are conducted toassess factors such as yield, disease resistance andend-use quality. This process is repeated year after yearuntil pure lines of only the very best plants remain, readyfor seed multiplication and entry into official trials.

Hybrid breeding exploits the performanceboost derived in a single season from the first crossbetween two carefully selected parent lines. Thisbreeding method is widely used to producecommercial varieties of field vegetables, sugar beet,maize and oilseed rape.

F1 hybrid varieties are unique in expressingheterosis, or ‘hybrid vigour’ in the growing crops for asingle year. This may result in higher yields, greateruniformity, or improvements in quality.

While inbred lines breed true year after year, theperformance gains of F1 hybrids are not maintainedas subsequent generations segregate to producehighly variable offspring.

See how plant breeders start the process by cross pollinating selected parents in peas in the‘Guide to how to cross peas’ video clip at www.plantbreedingmatters.com/innovation.php

Download the BSPB hybrids factsheet at

www.plantbreedingmatters.com/innovation.php

8

Enhanced breeding

With increased genetic knowledge andimproved technology, plant breeders havedeveloped ways to enhance the speed,accuracy and scope of the breeding process.

The lengthy interval from initial cross tocommercial variety can be reduced in anumber of ways:

maintaining parallel selectionprogrammes in northern and southernhemispheres allows two generations tobe produced each year;

single seed descent enables largenumbers of small plants to be cultivatedin artificial growth rooms, with two ormore generations produced per year;

doubled haploid breeding allowsbreeders to produce true breeding seedof a variety within a single generation;

mini-tuber breeding in potatoesspeeds up the slow multiplicationprocess by producing miniature plantsunder greenhouse conditions.

Single seed descent

Doubled haploid breeding

MINI-TUBER BREEDING

Potato plants are micro-propagated in the laboratoryfrom tested pathogen-free

mother plants

The plantlets are

grown on special

media in aseptic

conditions

Many micro plants can be

produced very quickly fro

m

one original mother plant

9

Micro plants are transplantedfrom the lab to the greenhouse

After 10-12 weeks the plantshave produced mini tubers10-50 mm in size. Mini tubersare pathogen-free and allowrapid propagation of newlines, helping speed thebreeding process and theintroduction of new varieties

Modern scientific techniques also enable plant breedersto introduce new sources of genetic diversity and toestablish whether desired characteristics are present atan early stage in the breeding programme:

embryo rescue and assisted pollination allowbreeders to expand the range of availablecharacters by making crosses between plantswhich would not normally produce viable offspring;

advances in genomic science have transformedbreeders’ understanding of the function andlocation of individual genes or combinations ofgenes, and the speed with which genetic variationcan be analysed;

marker-assisted selection uses high-throughputDNA screening technology to determine at an earlystage whether desired traits are present in a newvariety;

transformation (often used synonymously with GM)allows desired traits to be added, modified or deletedin a plant variety without reshuffling entire genomes.This extends the range of characters available, andallows specific genes to be expressed withoutintroducing unwanted characteristics.

Other novel breeding techniques such asoligonucleotide-mediated site-specificmutagenesis or cis-genesis expand the rangeof possibilities for plant breeders to transfergenetic characteristics between plants andalter genetic function within plants in a highlytargeted and efficient way and are the subjectof much exciting plant science R&D. Cerealyields are currently increasing throughbreeding at 0.5% per annum but the UN FAOsays that global food production needs toincrease by 70% in the next 40 years. Plantbreeders need to be able to use all thescientific tools potentially at their disposal ifthis is to be achieved.

Marker-assisted selection Electrophoresis marker lab

Single markerson gel

Rapid screeningmarker analysis

Before a new crop variety can be placed on themarket, it must undergo a statutory testingprocess. Successful varieties are placed on aNational List, or register of approved varieties.

National Listing rules are determined at EUlevel, and apply to all the major agricultural andhorticultural crop species. Official trials areconducted, in most cases for a minimum of twoyears, to test each candidate variety for a rangeof characteristics which together determine itsdistinctness from other varieties, as well as itsvalue to growers and end-users.

National Listing is rigorous and ensures that onlyvarieties which are novel and distinct and whichare a clear improvement over existing varietiesmay be added to the List and marketed.

National Listing – DUSAll varieties submitted for National Listing areassessed for Distinctness, Uniformity andStability (DUS). In the case of cereals, some30 individual characteristics of the plant areinspected to verify that it is distinct (i.e. clearlydistinguishable from other varieties), that itscharacteristics are uniform from one plant toanother, and that the variety is stable from onegeneration to the next.

DUS tests are carried out to highly detailedofficial protocols which are published by Fera atwww.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants.

National Listing – VCUFor agricultural crops, National Listing also involves trialsto establish a candidate variety’s Value for Cultivationand Use (VCU). This provides an independent assurancethat only varieties with improved performance or end-usequality can be approved for marketing.

In the UK, BSPB is authorised by the government toorganise VCU testing for most crops. Read more aboutBSPB’s role at www.bspb.co.uk. Protocols for VCUtrials published by Fera can be found atwww.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants.

Wheat DUSplots at NIAB

Taggingoff-typesin wheatDUS plotsto assessuniformity

Testing thequality of wheatby measuringHagberg FallingNumber

Clover plots

Oat trial

Sugar beet VCU trial

10

Testing plant varieties

Cutting forage grass trial plots

to measure yield and quality

Field bean trial

Combining an oilseed rape trial

Recommended and Descriptive Lists

National Listing is no guarantee of success in the market place. Further non-statutory trials are conducted each yearto compare the agronomic performance and end-use quality of the best varieties. These independent trials providethe basis for detailed variety information and advice to growers and their customers.

Cereals and Oilseeds

Recommended Lists

can be viewed at

www.hgca.com

can be viewed at

www.bbro.co.ukcan be view

ed at

www.britishgrassland.com

can be viewed atwww.bspb.co.uk

can be viewed atwww.pgro.org

can be viewed at

www.bspb.co.uk

BBRO Sugar Beet

Recommended ListsGrass and

Clover

Recommended List for

England and Wales

Turfgrass Seed

Forage MaizeDescriptive Lists

PulsesRecommended Lists

11

As well as developing new varieties, plant breedersmaintain the genetic purity of pre-commercial seedsupplies year by year. This process is costly andtime-consuming, but essential to ensure the qualityand performance of each variety.

For cereals, variety maintenance begins after a fewyears of selection trials, when the promise of avariety is just emerging as a single row containingaround 100 plants.

The breeder bulks up supplies of purified Breeder’sseed into Pre-basic and then Basic seed. Each year,specialist seed producers grow Basic seed for thefirst generation of Certified seed, called C1 seed.After one more year this becomes C2 seed, the mainsource of Certified seed used by farmers in the UK.

Lab testing

12

The plant breeder continuously maintains Breeder’sseed for the process of multiplication through Pre-basic, Basic, C1 and C2 seed to ensure the variety’sperformance and quality year after year.

Greater emphasis is now being placed on preservingthe identity of individual varieties after harvest, bothto conserve quality characteristics and to meetconsumer demands for assurances about theintegrity and traceability of their food.

Seed certification

Seed of an approved variety can only be offered forsale if it meets strict quality criteria laid down in UKand EU law.

The UK’s official seed certification system offersan independent assurance of quality to growers.Minimum standards apply for varietal identity, purityand germination capacity. In addition, strict limitsapply to seed-borne diseases and the presence ofphysical impurities such as weed seeds.

Around 9% of the UK arable area is used to multiplythe pure lines of seed from the plant breeder intoCertified seed. This involves several thousandindividual crops, each grown under specificmanagement regimes to ensure that the purity andintegrity of the resulting seed ismaintained. To gain certification,every seed crop must undergo cropinspection and seed testing.

Producing Seed

Seed certification underpins the health and puritystatus of the major agricultural crops in the UK. Itoffers an independent benchmark of quality on whichbuyers of seed and their customers depend.

Vegetable seed is marketed as Standard seed, whichalso has to meet prescribed standards for identity andquality and be officially labelled.

Farm-saved seed

For certain combinable crops and potatoes, growerscan opt to save their own seed for sowing the followingyear (farm-saved seed) provided care is taken toensure that the crop remains healthy and free fromimpurities, that the resulting seed is carefully

conditioned and cleaned and that a farm-savedseed payment is made to the breeder.

F1 hybrid varieties may not be farm-saved unlessthe breeder has given explicit permission.

13

Quality seed production – a farmer’s view

Philip Gorringe has been producing Certified seed ofwinter wheat, winter barley, peas and grasses on 900acres in Herefordshire for the last 40 years.

The system begins with assessing the suitability of afield, he explains. “Previous cropping is an importantconsideration. With cereals, for example, you can’thave grown the same species the year before andpreferably not for two years. Where this isn’tpossible, a seed grower has to be willing to handrogue the field and spray the stubbles withglyphosate in the autumn, to eliminate anyvolunteers.”

Seed growers can be producing Pre-basic, Basic orC1 seed, or a combination of all three, he points out.“In some instances, you may have the first ever fieldof a given variety.”

Once cereal crops come into ear, they are inspectedto determine whether standards have been met.Where Pre-basic or Basic seed is grown, anindependent PHSI officer from Fera will perform theinspection. “There are a number of things they testfor at this stage, including varietal purity and in thecase of barley, pigment changes.” Contaminationwith other species, particularly wild oats, also has tobe avoided.

Lower grades can be inspected by the seedcompany with check inspections done by Fera.

Once harvest is underway, cleanliness is everything.“Our grain stores are all segregated and cleaned, sothat each seed batch can be stored separately. Theyalso have separate access points, so that they canbe opened from the outside.”

All harvesting equipment is cleaned thoroughly andhoovered out with industrial equipment andcompressed air. “The combine will be cleaned downtwenty times during harvest. It takes two menapproximately three hours to complete.”

All crops are labelled in store and have to be driedusing an on-floor ambient system. Once they reach16% moisture, they are sampled for purity,germination and moisture.

Philip Gorringe enjoys the close relationship he haswith the five plant breeding companies he works withto produce seed. “With seed production, the wholesupply chain, from breeder to merchant to grower,has to work together. It’s good business foreveryone.”

Philip Gorringe, a specialistCertified seed grower,

Plant breeding involves a major investment inpeople, technology and facilities. Research anddevelopment takes place over many years, with noguarantee of success.

Developing an individual variety is expensive.The cost of maintaining a competitive UK wheatbreeding programme, for example, is estimated at£1.5 to £2 million per year.

The breeder’s principal return to fund the ongoingprocess of crop improvement is a royalty on seedused. Only varieties which succeed in the marketplace are rewarded.

Plant Variety RightsPlant Variety Rights (PVR), also known as PlantBreeders’ Rights, provide the mechanism for thebreeder to obtain a royalty. PVR is a unique,internationally recognised form of intellectualproperty applied to each new plant variety. It issimilar in principle to the intellectual propertyprotection offered via copyright on books and CDsand provides the breeder with a time-limitedmonopoly over production and sale of propagatingmaterial of a protected variety, 25 years for mostcrop species and 30 years for potatoes. To begranted PVR, a variety must be Distinct, Uniform,Stable (DUS). It must also be novel and have anapproved name.

In Europe plant breeders may protect their varietieswith Community Plant Variety Rights, awarded bythe CPVO, or with UK Plant Variety Rights awardedby Fera.

Farm-saved seed paymentsThe need to maintain investment in increasinglycostly plant breeding programmes led, in 1991, tointernational agreement that the concept of PlantVariety Rights should be extended to cover farm-saved as well as certified seed.

Farmers have a long tradition of saving seed ofimproved varieties for replanting from one season tothe next. This agreement recognised the breeder’scontribution to the progressive genetic improvementsenjoyed by growers saving their own seed. It wasincorporated into European law in 1994.

Since 1996, an industry-wide system for collectingpayments on farm-saved seed has operated forcertain crop species in the UK. Payment levels arelower than royalty rates on certified seed, and applyonly to newer varieties. The system is supportedacross the farming industry as a means to safeguardfuture investment in crop improvement.

Royalty collectionIn the UK BSPB is the plant breeders’ licensing androyalty collection agency. The Society licences theproduction and sale of Certified seed of protectedvarieties on its members’ behalf and collects theirroyalties. BSPB also collects farm-saved seedpayments under the terms of an agreement betweenthe BSPB and the National Farming Unions.

www.cpvo.europa.eu

www.fera.defra.gov.uk

www.fairplay.org.uk

Through the FAIR PLAYcampaign, plant breedersand the farming unions areworking together tosafeguard future innovationin plant breeding.

14

The PVR campaignaims to raiseawareness andunderstanding ofhow intellectualpropertyprotection withinthe plant breedingindustry isdelivered throughPlant Variety Rights

www.plantvarietyrights.org

Funding plant breeding

A constant flow of new crop varieties with improvedyields, performance and end-use quality provides theessential foundation for a competitive farming industryand a dynamic food chain.

Independent economic research has demonstrated thatevery £1 invested in plant breeding generates at least£40 within the wider food economy.

The economic benefits of improved varieties range fromincreased yields and input savings at the farm levelthrough to import substitution, export earnings and

enhanced processing efficiency with the foodand drink manufacturing sector.

The forty-fold return on investment associatedwith plant breeding significantly outperformsother research-based sectors.

By improving the productivity and output valueof our major crops, plant breeding provides thestarting point for our £90bn food and drinkindustry, the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector,which sources more than two-thirds of its rawmaterials from Britain’s farms.

Yield increaseAlthough total UK barley production declined by 44%between 1982 and 2008, average yields increased by1 tonne per hectare over the same period, of which 90%is attributed by NIAB to the contribution of new varieties(see page 21).

Based on an average barley price for 2010 of £79.70 pertonne, the gross value of the barley yield increase due toplant breeders is £75.6 million per annum.

Brewing and

distillingThe additional alcoholextracted from eachtonne of malting barleyas a result of varietalimprovements hasincreased UK whiskydistillers’ annualproduction potential by upto 66.8 million bottles,with a retail value on theexport market of £483million per year.

Improved barley varieties have also deliveredprocessing benefits by reducing beta glucancontent, allowing significant gains in productivityworth £105 million per year in reduced staff coststo the UK brewing industry.

UK malting sectorBy delivering continual improvements in themalting quality of home-grown barley varieties,plant breeders have helped ensure theviability of the UK malting industry –worth £511 million per year andemploying 2,000 people –in a highly competitiveinternationalmarket.

CASE STUDY 1:

Barley

15

”The competitiveness of the British malting industry depends on a

thriving plant breeding sector to deliver improvements in quality,

performance and yield of home-grown malting barley varieties.”Colin West, Executive Director, Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain

– Why plant breeding matters

CASE STUDY 2:

Wheat

Yield increaseBetween 1982 and 2008, the wheat yieldincrease attributed to plant breeding is valuedat between £373 and £445 million per year at2010 prices.

This takes into account a 33% increase innational average wheat yields, from 6.2 t/ha in1982 to 8.3 t/ha in 2008, around 90% of whichis due to the contribution of plant breeding(see page 21).

Import

substitutionThe development of highprotein, hard-milling UKwheat varieties suitable forbreadmaking enabledhome-grown wheat used forflour milling to increase by57%, or 1.7 million tonnes,between 1982 and 2009.

This has helped safeguardup to 750 jobs and £300million of annual turnover inthe UK flour milling industry.

UK branded bread marketThe development of improved breadmakingvarieties is supporting a trend to use 100%home-grown wheat in the £2.9 billion UKbranded bread market. Market sharegrowth for companies based on meetingtargets for the use of home-grown wheatwill depend on strong promotion, productinnovation and UK provenance claimswhich would not be possible without theefforts of plant breeders.

16

”Advances in wheat breedingand breadmaking technology

have enabled flour millers to

use an increasing proportion

of home-grown wheat in the

grist, reversing the UK’shistorical dependence on

imported breadwheat.”Alex Waugh, Director General, NationalAssociation of British and Irish Millers

Economy – Why plant breeding matters

Suitability for UK

cultivationBy shortening the growthperiod in forage maize, plantbreeders have adapted thissub-tropical crop to thriveunder our growingconditions, providing animportant home-grownforage option for UK farmers.

Farmers have rapidlyrecognised and adopted thebenefits of early maturing,higher yielding varieties, andbetween 1989 and 2008 theUK forage maize areaincreased six-fold from26,000 ha to 150,000 ha.

Milk

production

benefitsAdding maize tograss silage helpsimprove the grossmargin per dairycow. Researchcomparing diets ofgrass silage alonewith maize silagefed in combinationwith grass silagehas identified thefollowingadvantages:

Higher ration intake – the addition ofmaize silage improves dry matter intake by 3.8 kgper day to 13.6 kg relative to grass silage alone.

Lower production costs – maize silagetypically costs £73 per tonne of dry matter versusgrass silage at £85 per tonne. The cost differentialreflects the higher dry matter content of foragemaize.

Higher milk yield – forage maize has beenfound to deliver an increase in milk yield of 2.4 kgper day, as well as increased protein and fat.

Based on the area of forage maize grown in 2008,plant breeders have supported the provision ofimproved dairy rations worth £66 million per yearin reduced feed costs and increased productivity.

CASE STUDY 3:

Forage Maize

17

The UK forage maize areaincreased dramatically as breeders

introduced earlier maturingvarieties for the UK climate

Economy – Why plant breeding matters

The combined challenges of population growth, climatechange and increasing pressure on the world’s naturalresources of land, water and energy have prompted callsfor the ‘sustainable intensification’ of global agriculture.

At its most basic level, this means increasing productivitywhile consuming fewer resources and with reducedimpact on the environment.

Plant breeding will be at the forefront of the geneticinnovation needed to deliver the required gains insustainable, efficient production, for example by

developing higher-yielding, more climate-resilient cropvarieties better adapted to cope with extreme weatherconditions and by improving the resource-useefficiency of our major crop plants.

The development of improved crop varieties can alsohelp protect our countryside and farmland biodiversity.Increasing productivity on land that is already farmed,for example through the adoption of higher-yieldingvarieties and farming systems, reduces pressure onuncultivated land and natural habitats.

CASE STUDY 1:

Plant breeding for climate change

The effects of climate change are predicted to have amajor impact on prospects for global food production. Atthe same time, agriculture itself is a major contributor togreenhouse gas emissions.

Plant breeders can help tackle the causes and effects ofclimate change in a number of ways.

Resistance to new pests and diseaseThe need for new varieties adapted to the UK’s uniquegrowing conditions will continue to be driven by thechallenge of evolving disease and pest pressures.Climate change may lead to the more rapiddevelopment of entirely new strains of disease, changesin disease resistance levels, or the arrival of new pests.

Drought and stress tolerant varietiesResource conservation will become increasinglysignificant in the UK if, as predicted, climate changeleads to warmer, drier summers. Developing crops withimproved tolerance to drought and heat stress is aglobal priority among researchers and plant breeders.

Varieties suited to reduced inputs and

cultivationsLike all other industrial sectors, agriculture is underincreasing pressure to cut carbon emissions. Plantbreeders are already selecting for varieties which havegreater nutrient use efficiency, pest and diseaseresistance and higher harvest index, and can thereforehelp reduce sprays and fuel consumption. Similarly,selection of varieties which perform well under minimal-

or no-tillage regimes can reduce the need forploughing which contributes to greenhouse gas buildup by releasing soil carbon and consuming fuel.

Adapting new crops to UK conditionsBy shortening its growth period, plant breeders haveadapted forage maize to thrive under UK growingconditions, allowing a six-fold increase in plantingssince the late 1980s. Warmer, drier conditions mayalso open up possibilities to increase production ofgrain maize in the UK, or to establish new cropspecies – such as soya or durum wheat – on acommercial scale. Again, plant breeding will beneeded to adapt such crops to UK growing conditions.

Improved seasonality of produceWherever possible, UK food retailers are keen toincrease their sourcing of local products in an effort toreduce food miles. Many farmers are alreadyresponding to these opportunities, and plant breederscan help by further extending the availability ofseasonal vegetables and fresh produce.

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– Why plant breeding matters

CASE STUDY 2:

Plant breeding and biodiversity

It is a frequent misconception that the success ofmodern plant breeding has led to an erosion ofnatural biodiversity. In fact quite the opposite is true.

Maintaining genetic diversity is central to theprocess of crop improvement. It is in every breeder’sinterest to ensure that the gene pool from which newtraits are selected remains as extensive as possible.

Plant breeders are actively engaged in a range ofnational and international programmes to identify,classify and conserve the valuable geneticbiodiversity within cultivated crop varieties,landraces and wild plant species.

Indeed plant breeders were among the first to raiseconcerns about the need to maintain plant geneticresources for food and agriculture, and created thefirst gene banks during the 1930s.

On a global basis, plant breeding companiescommit an average of 5% of their researchbudget to conserving biodiversity in the formof wild and adapted genetic resources.

Watch the video clip ‘Variety is Life’ atwww.plantbreedingmatters.com

Cereal seed can be kept

viable for at least 30

years in cold dry

conditions such as the

seed store at the John

Innes Centre Germplasm

Resources Unit

Read more about plant breeders’ collaboration with gene banks and an interviewwith Mike Ambrose, Manager of the John Innes Centre Germplasm Resource Unit, inthe Spring 2013 issue of Plant Breeding Matters at www.plantbreedingmatters.com

See how Russian scientistNikolai Vavilov’s ambition todevelop better crop varietiesled to him founding the firstseed bank in the video clip atwww.plantbreedingmatters.com/environment.php

19

Plant breeders collaborate with genetic resource collections to searchfor sources of variation to introduce new traits such as diseaseresistance, drought or salt tolerance and yield increase. New andpowerful genomics tools, high throughput sequencing technology andmolecular markers are opening up radical new opportunities tounderstand, unlock and exploit the diversity in the collections toimprove the crops of tomorrow. Plant breeders also help ensure thatthe collections include the latest commercial varieties, as breedersdeveloping varieties for the UK market routinely deposit samples oftheir UK National List entries into a special BSPB collection held atthe John Innes Centre.

MikeAmbrose

Environment – Why plant breeding matters

The combined pressures of population growth,climate change and declining natural reserves ofland, energy and water are driving global concernabout the security and sustainability of our futurefood supply.

The world’s population is set to exceed 9 billion by2050, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) predicts that food production must increase byat least 70% over the next 40 years to keep pace.

But with limited land available to bring into production,the only realistic prospect of delivering sustainablefood security is through increased productivity andimproved efficiency on land that is already farmed.

Increasing pressure on the use of pesticide andfertiliser inputs – through tighter environmentalcontrols and spiralling costs – means that cropgenetic improvement, delivered to the market throughlocally-based plant breedingprogrammes, willunderpin this secondGreen Revolution.

By delivering higher-yielding, more climateresilient crop varieties,resistant to the emergence ofnew and more virulent pests anddiseases, advances in plant breeding will underpin the‘sustainable intensification’ of agriculture required tosecure our future food supplies.

At the same time, plant breeders must respond to thechanging demands and expectations of consumers,and meet the exacting quality specifications of thefood chain with improved varieties, tailored to theneeds of specific end-markets.

Watch the video clip ‘Agricultureis under Pressure’ atwww.plantbreedingmatters.com/food.php

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Innovation in plant breeding is the single most important factorin delivering continued improvements in the quality, availability

and affordability of our food.

– Why plant breeding matters

CASE STUDY 1:

NIAB yield study

Recent research has shown that innovation in plantbreeding is now the single most important factorcontributing to growth in UK cereal yields.

Statistical analysis of trials yield data over the past60 years by researchers at the National Institute ofAgricultural Botany (NIAB)* found that while cerealyield increases prior to the early 1980s were due toa combination of factors, including increasedmechanisation and more widespread use offertilisers and pesticides, yield gains in the UK wheatand barley crop over the past 25 years have beenalmost exclusively due to the genetic improvementsdelivered by plant breeders.

The study showed that winter wheat yields havemore than trebled over the past 60 years fromaround 2.5 tonnes/ha in the mid-1940s to around8 tonnes/ha today.

Non-varietal factors such as improved crop nutrition,crop protection, machinery and agronomy remain anessential component of modern crop production tohelp realise the genetic potential of new varieties.

But the NIAB study confirmed that the yield-boostingcontribution of these non-genetic factors hasremained broadly neutral over the past 25 years,highlighting the essential role of varietal improvementas the platform for future yield growth.

% yield increase due tonew varieties 1982-2007

Winter wheat 93%Spring barley 87%Winter barley 92%

Richard Summers, BSPB Chairman,demonstrates how breeders havereduced the height of the wheat plantfrom Little Jos, a variety from around80 years ago, to Moulin, from the 1980s

Barley ears

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IAB

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* Mackay, I. et al. Reanalyses of the historical series of UK variety trials to quantify the contributions of genetic andenvironmental factors to trends and variability in yield over time. Theor. Appl. Genet. 122(1), 225-38 (2011)

Food – Why plant breeding matters

Plant breeding contributes to increased cropproductivity in many different ways:

Physical yieldBreeding improved crop varieties which convertmore of their biomass into productive yield is thesingle biggest contributor to improved crop output.The development of shorter-strawed cereal varietiesis a striking example of how this has been achieved.By transforming more of the crop’s productiveenergy into valuable grain, the introduction of these‘semi-dwarf’ varieties marked a 20% step change inUK cereal yields.

Disease resistanceProgress in plant breeding has significantly improvedthe genetic resistance of modern crop varietiesagainst the threat of viral and fungal infection,reducing harvest losses and enabling crops torealise their yield potential. Key examples includeresistance to rust and mildew in cereals, rhizomaniain sugar beet and late blight in potatoes.

Physical characteristicsChanging a crop’s physical structure can alsoboost yields. The development of semi-leaflessfield peas, for example, helped to boost intrinsicyield while improving the crop’s standing abilityand the efficiency of harvesting.

sugar beet rhizomania

potato blight

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CASE STUDY 2:

Plant breeding for better productivity

wheat yellow rust

Phot

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IAB

Food – Why plant breeding matters

Time of maturityPlant breedingtechnology has broughtmajor improvements inthe uniformity with whichcrops ripen ready forharvest. This not onlyreduces potential croplosses at harvest (as inthe case of pod shatterin oilseed rape), but hasalso transformedgrowers’ ability tomechanise harvestingoperations in the fieldvegetable sector.

Other agronomic

factorsBy improving crops’ ability tocope with a range of otheragronomic pressures, advancesin plant breeding continue tounderpin progress in agriculturalproductivity. They include:

genetic resistance topests, such asnematode resistancein potatoes;

shortening the croplife cycle, to expanda crop’s geographicalgrowing area,e.g. forage maize;

stress tolerance,such as frostresistance in fieldvegetables, to extendthe seasonalavailability of home-grown produce.

Pod shatter in oilseed rape

Shortening the crop life cycle

Testing for nematodes

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Food – Why plant breeding matters

Food safety and nutrition are key priorities fortoday’s health-conscious consumers. Progress inplant breeding can deliver health-related benefitsin a number of ways.

Expanding choice in fresh produceBy providing continuous improvements in thequality, taste, convenience and seasonality of ourfresh fruit and vegetables, innovation in plantbreeding is increasing choice, diversity andexcitement for consumers, contributing positivelyto the nation’s five-a-day healthy eating targets.

Delivering health benefitsPlant breeders are developing arange of new crop varieties withspecific health advantages, fromoilseed crops with healthier oilprofiles to brassica crops withincreased levels of beneficialnutrients and oats with enhancedlevels of antioxidants and beta-glucan.

Improving food safetyProgress in plant breeding is also addressingkey food safety concerns. Improvements indisease resistance, for example, can help reducelevels of harmful mycotoxins caused by fungalinfections, while quality improvements can helpreduce or eliminate anti-nutritional factors suchas erucic acid in oilseed rape.

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– Why plant breeding matters

Healthier vegetable oilsA ten-fold expansion in the UK oilseed rape crop fromthe mid-1970s to today’s 700,000 hectares can bedirectly linked to two major plant breedingbreakthroughs. Varieties were first developed in the1970s with reduced erucic acid levels to make the oilmore suitable for human food use. This was followed inthe late-1980s by ‘double-low’ varieties, with reducedglucosinolate levels to improve the quality andnutritional value of the resulting meal for animal feed.

More recently, plant breeders have developed oilseedvarieties with modified oil content to help reduce dietaryconsumption of trans fatty acids, which have beenlinked to increased risk of heart disease and stroke.Trans fats are the result of partial hydrogenation ofvegetable oils, a process used in the food industry toprevent rancidity and extend product shelf life.

Plant breeders have responded with a range ofnew oilseed rape varieties whose oil profile ishigh in oleic acid and low in linolenic acid. Thisoffers food processors improved stability instorage and use without hydrogenation,reduced saturated fats and negligible levels oftrans fatty acids when used for frying.

Progress is also taking place to develop oilseedcrops enriched with omega-3 fatty acids similarto those found in oily fish. This will provide arenewable, plant-based source of theseessential, health-giving oils while helping toalleviate pressure on endangered fish stocks.

CASE STUDY 1:

Healthier vegetable oils

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High oleic, low linolenic (HOLL)oilseed rape varieties have beenbred to produce healthy low

saturated fat vegetable oil that isstable at high temperatures.

Health – Why plant breeding matters

The UK distilling market seeks malting barley varietieswith low levels of a compound called glycosidic nitrile(low-GN varieties). This is in response to concerns that,under certain conditions, a breakdown product ofglycosidic nitrile can react with ethanol, catalysed bycopper in the stills used for whisky distilling, to producetraces of a potentially harmful substance known asethyl carbamate.

Thanks to the development of improved malting barleyvarieties, the distilling industry is now able to reduceGN levels even further to meet the stringent qualitydemands of the major Scotch whisky export marketssuch as the USA.

Malting barley varieties are already availableshowing a five-fold reduction on previous GNlevels, and breeding efforts continue to focus onthe development of high-yielding varieties withnon-producing levels of glycosidic nitrile.

Once again, UK plant breeders are responding tothe demands of an increasingly health-consciousmarket place, safeguarding export markets worth£ billions to the UK economy.

CASE STUDY 2:

Low-GN barley varieties

Whisky distillery

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By developing low GN varieties,plant breeders have helped tosafeguard one of the UK’s

largest whisky export markets –USA and Canada – from future

regulatory change. Thesemarkets were worth

£466 million in 2009.

Health – Why plant breeding matters

By improving the on-farm performance and end-use quality of our major food crops, plantbreeding makes a significant contribution to ourquality of life by providing the essential startingpoint for a secure and affordable food supply.

But plant breeding also contributes to a betterquality of life in many other ways:

by supporting improvements in cropproductivity, the development ofhigher-yielding new varieties helpsprotect marginal habitats andlandscapes for wildlife andrecreation;

gardeners enjoy the benefit ofimproved varieties of shrubs,ornamentals, fruit andvegetables, and a choice ofgrass seed adapted to arange of uses, from low-maintenance landscaping tohard-wearing lawns;

plant breeders have also developed grassvarieties to suit many different sportinguses, from compact, fast-repairing turf forfootball and rugby pitches to a dense,close-knit surface for golf greens;

innovation in vegetable breeding hasbroadened choice, diversity andconvenience in the fresh produce market,helping the nation meet its ‘five-a-day’target for healthy eating.

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– Why plant breeding matters

To meet today’s fast-paced lifestyle manyconsumers want convenient, meal-sized portions oftheir favourite vegetables, throughout the year andwith minimum need for preparation.

Cauliflowers are one example: whole cauliflowersjust take up too much space!

That’s why there has been a steady rise in sales offresh cauliflower florets sold both on their own andin mixed vegetable packs. To satisfy the demands ofthis growing market sector, UK vegetable breedershave introduced cauliflower varieties that have beenselected to produce a very dense white curd andhigh numbers of florets per head, just the right sizefor pre-packs.

This characteristic enables growers to produce highyields of fresh florets, and helps meet the demandfor convenient, healthy food at a reasonable pricefor consumers.

Plant breeders have developed a whole rangeof new varieties to bring convenience to retailersand consumers, for example seedless peppers,non-bleeding red cabbage, ‘burpless’ cucumber,cabbages with even-sized, dark green leaves forretailing in packs of shredded spring greens,potatoes for every culinary purpose, andvarieties with extended growing seasons toprovide in some instances a year-round supplyof home grown produce.

CASE STUDY 1:

Vegetables for convenience

Cauliflowers for pre-pack Non-bleeding red cabbage

Seedless pepper

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Innovation in vegetable breeding has broadened choice, diversity andconvenience in the fresh produce market, helping the nation meet its

‘five-a-day’ target for healthy eating.

Lifestyle – Why plant breeding matters

Innovation in grass breeding has delivered year-on-yearimprovements in the performance of perennial ryegrass– the main grass type used in sports and amenityapplications – as breeders strive to develop the idealplaying surface.

Here are just a few of the major breakthroughs in grassbreeding made in recent years:

advances in wear tolerance deliveredthrough improved varieties allow today’ssports pitches to withstand an extra 30%playing time compared with 30 years ago;

breeding has extended the growing seasonfor grass varieties, aiding repairs andregeneration all year round, regardless ofconditions. The result is a strongerperformance right through winter, as well asan improved winter colour;

the development of fast-establishingannual ryegrass varieties capable ofgerminating in temperatures as low as 3°Cmeans establishment and growth can beachieved quickly and all year round – evenin the cooler autumn and winter months;

the introduction of shade-tolerant speciesand varieties has helped address the issueof shade – a real problem for sports turfdevelopment and maintenance in some ofour top stadia.

CASE STUDY 2:

Breeding the perfect sports turf

Read more abouthow plant breedersare helping toimprove the qualityand practicality ofnatural turf for awhole range of sportsand amenity uses.

BSPB publishesannually theTurfgrass SeedBooklet, listing thebest amenity grassvarieties and theircharacteristics asdetermined fromindependent varietytrials conducted bySTRI. (Visitwww.stri.co.uk formore information)

These publications are available to download at www.plantbreedingmatters.com/lifestyle.php

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Lifestyle – Why plant breeding matters

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Glossary

Breeder’s seed The first stock seed produced by a breeder of a new variety at the start of themultiplication process

BSPB British Society of Plant Breeders, the association representing plant breeders inthe UK. www.bspb.co.uk

Certified seed Seed which is produced within an official certification system, which has passed fieldinspection for varietal purity and seed testing for purity and germination; seed ofagricultural crops in Europe may not be marketed unless certified

Cis-genesis A technique involving the transfer of genes, similar to transformation but used to insertgenes from the same or a related species

CPVO Community Plant Variety Rights Office is the office that handles applications for andawards European PVR. www.cpvo.europa.eu

Doubled haploid breeding A laboratory technique for producing true breeding seed of a variety within a singlegeneration by creating a haploid plant with half the usual number of chromosomes andthen doubling them to produce a homozygous or pure line of the plant variety. Used toaccelerate the progress of a promising variety through the breeding programme

DUS Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability; a new crop variety must pass a growing test forDUS to be authorised for marketing and/or to be granted Plant Variety Rights

Embryo rescue A breeding technique used to make crosses between plants where the cross (and assisted pollination) would normally produce offspring that are not viable. A way to expand the range of

genetic diversity by combining genes from plants that could not normally be crossedby mechanical transfer of pollen outside the lab

F1 The first generation of plants that results from a cross between two parents; F1 plantsare uniform

F2 The generation that results from sowing seed from F1 plants; these plants are allgenetically different. Sowing seed from an F2 plant leads to the F3 generation and so on.

Farm-saved seed Seed of certain species of agricultural crop that is the product of a farmer's own harvestand which he retains for sowing on his own holding. www.fairplay.org.uk

Fera Food and Environment Research Agency. www.fera.defra.gov.uk

Genome The complete set of genes of a plant as contained in a reproductive cell

Genomics The study of genes, their functions, their interactions and how they control the growthand development of organisms

Green Revolution A period of rapid scientific progress in the development and introduction of new cropvarieties and other agricultural technologies in the 1960s, that led to significantincreases in crop yields, especially in developing countries

Hagberg Falling Number A standard predictive measurement to assess the quality of wheat grain for milling andbaking purposes

Heterosis Also known as hybrid vigour, the improved performance shown by a hybrid varietyover that of its parents

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Hybrid A plant which is the offspring of a cross between two or more genetically differentparents

Inbred line A genetically pure variety produced by repeated self-pollination that breeds true andis stable over generations

Landrace A locally adapted, non-uniform population of a crop species, grown by farmers in aspecific area over a long time period

MAGB Maltsters Association of Great Britain, the representative body for malting companies,which operates a testing and approval system for malting barley varieties incollaboration with plant breeders. www.ukmalt.com

Marker assisted selection Using markers in the plant genome that are linked to specific desirable traits such asdisease resistance to be able to identify quickly and easily whether the characteristicof interest is in a seed or plant

nabim National Association of British and Irish Millers, the representative body for flourmillers, which tests and approves new wheat varieties for their milling potential incollaboration with plant breeders. www.nabim.org.uk

National List In Europe, a register of varieties in a Member State that are legally approved to bemarketed

NIAB National Institute for Agricultural Botany, research institution that carries out much ofthe DUS testing for the UK, seed certification for England & Wales and VCU trialsand quality tests for new varieties. www.niab.com

Oligo-nucleotide-mediated A laboratory method to alter the function of a specific gene in a plant to change asite-specific mutagenesis characteristic of the plant in a highly targeted way

Pedigree breeding Crossing and repeated selection of plants having desired characteristics

PHSI Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate, official Government inspection body for seeds,plant health and compliance with the relevant regulations

Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) The most used sui generis system of IP protection for plant varieties, synonymouswith Plant Variety Rights

Plant Variety Rights (PVR) See Plant Breeders’ Rights

Pre-basic and Basic seed After Breeder’s seed, the next two generations in seed multiplication, usuallyproduced under the breeder’s control, the first two generations of seed within theofficial seed certification system

Seed certification The official scheme for the certification of seed in Europe

Single seed descent A method to speed up the genetic purification of a new variety by producing eachnew generation from a single seed of a plant of the previous generation

Standard seed The legal marketing standard for most vegetable seed sold in Europe; standard seedmust meet defined standards for identify, quality and be properly labelled

Transformation Altering a plant’s genetic make-up by inserting genes from unrelated plants or otherorganisms to introduce new attributes

UN FAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. www.fao.org

VCU Value for Cultivation and Use; new agricultural crop varieties must pass growing testsfor VCU to be approved for marketing in Europe

British Society of Plant Breeders LtdBSPB House, 114 Lancaster Way Business Park, ELY CB6 3NXTel +44 (0)1353 653200 Fax +44 (0)1353 661156Email enquiries@bspb.co.uk Website www.bspb.co.uk

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© British Society of Plant Breeders Ltd 2014 Published May 2014