The Manitoba-based Haplotech has won NRGene’s international QuickGENETICS contest, which was announced in January.
Haplotech was selected after presenting an innovative project that will adopt advanced genomic tools in their breeding program. The company will receive a comprehensive cannabis genomic starter package, worth the equivalent of $US 130,000, to generate unique genetic markers to identify desirable traits, such as flowering time, yield components or pathogen field resistance.
The QuickGENETICS package includes consultation in the selection of germplasm, sequence-based plant diversity analysis, a proprietary-phased reference-genome of a key variety (to pseudochromosome level), a genetic map and trait mapping (QTL) with a genetic marker set for the specific traits.
Haplotech serves the global plant breeding industry by providing comprehensive technical services in multiple crops, as well as consultation in the areas of organization and optimization of plant breeding programs. With two facilities in Winnipeg, Man., and field capacity in Western Canada, the United States and Chile, it is capable of accelerated breeding, including DH production, trait integration, field evaluation and providing end-to-end solutions for plant breeding.
“Haplotech Inc. has demonstrated its ability to provide the plant breeding industry with successful breeding projects in hemp and multiple other crops with a straightforward practical approach to advance and accelerate breeding using our genomic tools,” said Dr. Gil Ronen, NRGene’s CEO and founder.
“We are pleased to award them such a comprehensive package to further the potential for applications in hemp breeding. NRGene is committed to increase the adoption of genomic tools in the cannabis and hemp industry. The young cannabis and hemp industry has the potential to make a substantial leap in yields through genetic research, significantly improving current production processes.”
NRGene’s technology allows growers and breeders to develop new cannabis varieties efficiently and precisely with desirable characteristics while significantly reducing costs and timelines.
“Breeding is a numbers’ game. It is a simple function of low probabilities of fixing many favourable alleles in a single individual. Molecular tools and genomic insights will enable us to provide a significant increase in the number of plants screened each year and enhance our capability to identify elite varieties,” says Rale Gjuric, president and founder of Haplotech.
“Quick plant screens will be especially important in rapidly selecting out hundreds or thousands of the least promising plants, saving us precious time and cultivation space.”
