b"on Sept. 26-27, seeks to enhance seed quality, increase yields andSren Halbye, DLF Seeds A/S Group CEO, has been appointed farmer incomes, and boost agricultural productivity across the con- President of Euroseeds.In his acceptance speech, Halbye tinent. expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in him by Euroseeds and its members. It is a true honour to lead this organization at a time when the agricultural landscape is shifting dramatically. The In Trkiye, significant changes have been made to the processes ofrole we play in advocating for the European seed sector has never registering plant varieties with the Regulation on the Registrationbeen more important.of Plant Varieties, published in the Official Gazette on Sept. 17, 2024. This regulation aims to adopt a more effective approach by considering technological advancements, as well as internationalFor the first time, scientists have shown that a crop, in this case and national sectoral developments wheat, can control what a beneficial fungus does by sending small RNA molecules into the fungal cells. This means a big step for-ward for research into environmentally friendly control methods in Australia's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator has issuedagriculture. The research builds on the ground-breaking work that license DIR 205 to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrialwas awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2024.Research Organisation, allowing the field trial of canola geneti-cally modified (GM) for increased abiotic stress tolerance. The GM canola may be grown at up to three sites in New South Wales andSwitzerlands two-decade long moratorium on genetic engineer-South Australia, with a maximum planting area of 1.5 hectares ining, which expires at the end of 2025, is to be extended by two the first year and two hectares in the subsequent years. The trialyears. The Swiss Senates Committee for Science, Education and may run from May 2025 until December 2030. The purpose of theCulture has acted on a parliamentary initiative from the House of field trial is to assess the performance of GM canola lines underRepresentatives to this effect. In early September, the government field conditions in Australia, including environmental stress. Theannounced plans to draft a law on regulating new plant breeding GM canola grown in this field trial will not be used in human foodtechniques, with a consultation set for the end of the year and a or animal feed. parliamentary presentation in early 2026. Parliament had requested a draft for a risk-based approval system for methods like CRISPR by mid-2024. Due to delays and the impending expiration of the Research by Mississippi State University associate professor Ling Limoratorium, the Senate committee has urged the House committee presents a potential solution to global protein deficiency, affectingto extend the moratorium by two years, according to parliamentary millions, especially children, and leading to cognitive impairmentsservices.and diseases like Kwashiorkor.Li's work, backed by over 10 years of field data, aims to enhance the genetic expression of rice and soybean plants to boost protein levels while lowering carbohydrateResearchers from the University of Nottingham are part of a team content. By using gene editing to remove repressor elements fromwho have been awarded 2.2 million to trial a precision-bred noncoding DNA, her approach increases protein production inwheat variety which could lead to the development of more sustain-crops, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculturalable farming systems. Researchers from the School of Biosciences practices by reducing dependence on animal-derived proteins. are part of the PROBITY projectA Platform to Rate Organisms Bred for Improved Traits and Yield. Led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), this is a three-year multi-partner A study in New Phytologist highlights the impact of overexpressingproject, funded by Defras Farming Innovation Programme, which OsNF-YC4 and GmNF-YC4 on protein content in rice and soy- is delivered by Innovate UK. bean, while reducing starch accumulation. These findings offer val-uable insights for enhancing the nutritional value of these crops, particularly for populations dependent on starchy diets. The studyNew research that could increase the natural resistance of wheat to revealed that editing the NF-YC4 promoter decreased repressora devastating fungal disease has begun at Heriot-Watt University binding and boosted NF-YC4 expression, resulting in an 11-17%in Edinburgh. The research will examine why some wheat varieties increase in seed protein content in rice and a 6-11% increase in soy- are more resistant than others to this disease. Dr. Angela Feechan bean. The authors recommend further research to explore modifyingand her team will examine specific genes in different wheat vari-other cis elements for desired gene expression changes. eties, and how the products of these interact with the fungus that causes septoria. This fungus is called Zymoseptoria tritici (Z. trit-ici) and attacks the wheat plant through spores. These destroy the Senthold Asseng, a professor of digital agriculture at TUM, andplants ability to absorb sunlight through photosynthesisturning Pierre Martre (INRAE), along with researchers, studied experi- the leaves of the wheat plant yellow and speckled, killing areas of mental wheat cultivars. Their findings, published in Nature Plants,the leaf. used data from five experimental fields in high-yield regions and were modeled under current climate, 1C, and 4.8C warming sce-narios. The study showed that the new cultivars yield 16% more under current conditions with the same fertilizer due to improved nitrogen efficiency. However, as global warming advances, nitro-gen requirements will increase, though the new wheat will still use nitrogen more efficiently than current varieties.NOVEMBER 2024|SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPEISEED WORLD EUROPE I 37"