b'How do we Usher in an Era MARTIN HORROCKS of Faster, Improved and DIRECTOR OFN.A. SEED TREATMENT, BASFmartin.horrocks@basf.com Affordable Breeding?agriculture.basf.us/crop-protection/ use-areas/seed-treatment.htmlInnovation:ITS A PROBLEMfaced by many:segregated in the breeding genetic the right technological solution ispool. Next, a target set of SNPs best too expensive to utilize it to its fullestrepresenting the overall genetic dif-Beyond the Buzz extent. ferences is selected and used in the It is part of our job to solve thatbreeding project. problem. The optimization process reveals ACQUISITION IS ANimportant step for anyIn modern breeding, DNA markermore genetic information while company, but its what you make of it that reallytests (genotyping) provide crucialreducing the SNP number tested by matters. Will it benefit the customer or just thegenetic information, facilitating the10-fold as compared to commonly company? When BASF purchased parts of Bayersselection of parental lines for sexualused genotyping tools. This way, seed treatment business in 2018 and created amating and the best progenies for thegenotyping data generation costs dedicated Seed Treatment business unit, we putnext breeding cycle.can be reduced while revealing the a stamp on our commitment to the industry and,Molecular breeding methods suchactual segregating genetic diversity. more importantly, the grower.as genomic selection and genome- Historically, plant breeding is a Our team is laser-focused on working withwide association studies often requirelong and costly process where seed our customers to provide seed-applied productshigh-density genotypic data fromcompanies collectively spend close to that speak to our customers business needs andmany samples, but the cost and com- $10 billion per year on seed breeding. their growers crop production environment. Toplexity of genotyping at this scaleAn average breeding program takes do this well, we spend time with our customers tomay be prohibitive.six to 10 years for product develop-get to know the inside story of their business andThe use of genotyping tests isment and the average annual yield to share insights we have into growers needs andconstantly expanding, and moregain for most crops is less than 1%. challenges, like soybean cyst nematodes. Growersuseful knowledge is being generatedThanks to new technology and dont see the problem, and thats a huge challenge.from DNA data. Genotyping proce- human vision, we are beginning to Its our job to educate them on the unseen under- dures already comprise a significantusher in a new era of improved and ground pest, share solutions and continue to lookportion of breeding budgets, hencefaster breeding that will benefit the for answers.the urgent need to optimize them toentire globe.Innovation is an easy buzzword to throwbest allocate limited R&D funds.around. Here, it really stands for something, and weWe developed a solution called take it seriously. We know that innovation need notSNPer, which optimizes genotyping always focus on products; it also involves marketprocesses and reduces genotyping development, for example. Recently, we partneredcosts by up to 70%. SNPer is based with a regional seed company to develop a specifi- on todays most common DNA mark-cally formulated, co-branded seed treatment. Thaters used for genotyping named SNPs seed company is already benefiting by market- (single-nucleotide-polymorphism). ing its custom seed treatment package to grow- Even though it involves advanced ers who will leverage this solution in the comingalgorithmics, the logic behind this season.solution is clear and simple. To begin, Its an exciting time when were able to talk withwe analyze the full genomic diversity seed companies and retailers about our ability toused in a given breeding program, develop seed treatments that meet their growersand then identify millions of SNPs local needs. We have the equipment to test prod-ucts in the field as growers will actually use them, and we have the partnerships to help our products reach maximum potential in every corner of theEDWARD BRUGGEMANNcountry.DIRECTOR OF GENOMICS So keep an eye on us and hold us accountable.SOLUTIONS, NRGENEBASF is committed to seed treatments and inno- edward.bruggemann@nrgene.comnrgene.comvationtoday, tomorrow and into the future.@NRGene44/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2020'