FEBRUARY 2018 SEEDWORLD.COM / 13 PARTNER CONTENT Alfalfa Technologies Staying current with market demands, Sacramento, California’s S&W Seed Company is pairing cutting edge technology with the company’s legacy breeding program to provide top quality alfalfa seed varieties. T hrough molecular genetics technol- ogy, S&W Seed Company is focusing efforts into three main channels of improvement: legacy traditional breeding; breeding new cultivars using the two com- mercial transgenic traits; and the discov- ery of new and useful traits in collabora- tive effort through the Calyxt company’s TALEN® gene editing technology. The Legacy Breeding Program Spanning more than 35 years, S&W’s legacy breeding program encompasses the benefits of agronomic, disease and pest resistant trait selection to defend from yield losses in the field. With a long-stand- ing focus on root-rots and wilt diseases, S&W has also worked to mitigate yield and quality losses by identifying and selecting resistance traits for lodging; leafhoppers and aphids, and nematodes. Achieving these advancements has required a steady and strong focus on the selected traits that has spanned several subsequent years fol- lowing initial identification. This lengthy selection process requires a large window of time from trait identification and selec- tion to the production of a commercial product. Innovation in breeding and selection is helping to reduce this time, however, says Robin Newell, who serves as Vice Presi- dent of North American Sales for S&W. “Today, we are using marker tech- nologies to enhance our legacy tradi- tional breeding in alfalfa. S&W’s breeding program is primarily focused on increas- ing yield, but also for improving forage quality,” says Newell. “Through the use of molecular genetic markers, we [S&W] are able to more thoroughly evaluate germ- plasm and more quickly identify and bring forward those germplasm lines containing the characteristics we want in commercial varieties.” Transgenic Breeding Taking note of the genetically engineered varieties dominating corn and soybean acres, S&W continues to breed new al- falfa cultivars using the two commercial transgenic traits highly suited for North American dormant markets and currently deregulated within the United States. Newell shares that while S&W is not basic in creating transgenic molecular events, and is performing all transgenic breeding under license for Pioneer, it is the com- pany’s hope to be licensed to offer these traits under the S&W brand in the future. Gene Editing Program In 2015, S&W entered collaborations with Calyxt with the goal of producing and commercializing alfalfa seed products using TALEN gene editing technology. The technology uses nucleases as customized DNA scissors that bind and precisely cleave S&W Seed is utilizing both traditional as well as new plant breeding techniques to develop new lines of alfalfa. preselected DNA sequences. The gene-ed- iting technology not only allows for greater selection precision but also decreases the time associated with genotypic and pheno- typic expression of the selected traits. “In October 2017, the first product candidate was designated as non-regulated by the Biotechnology Regulatory Services of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, an agency of the United States De- partment of Agriculture,” says Newell. “This non-regulated status will allow rapid devel- opment of alfalfa varieties and sales of seed to farmers in a relatively quick timeframe.” Although the incorporation of new technologies, such as Calyxt’s TALEN® gene editing, will continue to be para- mount in the development of the spe- cies, the robust breeding program and expertise of those professionals behind it, ensure that S&W will remain competitive in the American agricultural landscape.