Biotech Updates

Bayer Opens Rice Research Facility in Singapore

June 20, 2008

Bayer CropScience has opened a rice research laboratory in Singapore dedicated to support the development of new high-yielding hybrid rice varieties. The EUR 5 million (US $ 7.75) facility is ideally located in Asia where 90 percent of global rice production takes place. It will primarily work with DNA marker analysis to support molecular-marker assisted breeding. Scientists in the facility will also focus on integrating important agronomic traits into hybrid rice, such as pest and disease resistance and improved grain quality. Bayer’s conventional hybrid rice seed varieties have been commercialized in countries such as India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Brazil under the umbrella brand Arize.

Read the media release at http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/EN_20080616