Biotech Updates

Bayer and CSIRO Team up on Wheat Research

July 24, 2009

Germany-based Bayer CropScience and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia's national research organization, announced that they will work together to develop wheat varieties with higher yield, more efficient nutrient utilization and tolerance against abiotic stress such as drought. One of the initial projects of this collaboration is dedicated to the development of wheat lines with improved yield potential and stress tolerance, while another focuses on wheat lines with improved utilization of phosphorus. These and other research projects are expected to result in new varieties available to farmers from 2015 onwards. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.

Bayer and CSIRO have previously collaborated on several projects, including improvement of fiber quality in cotton and development of a gene silencing technology.

The media release is available at http://www.press.bayercropscience.com/bcsweb/cropprotection.nsf/id/EN_20090721?open&l=EN&ccm=500020