RYE SELECT accelerates the breeding process

10 Nov 2011: The Julius Kühn Institute is partner in a national project that paves the way for genome-based precision breeding in rye. Aim of the RYE SELECT project is to accelerate the genomic selection for traits of agronomic relevance.

The project is funded over the next three years by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and pools the expertise of the Universities of Munich and Hohenheim, the Leibniz Institute Gatersleben, the Julius Kühn Institute in Groß Lüsewitz and the KWS Lochow company.

The JKI Institute for Breeding Research on Agricultural Crops is in charge of identifying and validating the genomic regions that are involved in distinct quality-related traits as well as in an optimal pollen shedding. JKI scientist Dr. Bernd Hackauf speaks of molecular precision tools. They shall provide rye breeders with the technology of an early and reliable selection of elite material. In other words, a technology that increases the selection efficiency and accelerates the breeding processes of crops.