b'AT PGDC, ALL EYES WERE ON NBTSYet despite enthusiasm for new breeding techniques, time-honoured methods are what still drive plant scienceand the Prairie Grain Development Committeeforward.Marc ZienkiewiczTHE 2024 MEETING of the Prairie Grain Development Committee (PGDC) enjoyed a sold-out crowd this year as over 300 people gathered in Saskatoon, Sask. for the annual event.PGDC is responsible for coordinating research and develop-ment activities related to grain crops in Western Canada, which includes evaluating new grain varieties and also existing ones. Every year it puts forward promising new lines to be registered as varieties by the federal government.But as was made clear at this years plenary session, the tools that make for a game-changing new variety might increasingly come from the world of new breeding techniques (NBTs), one of them being gene editing.The extremes weve seen, not just in Western Canada but worldwide, have shown us the importance of ensuring steady crop production year after year. This means not only boostingNorm Sissons, senior vice-yields but also safeguarding against issues like drought andpresident seed & traits for Cibus,Curtis Pozniak is director of the disease that accompany unpredictable weather, said Normspeaks at this years PGDCCrop Development Centre and Sissons, senior vice-president seed & traits for Cibus. Theplenary session. The companyspoke at this years PGDC plenary session about the potential for company focuses on accelerating trait development across cropsfocuses on accelerating traitnew breeding techniques in wheat using tools like gene editing. development across crops usingdevelopment.Traditional GMO breeding methods are costly and time- tools like gene editing. consuming, limiting innovation to a few big players. However, gene editing offers a more cost-effective and precise approach, with the potential to democratize the technology and involveNBTs Going Publicmore participants in crop improvement. That potential is by no means the sole purview of the pri-Cibus approach involves using various gene editing tech- vate sector, of course. Curtis Pozniak, director of the Crop nologies, including CRISPR, to modify crops efficiently andDevelopment Centre in Saskatoon, said while the fundamental precisely.principles have remained consistent over the past two centu-Our goal is to develop high-throughput gene editingries, the technologies we employ and how we apply them have techniques that can efficiently tackle complex traits in crops.undergone significant transformations.By automating and optimizing the editing process from start toHe pointed out that its essential to understand that no finish, we aim to speed up trait development and make it moresingle technology holds all the solutions on its own. Instead, its cost-effective, Sissons said. the synergy and integration of various tools within the broader Currently, the Cibus pipeline focuses on traits like podcontext of breeding programs that yield significant results. In shatter reduction in canola and herbicide tolerance in rice, withthat vein, his wheat breeding programs toolbox comprises a plans to expand to other traits and crops like wheat and soy- multitude of modern elements, from germplasm selection to bean in the future. Sissons sees opportunities for collaborationfield-based phenotyping, from biotechnology to data analytics.and new business models in the gene editing space. To expedite our breeding programs, reducing generation Canada, the EU, and the U.S. are making progress intime is paramount. Techniques like double haploid technology establishing clear regulatory guidelines, which will pave theand controlled environment growth chambers allow for acceler-way for widespread adoption of gene edited crops, he said. ated breeding cycles, significantly shortening the time to release Were at the forefront of a transformative moment in agri- new varieties, he said.culture, where gene editing has the potential to revolutionizeFor Pozniak, marker-assisted selection (MAS) has been crop production and address the challenges posed by climatea workhorse in predictive breeding, allowing his team to change. identify and select for specific genes linked to desired traits. 26 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADAMARCH 2024'