b'INTERNATIONAL NEWSGLOBAL SEED WATCHFARMERS IN BURUNDI JOINING PLANTWISE, CANADIAN SCIENTISTS WORK WITH RYE.STATUS BURUNDI STATUS CANADAThousands of farmers in Burundi are looking forward to joiningRye is a distinctly climate-resistant cereal plant that is of con-a global community of over 31 million smallholder farmers insiderable importance for Germany and northeastern Europe. In Africa, Asia and the Americas who have been positively impactedCanada, most rye is grown in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.by Plantwise. At USask, the research team includes professor Curtis The Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Burundi, thePozniak, director of USasks Crop Development Centre and Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of the Environment,Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program Chair in Agriculture and Livestock and CABI will join forces to establishDurum and High-Yield Wheat Breeding and Genetics, plant a network of local plant clinics run by local agricultural exten- molecular geneticist Andrew Sharpe, director of Genomics and sions staff, newly trained as plant doctors. This comes after theBioinformatics at USasks Global Institute for Food Security Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bujumbura and(GIFS), Sean Walkowiak, bioinformatics analyst Brook Byrns, the Dutch Organisation for Internationalisation in Educationand plant sciences emeritus professor Brian Fowler.provided a combined 1.89 million funding for the introductionRye is one of the most cold-tolerant cereal crops and can of Plantwise (including Plantwise capacity building and plantsurvive the harshest winters typical of the Canadian Prairies, clinic networks) to support smallholder farmers in Burundi. said Pozniak. The genome sequence of rye points to important The introduction of Plantwise in Burundi will be timelygenes that could be used to enhance the cold tolerance of other and aligns well with the National Agricultural Developmentimportant winter crops, including wheat.Strategy in Burundi, and will greatly benefit our farmers. ISABUThe results published in the journal Nature Genetics are is honoured to be the lead implementing institution, said Drpromising for both science and breeding. Rye offers access to a Niyokwishimira Alfred, Director General of Institut des Sciencesdiverse gene pool, not only for rye breeding but also for wheat Agronomiques du Burundi.breeding.Source: CABITURNINGSEEDSFOR YOUR TURNOVER 44IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'