Jorasch Petra
Manager Plant Breeding Innovation Advocacy, Euroseeds, Brussels, Belgium.
Front Plant Sci. 2020 Sep 25;11:582011. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.582011. eCollection 2020.
Reconciling sustainability with agricultural productivity in the face of climate change relies strongly on the development of resilient, high-yielding crops of superior nutritional value that can be grown more resource efficiently. Therefore, innovation in plant breeding has gained unprecedented importance. Plant breeding depends upon genetic variability within crops and their relatives as a basis for developing new plant varieties with improved characteristics. Plant breeders are continuously integrating the latest methods in plant biology and genetics into their breeding toolbox to more efficiently use existing diversity but also to induce new genetic variation. Over the past years, ever more precise and efficient plant breeding methods have been developed. This plant breeding innovation leap is based on an in-depth understanding of plant genomes and refinement of breeding methods, enabling more efficient, more precise and faster progress in achieving the desired breeding goals. Consequently, these plant breeding innovations are rapidly being developed and utilized internationally and across the seed sector, public and private research, plant species and markets. The results of a survey among 62 private plant breeding companies conducted by Euroseeds and presented in this publication confirm the enormous interest of companies in using new breeding techniques (NBTs) for a wide range of crop species and traits and the negative impact of the current regulatory situation in the EU on companies' decisions for investments in NBT-related R&D activities for the EU market and beyond.
在气候变化背景下，使可持续性与农业生产力相协调，很大程度上依赖于培育具有更强适应能力、高产且营养价值高的作物，这些作物能够更高效地利用资源。因此，植物育种创新变得前所未有的重要。植物育种依赖于作物及其亲缘种内的遗传变异，以此作为培育具有改良特性新植物品种的基础。植物育种家不断将植物生物学和遗传学的最新方法融入其育种工具箱，以便更有效地利用现有多样性，同时诱导新的遗传变异。在过去几年里，已经开发出越来越精确和高效的植物育种方法。这种植物育种创新飞跃基于对植物基因组的深入理解以及育种方法的优化，能够在实现预期育种目标方面取得更高效、更精确和更快的进展。因此，这些植物育种创新正在国际上以及整个种子行业、公共和私人研究、植物物种和市场迅速得到开发和应用。欧洲种子协会对62家私营植物育种公司进行的一项调查结果在本出版物中呈现，证实了各公司对将新育种技术用于多种作物物种和性状的巨大兴趣，以及欧盟当前的监管状况对公司在欧盟市场及其他地区进行与新育种技术相关研发活动投资决策的负面影响。
