Australia
June 2010

Source: The Grower - COGGO newsletter Vol 10 Issue 24

COGGO members have enjoyed popular canola varieties such as CB Tribune, CB Tanami and CB Argyle thanks to their 10 year investment in Canola Breeders Western
Australia Pty Ltd (CBWA).

Recently, Canola Breeders released the world’s first hybrid triazine canola varieties, CB Jardee HT™, CB Mallee HT™ and CB Tumby HT™.

Canola Breeders generates value for its investors, which COGGO members see onfarm as superior varieties, according to Canola Breeders Research Director and
University of Western Australia (UWA) Professor Wallace Cowling.

COGGO members may be unaware of the value generated from COGGO’s investment in canola pre-breeding research, which began in Australian Research Council (ARC)
projects at UWA in 2000.

In this first COGGO-supported UWA research project, a research team led by Professor Cowling began crossing canola with Brassica juncea, or Indian mustard, a species
with special attributes, including blackleg resistance and drought tolerance.

‘Grand children’ of the original crosses made by Dr Janet Wroth (photo, left) and PhD student Chris Schelfhout (phto, right) in 1999 and 2000 now show great results. Canola Breeders has invested seven years of breeding inside the company on this unique material.

The graph shows results from a three year analysis of Canola Breeders lines at more than 30 sites throughout Australia. Three new breeding lines (in yellow) are ‘grandchildren’ of COGGO-supported pre-breeding research.

On the right side (in red) are new generation hybrid triazine (HT™) varieties from Canola Breeders. The first hybrid triazine canola varieties in the world, these innovative varieties were made possible by the hybrid breeding system of Canola Breeders coowner NPZ Lembke, in Germany.

COGGO invested in a similar ARC linkage project at UWA in 2006, in which genes from Brassica carinata (Ethiopian mustard) were introduced into canola. Canola Breeders began crossing with these lines in 2008 and expect superior lines in three to four years.

There is no doubt COGGO investment in R&D will contribute to unique and valuable varieties from Canola Breeders far into the future.

COGGO’s investment in Canola Breeders has not only made possible the path to market for these new lines, but has stimulated the introduction into WA of international advances in canola breeding technology e.g. Canola Breeders is bringing a ‘new-generation’ Roundup Ready® canola hybrid, CB Eclipse RR, into the market in 2010.

According to COGGO CEO, Mark Tucek, COGGO’s research investment program is part of its overall strategy to quickly bring sustainable improvements in grain crop varieties to members.

“It takes 10 years to transfer the ‘R’ in R&D to the farmers paddocks and this happens effectively through COGGO investments in crop breeding.

“COGGO aims to secure the path to market for outcomes from its crop improvement investments,” Mr Tucek said.

Website: http://www.coggo.net.au

Published: June 11, 2010