Breeding for quality

Press, 5 August 1988, Page 14

Breeding for quality

Dr Michael Dunbier believes that the new commercial environment imposed on D.S.I.R. staff is welcome. “We have a lot to be proud of,” he said “and we need have no reservations about going out and promoting our technology.” Crop Research Division has a national role in breeding new varieties for New Zealand industry and consumers. This role has recently increased in significance as several private sector organisations have pulled out of this type of research because of the difficulty of making long term research pay. Dr Dunbier, director of the division, announced that with the more commercial approach to plant improvement, the Crop Research Division would be using a new trademark.

“In future all our products will carry the C.R.D. logo and this will provide

merchants with an identifiable image to market. The inclusion of the logo on information leaflets, seed bags and packaging should assure the customer of quality, he said. The superiority of C.R.D. cultivars is generally embodied in the quality product they produce, the disease resistance which is environmentally important and their adaptation to the New Zealand climate which means that they perform better. The service the division gives extends beyond the

supply of seed. It will increasingly become involved in supplying management guidelines for cultivars and such services as consultancy, pathogen-tested plant material and contract research. The Crop Research Division has new facilities at Lincoln, near the College, which are as good as most similar organisations in the developed world. It also has staff who are internationally renowned for their expertise. The combination of geneticists,

pathologists, breeders, agronomists and food technologists all working within one organisation is almost unique but the benefits are very obvious. The division has just produced the first genetically engineered plants in New Zealand and Australia to be ready for field testing. It has made major advances in understanding complex flavour compounds (the tear factor), in onions, and this is important for breeding onions that our overseas clients want.