UK team bags £2.2m to advance gene-edited crop research
Researchers from the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham are part of the Platform to Rate Organisms Bred for Improved Traits and Yield (PROBITY) project, which brings together farmers, scientists, and food manufacturers.
PROBITY is funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Program, which is delivered by Innovate UK; the three-year project is led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN).
There are three cereal varieties in the project: a barley variety making high lipid, high energy forage aimed at lowering livestock methane emissions, a wheat variety with superior baking, toasting, and processing properties, and a wheat variety with a bigger bolder grain size promising a step change in productivity.
The researchers are hoping the use of such varieties could lead to the development of more sustainable farming systems.
A team of researchers led by Dr Stacia Stetkiewicz from the University of Nottingham will engage with the farming community to explore barriers to the adoption precision-bred crops for UK food and farming, with the objective of paving the way for future innovation.
A series of interviews, workshops, surveys, and online forum data will provide a snapshot of current opinions, obstacles, and opportunities, to help to identify key policy and research priorities for the future of precision-bred crops in the UK to build resilience to climate change.
UK gene editing regulation
The UK government recently announced next steps toward implementing the Precision Breeding Act, aimed at harnessing the benefits of gene editing technology for plants and animal breeding in England.
The Act became law in March 2023. The secondary legislation needed to make it operational is expected to be introduced in Parliament shortly, according to the UK’s food security and rural affairs minister, Daniel Zeichner MP, who was speaking at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London on September 30.
Precision-bred crops can be created through gene editing, according to the PROBITY researchers.
“Gene editing differs from genetic modification, as it allows beneficial traits to be produced without introducing DNA from other species. Instead, the technology enables breeders and scientists to follow processes that mimic natural breeding but in a highly targeted manner.”
Dr Stetkiewicz notes that the agricultural industry is under pressure to increase the yield and nutritional density of food crops while also mitigating and responding to climate change. “Innovative approaches such as precision breeding will be key to achieving this.”
Feed and food trials
Crops will be grown on commercial farms as part of this initiative to show how they perform in real-world situations.
“Once harvested, the wheat will be processed into food products to assess performance, which may include testing by consumer panels. They will not be marketed as food products. The high-energy forage will be tested for nutrient content and digestion characteristics, ensiled and may be fed to cows in commercial dairy herds.
“The material produced in the trials will not be consumed by either livestock or humans until the secondary legislation, covering novel foods and feed, is in place and regulatory approval has been granted. This process is currently underway and is expected to have been completed before the crops are harvested in 2026,” reads the PROBITY site.
