February 11, 2009

Swiss agribusiness company Syngenta AG (SYT) said Tuesday (February 10) it has entered an eight-year research collaboration with Anhui Rice Research Institute, ARRI, of Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China.

The collaboration programme is centred around conducting laboratory and field tests of novel gene functions and will focus on drought tolerance and nitrogen utilization optimization in key crops such as corn and soy. ARRI will work closely with Syngenta's new biotech research and technology centre in Beijing which was opened in October last year.

"This collaboration will accelerate our research and increase our efficiency and competitiveness," says Xun Wang, Head of Syngenta Biotechnology China. "ARRI has strong expertise and experience in genetics, breeding and field experiments."

The base crop for the program will be rice, which is highly suited for gene research. It is a well characterized crop regarding genetic, molecular and agronomic information and its genome is closely related to those of major crops such as corn. The relatively short growing cycle of rice will also allow more testing to be completed in a shorter time frame.

The research agreement is part of Syngenta's efforts to work closely with Chinese academics. In 2007, Syngenta entered a five-year research collaboration with the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, IGDB, in Beijing on the development of novel agronomic traits for key crops such as corn, soy, wheat, sugar beet and sugar cane.