Canada and the Netherlands join hands on canola research

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is collaborating with the Centre for BioSystems Genomics (CBSG) in the Netherlands to launch three R&D projects on canola.

 

Canola contributes more than US$14 billion annually to the Canadian economy and generates over 214,000 jobs in Canada.

 

This collaboration will contribute to new knowledge that will benefit one of Canada's most important resources, said NRC President Dr Pierre Coulombe.

 

Under this agreement, the NRC Plant Biotechnology Institute and the Centre for BioSystems Genomics will focus on three projects.

 

The first will study the genetics of lipid metabolism in canola to improve the plant's nutritional value.

 

The second project will look at seed quality and vigour to improve crop yield and the crop's quality to make canola more competitive with other crops.

 

The last research project will try to better understand the signalling pathways that are involved in the formation of haploid embryos - research that will develop new and improved varieties of canola in shorter time-to-market.