Cargill licenses patented canola breeding technology

Cargill has entered into an agreement with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to license WARF's patented canola breeding technology.

The technology - formally titled ''Hybrid, spring brassica napus with winter germplasm introgression'' - involves the use of traditional breeding techniques to introgress traits from winter canola lines into spring canola lines, resulting in higher spring yields. Introgression is the movement of a gene from one species into the gene pool of another.

Spring canola varieties grown mainly in Canada and the northern US are typically lower yielding than winter type canola varieties adapted to survive the more moderate winters in Europe.

WARF's patented technology provides a method for transferring many of the high-yielding components of winter canola into the growth habit of a spring line,'' said Paul Pucci, WARF licensing associate.

The results are higher-yielding spring canola hybrids adapted to the spring canola production areas of North America, he said. This could further enhance the yields of Cargill's specialty oil VICTORY hybrids, and to continue to supply the increasing market for Cargill's Clear Valley high stability canola oil, according to Pucci.

WARF is an independent, non-profit foundation chartered to support research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the designated technology transfer organisation for the university.