Bayer CropScience and Japanese biotech company Scivax Corporation have entered into cooperation on yield enhancement under abiotic stress conditions in plants, initially in cotton.

Under the terms of this agreement, Bayer CropScience will sponsor and support Scivax's Research & Development activities in these traits for the next three years. In turn, Scivax grants Bayer CropScience an option to obtain a worldwide, exclusive license to their patent portfolio for use in crops.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Scivax has been developing technologies for enhanced yield since 2005 under collaboration with Professor Teruhiro Takabe of Meijo University and Professor Tetsuko Takabe of Nagoya University. The company has demonstrated the value of their technology under abiotic stress conditions in greenhouse trials with a variety of crops. Scivax and Bayer will now join forces to further optimise the technology.

Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, is one of the world's leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology.

Scivax Corporation is a research and development venture company and a unique solution provider in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology.