The Rural Voice, 1999-10, Page 11Scrap Book
Researchers want
to plant wild beet
gene in soybeans
Soybeans are one of Ontario's
most valuable crops but cyst
nematodes are a growing pest,
costing growers $15 million a
year. Now University of Guelph
researchers want to use a gene
from wild beets to help fend off
the microscopic worms that feed
on the plant roots, estimated to cut
soybean yields by 10-15 per cent.
Ten years ago only two areas
in the province were known to be
infested with the nematodes. Now
it's estimated there are more than
150,000 contaminated acres.
U of G researcher Barry Shelp
is leading a team of researchers at
the University and Agriculture and
Agri -Food Canada (AAFC) who
are transferring nematode
resistance from wild beets to
selected soybean cultivars.
Although wild beets and soy-
beans are not closely related plant
species, the cyst nematodes that
attack their roots are very similar,
so transferring the wild beet
resistance gene into soybeans is a
feasible strategy, researchers say.
The wild beet nematode -resistance
gene has already been successfully
transferred to the sugar -beet.
Shelp and research associate
Michael McLean engineered the
resistance gene for soybeans at U
of G's Plant Agriculture Depart-
ment and sent it to AAFC's Cen-
tral Experimental Farm in Ottawa
where research scientist Daina
Simmonds and technician Sheryl
Hubbard made the transfer into
soybeans using tissue culture
techniques. Now a testing prog-
ram is being conducted by Terry
Anderson and Tom Welacky at
AAFC's Greenhouse and Process-
ing Crops Research Centre at
Harrow. It's one of many collab-
orative projects under the Ontario
Research Enhancement Program.0
—Source: University of Guelph
Research magazine
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