Developing Carinata Varieties and Hybrids for Drier Canadian Prairies with Key Traits using Molecular Breeding Tools as a Preferred Industrial Oilseed Platform
Principal Investigators: DR. ISOBEL PARKIN & DR. CHRISTINA EYNCK, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Saskatoon Research & Development Centre
Co Investigator: DR. RICK BENNETT, Nuseed Canada Inc.
Climate change is predicted to have a more significant effect on the Canadian Prairies compared to global estimates, with temperatures rising higher, creating an increased risk of droughts (www.climateatlas.ca). Ways to mitigate climate change include the use of renewable sources of energy, such as biofuels and the development of climate-resilient crops. Brassica carinata (carinata) is a drought- and heat-tolerant oilseed, which has recently been developed in Canada as a dedicated industrial feedstock crop for oil used in biofuel production, and could become part of a pro-active Canadian strategy to battle climate change and its effects on agriculture.
