Defra says Rothamsted Research good to go with GM wheat field trial
Staff Writer |
Rothamsted Research, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC, submitted an application on November 3, 2016 to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for permission to carry out GM field trials on the Rothamsted Farm between 2017 and 2019.
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The risk assessment was reviewed by the independent Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), and a 48-day public consultation was carried out by Defra. ACRE is satisfied that all scientific issues raised by the public with respect to this application have been addressed.
During this period and in addition to the formal consultation run by ACRE, Rothamsted Scientists have also spoken to and answered questions directly from the public, and special interest groups that have been interested in the research project and the trial.
Scientists at Rothamsted Research, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Essex and Lancaster University, have developed wheat plants that can carry out photosynthesis more efficiently i.e. convert light energy into plant biomass more efficiently.
This trait has the potential to result in higher yielding plants. The purpose of the proposed trial is to evaluate the performance of the engineered plants in the field.
Ensuring food security is a major challenge given the projected need to increase world food production by 40% in the next 20 years and 70% by 2050. Wheat is one of the major grain crops worldwide and provides approximately one-fifth of the total calories consumed globally.
However, wheat yields have reached a plateau in recent years and predictions are that yield gains will not reach the level required to feed the 9 billion population predicted for 2050.
Traditional breeding and agronomic approaches have maximised light capture and allocation to the grain.
A promising but as yet-unexploited route to increase wheat yields is to improve the efficiency by which energy in the form of light is converted to wheat biomass. ■