NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Syngenta will collaborate with China's Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences to conduct field tests of how novel gene functions relate to drought tolerance and nitrogen use in crops such as corn and soybean.
Under the eight-year collaboration, Syngenta's biotech and technology center in Beijing will work with the academy's Anhui Rice Research Institute.
The base crop for the collaboration will be rice, which the company said is suited for genetics research because it is well characterized regarding genetic, molecular, and agronomic information, and because it is related to corn and other corps. Rice's short growing cycle also makes it good for research because it allows for more testing in a shorter time frame.
The company explained that the agreement also is part of an effort to work closely with Chinese academics. In 2007, the company entered into a collaboration with the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing to focus on development of new agronomic traits for corn, soybean, sugar cane, and other crops.