BASF has entered an agreement with Taiwanese research institute, Academia Sinica (Taipei) to discover genes that increase yield and improve stress tolerance in major crops such as rice and corn.

The parties will work alongside one another for an initial two year period with Academia Sinica continuing their work on the functional analysis of genes in rice and BASF Plant Science evaluating genetically modified rice plants in order to develop the most promising genes in rice as well as other crops.

"Better harvest in spite of climate stress" Listen to the podcast (8:32 mins) Visit the website Climatic conditions such as heat or cold and rain or drought can determine whether a harvest turns out well or badly. With the help of plant biotechnology, BASF Plant Science develops for example stress tolerant crops. In a targeted manner, genes from other plants that already possess the desired traits are inserted into agricultural plants such as corn, soya, canola or cotton. This enables them to better handle stress factors Podcast and photo: BASF SE

The focus of the co-operation will be to market several genetically enhanced crops with improved yield.

“BASF was able to select those genes from preliminary studies at Academia Sinica that show the largest potential to increase and se-cure yield in crops,” said Dr. Jürgen Logemann, Vice President Technology Management, BASF Plant Science.

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