Internationally recognized plant scientist Leon Kochian, Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Food Systems and Security at the University of Saskatchewan, has been granted $800,000 by Innovation Saskatchewan to equip a new research laboratory that will improve crop productivity and resiliency.
Internationally recognized plant scientist Leon Kochian, Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Food Systems and Security at the University of Saskatchewan, has been granted $800,000 by Innovation Saskatchewan to equip a new research laboratory that will improve crop productivity and resiliency.
Using the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, the cyclotron at the Saskatchewan Centre for Cyclotron Sciences, and other advanced imaging equipment, Kochian aims to increase crop yields to feed a hungry world, whose population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.
The aim is to breed better cultivars of plants such as wheat, lentils and canola with improved root traits that help them cope with a range of soil-based stresses, including drought, low levels of essential mineral nutrients, and pathogens.
“We are using the funding from the province to take advantage of novel cutting-edge technologies associated with the U of S and Saskatchewan to look at root form and function in ways not possible until now,” said Kochian, a professor in plant sciences and soil science in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and associate director of the U of S Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS).
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Image via University of Saskatchewan.
