Future farming with profitable perennialsTM
Lotus Commercialisation Project (P1 FP08)
ObjectivesThe Lotus commercialisation project has three objectives;
Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) allows the FFI CRC to protect its intellectual property. The seed production component of the project aims to (i) provide seed to the commercialisation company to launch commercial seed production, (ii) provide seed for other RD&E efforts in the FFI CRC, (iii) provide seed to our partners INIA Uruguay and (iv) provide a reserve of breeders’ seed for future access. ActivitiesSeed increase activities are underway in Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales to ensure seed is available for commerical seed prodcution and research and demonstration purposes with Plant Breeder Rights applications and other commercialiation documentation nearing submission. Trials designed to test Distinctness Uniformity and Stability (DUS) in the five new lotus cultivars have also been sown in 2009. For further information about this project, email project leader, Graeme Sandral. |
The Lotus Commercialisation project is commercialising five lotus cultivars developed during the FFI CRC’s predecessor the Salinity CRC. In that project (Lotus Breeding) only elite lines were to be produced for national evaluation however the project team exceeded expectations by producing five new cultivars. The four Lotus corniculatus cultivars produced are targeted at areas receiving more than 600 mm of a.a.r where the soils are too acid for lucerne and the summer drought is too harsh for white clover. The Lotus australis cultivar is a sub-shrub suited to areas of low rainfall (<400 mm) and neutral to alkaline soils. It was undertaken to prove the concept that genetic progress can be made with Australian natives. If Lotus australis was progressed further it would be best suited to mining reclamation sites and road side sowings.
