WEBVTT

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Since it’s foundation in 1856,

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KWS has pursued the goal of offering farmers

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increasingly better seeds and high performing varieties.

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The methods and tools have been continuously developed.

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In addition to traditional crossing and selection

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robots, drones, artificial intelligence

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market technology and genome analysis are used today.

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But plant breeding is
and always will be handcrafted. A labor-intensive, time-

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consuming process that breeders like Jens Lein

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carefully plan and accompany over many years.

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We are developing varieties that combine positive traits

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such as high yield performance and strong resistance
to diseases.

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In addition to yield, climate change and the regulation of chemical crop
protection are bringing other

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breeding goals more into focus.

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Diseases such as Cercospora, Rhizomania and Virus Yellows

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are spreading worldwide
and are playing an increasingly important role.

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That is why we are working intensively
on the development of resistant varieties

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that enable farmers to grow
sugar beet sustainably in the future.

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In the laboratory, traits such as resistance
can already be detected at the genetic level.

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One plant has around 30,000 genes.

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Our task is to identify exactly those genes

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that lead, for example,
to the multiplication of Virus Yellows.

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Markers can be used to

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determine within 48 hours
whether a certain property is present.

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The uniqueness of the marker profile of a plant

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makes it comparable to a human fingerprint.

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With the help of special software, we can compare

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thousands of marker profiles
with our field-measured data, enabling us to identify

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the most promising genetics for field trials.

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But the desired information
is not always captured in the data from the laboratory,

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which is why the knowledge and experience of the breeders

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is so crucial.

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The generator phase,

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in which plants can be modified by breeding, is very short.

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That's why breeders need a good understanding
of their material and must consider and develop strategies

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in advance.

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Breeding expertise also enables

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a solid assessment of digital processes.

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So far, digital tools and artificial intelligence

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have been used primarily in established breeding programs
and for processing large amounts of data.

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Drones can be used to achieve high precision
in resistance assessments.

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The challenge is to achieve
such exact calibrations as a human eye.

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Or even beyond wave ranges
that are invisible to the human eye.

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And the interpretation of the data
is also crucial for the right conclusions.

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The human
eye sometimes comes to more differentiated results.

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So even a parcel that looks affected
at first glance can have well-performing plants.

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Only 10% of the genotypes that go into performance

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testing are produced in the foil houses the following year.

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You can think of breeding as a kind of funnel.

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It is screened and filtered again and again
until the material

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with the desired properties remains.

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We are always looking

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for new, better solutions for our toolbox
to speed up the breeding process.

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In the face of climate change,
we need to find breeding solutions to challenges

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such as drought stress, pests and plant diseases.

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In this sense, our work has an important social component,
because it benefits people,

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in the end.