Lantmännen is an agricultural cooperative and Northern Europe’s leader in agriculture, machinery, bioenergy and food products.
Industrial doctoral project takes a closer look at the vigour of cereal seeds
Lantmännen BioAgri has, together with the Department of Plant Biology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) started a five-year industrial doctoral project. The aim of the project is to identify the internal factors that determine the vigour of cereal seeds and to develop measurement methods.
The project hopes to contribute to improving knowledge in the field of seed biology and specifically increase the understanding of seed vigour and how it is measured. With improved knowledge, competitiveness in Swedish agriculture can be strengthened by:
- Securing continued effectiveness of IPM methods* in an increasingly changing climate
- Facilitating optimization of storage and management for seed producers
- Enabling the implementation of sustainable methods for the control of seed-borne diseases and adapted cultivation strategies for seed production
- Helping breeders to develop new, better varieties
"I appreciate to get the opportunity to address an issue with such evident knowledge gaps," says Victor Olsson, industrial doctoral student at SLU and employed by Lantmännen BioAgri as an industrial partner in the project. He explains that today's methods for evaluating the quality of seeds are both time and labour intense. "I hope that my project will be able to tackle that particular challenge and hopefully enable more improvements in how we produce and handle seeds in the future."
Victor Olsson.
In addition, the project enables a closer link between industry and academia, in order to improve the exchange of ideas between commercial endeavours and research. "Lantmännen BioAgri specialize in exploring new areas and translating the knowledge into products and methods. With new knowledge about the seed vigour, we can introduce a new dimension that will strengthen sustainable and profitable seed production," says Christian Thaning, assistant supervisor and head of research and development at Lantmännen BioAgri.
The project runs over five years, from April 2024 to March 2029. The total project budget amounts to approximately SEK 7 million. The project is funded by SLF, the Lantmännen Research Foundation, SLU and Lantmännen BioAgri AB.
* IPM or "Integrated Pest Management" is a concept of considering all available pest management methods to achieve the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disturbance to agricultural ecosystems. More can be found on the European Commission's website.