UPL, Advanta, Embrapa to develop canola seeds with nematode management potential

UPL announced a partnership between its company Advanta Seeds and Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) to develop hybrid canola seeds.

According to the manufacturer, canola is a culture with high added value, highly valued by the food industry for its high-quality oil with a large amount of Omega 3 and Vitamin E.

Researcher Maurício Antônio Lopes, from Embrapa, says that canola improves soil conditions and helps to control the incidence of nematodes, a problem that causes significant damage to Brazilian soybeans.

In addition to nematode management, canola is an essential alternative for crop rotation, cosmetics production, biofuels, and animal feed.

″Advanta has decades of experience in canola research. A partnership with Embrapa can accelerate crop development for the tropical climate,″ declared Bruno Laviola, Deputy Head of R&D at the Unit.

Lopes said that the objective is to take canola to be planted in the Cerrado region. Still, for that, it is necessary to respond to critical challenges such as the development of new cultivars resistant to aluminum, a toxic element present in the lower layers of the biome's soil.

The researcher, who chaired Embrapa from 2012 to 2018, presented the project ″Tropicalization of canola in Brazil″, which aims to establish a short-term commercial production of the oleaginous plant and, in the medium and long term, create conditions for a robust, productive system of canola culture in the biome.

He highlighted the importance of the Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (Zarc) for the success of crops in Brazil and cited the Canola Zarc, updated in 2021.

″In the 2021/2022 harvest, we had about 40 million hectares planted with soy. We estimate that, if we have between 10% and 20% of this area with canola second crop, it will be between four and eight million hectares with the new crop,″ Lopes presented.

Rogério Castro, CEO of UPL, stated, ″Embrapa has done a fantastic research and development job, which gains even more strength through partnerships with the private sector.″

According to him, joining forces is ″fundamental to ensure the evolution of Brazilian agriculture.″

″Since it generates more value for rural producers and society with a low environmental impact, canola fits perfectly with UPL's global commitment to reimagining sustainability,″ Castro said in conclusion.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)