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Saturday / February 22. 2025

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HomePosts Tagged "BioLumic"
Agrotech, Company News, Seeds, World

BioLumic’s technology is being commercialised for inbred and hybrid corn cultivars, with plans underway for light-treated seeds to be available to farmers for the 2025 planting season.

BioLumic, the world’s only company treating seeds with light to activate genetic expression for new crop traits, has achieved a breakthrough in enhancing inbred corn lines. These genetically ‘pure’ parent seeds are crucial for producing the world’s high-performing hybrid seeds favoured by most farmers.

After achieving significant performance milestones in 2023 field trials, BioLumic is partnering with Beck’s Hybrids, Peterson Corn Genetics, Peterson Farms Seed, Breeder Direct and other seed companies to use BioLumic’s Genetic Expression Trait™ light-activated technology on a wide range of inbred and hybrid corn lines aiming to enhance their productivity. The inbred trials specifically target improved germination, emergence, seedling vigor, yield, and hybrid seed quality – all issues often associated when working with inbred seed corn breeding and production.

BioLumic harnesses ultraviolet (UV) light signaling, a scientifically-proven process, to rapidly activate natural genetic expression in plants for improved yield, quality, and plant defense traits without requiring genetic modification or chemical additives. BioLumic’s technology is being commercialized for inbred and hybrid corn cultivars, with plans underway for light-treated seeds to be available to farmers for the 2025 planting season.

“By activating Genetic Expression Traits in corn parent lines and showing the ability to lock in those traits to hybrid corn progeny without any ensuing treatments, our UV light technology is rewriting the playbook for seed production,” said Steve Sibulkin, BioLumic CEO. “It eliminates years of trait identification and breeding work for driving yield, quality and plant health without the multi-year regulatory process associated with genetic modification.”

United States field corn production is dominated by vigorous, high-yielding hybrid cultivars bred from crossing genetically pure inbred seed lines to target specific traits. However, problems experienced with inbreeding depression – including reduced germination, poor seedling emergence and vigor, increased susceptibility to environmental stressors and nutrient deficiency – often result in reduced yields and poor hybrid seed quality during the seed production process.

BioLumic’s light treatments for inbred seed are tailored to solve the problems associated with inbreeding depression. In 2023 trials, treated inbred corn lines with the stand establishment and yield trait package demonstrated a more than 7.3% yield gain without any changes compared to the grower’s standard practice – and the company is targeting double-digit yield gains this year. These substantial improvements in inbred uniformity and yield were driven by enhanced early-season germination and increased seedling vigor, including an average 16% advantage in root biomass. BioLumic’s Genetic Expression Traits can also be stacked together as trait packages to target multiple traits, such as improved stand establishment, yield, and composition (e.g. lipid content).

“Through our partnership with BioLumic, we are integrating this unique technology into our hybrid and inbred corn lines, evaluating BioLumic’s trait performance on some of our most promising germplasm this season,” said Marc Neuman, Director of Sales and Product Development at Breeder Direct. “Our mission is to deliver elite genetics that give our seed company clients improved margin opportunity. BioLumic’s ability to improve the yield potential of germplasm that is already outstanding creates a big opportunity for us and independent seed companies.”

BioLumic is set to commercialise Genetic Expression Traits for both inbred and hybrid corn in partnership with Gro Alliance in Q1 2025. The company is actively collaborating with genetics providers to develop new traits for their cultivars. Additionally, BioLumic is advancing trait development of soybean parent lines, with initial trials commencing this year.

BioLumic’s technology is being commercialised for inbred

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Company News, Finance, Investments, Live Stock, Sustainability

It will enable BioLumic to apply its technology to ryegrass, the most common forage pasture on New Zealand farms, with a goal to increase fat content and subsequently reduce methane emissions from animals that consume it.

AgriZeroNZ is investing up to $5 million (USD $3million) in BioLumic, an agriculture biotech company utilising ultraviolet (UV) light to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.

Founded in New Zealand, BioLumic is internationally acclaimed for its unique and proprietary UV Light Treatments which are applied to seeds to regulate their genetic expression and unlock their natural genetic potential.

These treatments have been found to significantly improve plant performance across 12 crops including corn, soybeans and rice – driving double digit yield gains, improved quality and enhanced immunity to pathogens.

AgriZeroNZ funding will enable BioLumic to apply its technology to ryegrass, the most common forage pasture on New Zealand farms, with a goal to increase fat content and subsequently reduce methane emissions from animals that consume it.

AgriZeroNZ chief executive Wayne McNee says this could deliver a simple solution to reduce emissions on New Zealand’s predominantly pasture-based farms, to help meet the global customer demands for emissions reduction, protect trade agreements, and achieve New Zealand’s climate goals.

“Pasture is the foundation of the business for Kiwi farmers, so a pasture solution to curb methane and boost productivity will be an important option in their toolkit to reduce emissions.

“BioLumic’s work is an exciting prospect to help secure the future of farming in New Zealand with the very thing that makes our agricultural sector unique and drives our competitive edge today – high quality grass.They have achieved promising results on ryegrass to date. We’re looking forward to seeing how it progresses,” McNee said.

Animals with high-fat diets have lower methane emissions, such as grain-fed cattle in more intensive barn farming operations overseas. Studies* have found that a 1 per cent increase in lipids (fat) content of feed will reduce methane emissions by ~5 per cent. BioLumic is targeting a 2-3 per cent increase in the lipids content of ryegrass to drive methane reduction by over 12 per cent.

Based in Palmerston North and with offices in the United States, BioLumic was founded in 2013 by Dr. Jason Wargent, the company’s chief science officer and a Professor in Plant Biology at Massey University.

Funding from AgriZeroNZ was part of BioLumic’s capital raise to enable application of its suite of products to address major sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’ve developed light recipes from billions of potential options that, with a precise application, can significantly increase plant performance across a range of crop varieties and growing conditions,” Dr Wargent said.

“We’re confident we can achieve similar results in ryegrass with a focus on reduced methane, and we’re really pleased to be working with AgriZeroNZ to develop this important solution for New Zealand to put farmers at the forefront of low emissions pasture farming.”

Dr Wargent said the company is targeting wide scale use from 2027, with reduced regulatory barriers expected from the light treatment approach which will support a faster speed to market.

This is the sixth major investment by AgriZeroNZ to accelerate the development of emissions reduction tools and technologies for Kiwi farmers, having committed over $22 million to date. Other investments include funding for a methane inhibiting bolus, novel probiotics, New Zealand research for a methane vaccine and inhibitor, and construction of a greenhouse gas testing facility.

McNee said the JV is aiming to have two to three emissions reduction tools in widespread use by 2030.

It will enable BioLumic to apply its