VIB and Bayer join forces for plan...( Ghent Belgium The changes in our cl...)

Ghent, Belgium The changes in our climate, producing extreme temperatures or persistent drought, have an enormous impact on our crops − to put it briefly, the crops are experiencing stress. VIB has now concluded a research agreement with Bayer BioScience NV, the Flemish agro-biotech innovation center of Bayer CropScience, to look into this problem. Through this collaboration, the researchers aim to elucidate the mechanisms that indicate how plants handle stress. The results that will come from this research − in particular, the identification of factors that make a plant 'stress-resistant' − are crucially important for the development of agricultural crops with higher yield. This research is being made possible by an approved IWT project submitted by Bayer BioScience. The project gives both research centers the chance to apply the special knowledge that they have developed in the area of 'stressed plants'.

All over the world, today's agriculture is contending with huge losses due to extreme weather conditions. Our crops are being exposed to high temperatures, too little or too much precipitation, late ground frost, and other stress factors. Depending on the intensity of this plant stress, as much as 80% of the harvest can be destroyed. Furthermore, according to experts, weather conditions will become only more extreme in the coming years. In contrast to animals, plants are unable to escape an unfavorable living environment and must live their lives on the spot where they have germinated. So, it's very fortunate that plants have developed mechanisms for detecting and dealing with stress.

Bayer CropScience's BioScience division plays a prominent international role in the development and commercialization of seeds for agricultural crops. The company uses plant biotechnology and refinement techniques to develop varieties spec
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