The BiosearchTech Blog

Darshna "Dusty" Vyas has been a Senior Scientist at LGC specialising in plant genetics for the past 8 years Her contributions on the team have enabled the translation of LGC, Biosearch Technologies to the global plant breeding community in all species ranging across diverse sample types including wheat, cocoa, rubber, rice and aquaculture. Dusty's desire to understand our customers’ requirements and develop innovative products and services at Biosearch Technologies to improve global crop development isn't just a professional objective, but a personal one. 

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Brassica  rapa crops are important sources of food, feed, and fuel in many parts of the world and provide a unique opportunity for investigating plant genome evolution. In 2018, the Food and Agricultural Organization reported a global production of cabbages and other brassicas to be more than 103 million tonnes.¹ Disease and environmental stress can reduce crop yield and quality, so plant breeders are using genome-wide molecular markers like SNPs to make a background selection and identify target genes involved in high nutritional quality, disease resistance and yield in order to speed up the breeding process in Brassica rapa crops. 

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LGC, Biosearch Technologies is excited to announce the expansion of SeqSNP targeted genotyping by sequencing (GBS) services in North America. Advancing AgBio projects from our Middleton, Wisconsin, USA, location, these services provide an all-inclusive, cost-effective targeted GBS solution that requires no setup costs or upfront sample number commitment.

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Livestock supports the livelihoods and food security of almost 1.3 billion people worldwide, contributing 40% of the global value of agricultural output.¹ This makes the livestock sector one of the fastest growing parts of the agricultural economy, with opportunities for agricultural development, poverty reduction and food security gains.

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“Experience of artificial fertilisation, such as is effected with ornamental plants in order to obtain new variations in colour, has led to the experiments which will here be discussed. The striking regularity with which the same hybrid forms always reappeared whenever fertilization took place between the same species induced further experiments to be undertaken.”¹

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Food security is a major global threat and traditional methods of plant and animal breeding will not be sufficient to increase production to the level needed to sustain the growing world population. Modern genomics-driven breeding, through analysis based on technologies such as next generation sequencing (NGS) and arrays, is revolutionizing agriculture and making genomic selection a viable approach throughout the industry. In this three series blog post find out how technology is changing global food security and what the newest tools bring to the table.

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With the global population predicted to reach 9 billion people within the next 35 years, we will need to double the annual yield increases to avoid the impending food crisis. This challenge is exacerbated by unseasonal climate fluctuations that can destroy entire harvests – even in modern agricultural settings.

Rewind to last summer in the U.S., when southern-grown peaches are usually at their most delicious. But not last year - many U.S. farmers have faced a peach crisis. In South Carolina alone, as much as 90 percent of the crop had disappeared. In Georgia, often known as the Peach State, a similar story appeared.

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Wheat is one of the three most important crops for human and livestock feed. With an ever-increasing global population, the pressure is on to increase cereal crop production as a solution to feed the world. It has been estimated that by 2030 demand on cereal production will increase by 50%. This means it is essential that scientists and breeders alike strive to maximise its growing potential.

Satisfying the growing global demand for wheat is thrown into difficulties by the crop's vulnerability to pests and disease. To combat these issues, scientists and wheat breeders are working to develop crops with improved key traits including: Read More

Our world population is growing at a tremendous rate and by 2050, Africa’s population alone is set to hit over 2.5 billion. This puts unprecedented pressure on our food supply chains. Fortunately there are projects such as the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) that are looking to help seed breeders deliver improved crops to the continent.

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Modern breeding methods rely on the identification and utilization of molecular markers associated with traits important for plant and animal improvement. Here at LGC, we can bolster your breeding programs with a range of products and services at every step, beginning with research to selection to analysis and production. This infographic summarizes how we can accelerate breeding programs with our cost-effective agrigenomic solutions, whether it be in our labs or yours.

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