RZ-100-wt4-E-flipbook-240702 - Flipbook - Page 158
Digital phenotyping.
Plant breeding and technology
The widespread use of DNA data and observations
‘Natural diversity as the basis. Technology
of external plant characteristics (the phenotype)
that helps us develop faster.’ This is the motto
by breeders and by machines (digital phenotyping)
according to which Rijk Zwaan’s research
is called data-driven breeding and is to a large
departments continue to innovate in the period
extent driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
from 2014 to the present day.
With the rapid development of technology that
‘Natural diversity
as the basis.
Technology that
helps us develop
faster.’
New techniques in plant breeding are appearing
can be used for plant breeding, knowledge of the
so quickly that they are difficult to keep up with.
biology is increasingly becoming a bottleneck.
Besides sequencing and marker technology, there
We often still know very little about the biological
is also plenty of investment in digital phenotyping.
processes that underlie important traits in our
Digital phenotyping is the deployment of
crops. In 2018, Professor Ben Scheres – the 2006
machines that breeders can use to collect more
winner of the prestigious Spinoza Prize, the
and more reliable data about their crops.
highest Dutch scientific award – is recruited to
For example, Rijk Zwaan increasingly uses auto-
lead Rijk Zwaan’s biotech research. Ben particularly
matically generated imagery – by robots and
focuses on enhancing our knowledge of biological
drones, for example – which is then analysed
processes. In 2023 , on the recommendation of
using algorithms. This type of digital image
Rijk Zwaan he is appointed extraordinary professor
analysis is not just applied at plant or fruit level but
of Applied Plant Developmental Biology at the
also used in the field – for example, to analyse the
Plant Sciences Group of the University of
influence of environmental conditions on different
Wageningen. He combines this position with his
variations of crops.
work at Rijk Zwaan and ensures that the research
at Rijk Zwaan is closely aligned with the rapid
developments in the plant sciences.
Ben Scheres.
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Rijk Zwaan | Moving forward together
