WOBURN, Mass. - Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTEN), an agricultural bioscience company, has reported successful preliminary results in the first U.S. field tests of its genetically engineered winter Camelina varieties. These varieties are designed to be tolerant to specific herbicides, potentially facilitating their adoption by growers and integration into large-scale crop rotations.
The field tests, initiated in the fall of 2023, involved two types of Camelina: one with tolerance to glufosinate, a common herbicide, and another with a stacked trait providing tolerance to both glufosinate and Group 2 herbicides, which are known to persist in soil. The latter is particularly important for planting winter Camelina after the harvest of preceding crops.
Control Camelina plants without herbicide tolerance showed significant injury when grown in soil containing residues of Group 2 herbicides. In contrast, the engineered winter Camelina with the stacked herbicide tolerance (HT) traits remained healthy.
These traits are viewed as essential for the crop's adoption and for producing biofuel feedstocks and omega-3 oils for aquafeed and nutrition markets.
Kristi Snell, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer of Yield10 Bioscience, highlighted the importance of the herbicide tolerance traits for differentiating their Camelina varieties and facilitating seamless integration into existing crop rotations.
The company anticipates further testing with glufosinate spraying in the spring of 2024 and expects to evaluate seed yield, oil content, and overall agronomy following the summer harvest.
Yield10 Bioscience has previously received a green light from the USDA-APHIS to plant and breed its glufosinate tolerant and stacked herbicide tolerant Camelina varieties in the U.S. An application to include Camelina on a glufosinate label is pending with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The company aims to develop Camelina sativa as a sustainable platform crop for large-scale production of seed products, including renewable diesel and sustainable aviation biofuels, as well as omega-3 oils for various applications.
This development is part of Yield10's commercial plan, which hinges on sufficient financial resources to continue operations. The information for this article is based on a press release statement from Yield10 Bioscience.
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