Читать книгу Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding - George Acquaah - Страница 33

Commercial plant breeding is undertaken in both the private and public sectors. Breeding in the private sector is primarily for profit. A sample of the major plant breeding companies in the world is presented in Table 1.3. Many of these companies operate under the umbrella of giant multinational corporations such as Monsanto, Pioneer/DuPont, Novartis/Syngenta, and Advanta Seed Group, through mergers and acquisitions. Products from private seed companies are proprietary. In the US, an estimated 65–75% of all plant breeders are employed in the private sector. More importantly, crop species that are self‐pollinated (e.g. wheat) and hence allow farmers to save seed to plant the next season's crop, are of less interest to commercial seed breeders in the private sector. An estimated 80% of wheat breeders in the US are in the public sector while only about 7% of corn (cross‐pollinated, readily amenable to hybrid production) breeders are in the public sector. Most germplasm enhancement (pre‐breeding, introduction of exotic genes into cultivated germplasm) efforts occur mainly in the public sector. Funds for public breeding in wheat come from contributions from the wheat growers' association.

Table 1.3 Selected seed companies in various parts of the world.

Holland

Bakker Brothers

Bejo Zaden BV

De Ruiter Seeds

Pinnar Seed BV

Van Dijke Zaden

Enza Zaden BV

Nikerson‐Zwaan BV

Germany

Hild Samen GmbH

Nikerson‐Zwaan GmbH

United Kingdom

CN Seed Ltd.

Tozer Seeds

Nikerson‐Zwaan GmbH

France

Clause

Panam Semences

Vilmorin

Technisem

Gautier Semences

South Africa

Capstone Seeds

Gellman Seeds Pty. Ltd.

JW Seeds

Pinnar Seed

Sensako

Kenya

Pinnar Seed

United States of America

Seminis

Syntenta Seeds

Monsanto

DeKalb

Danson Seeds

Campbell's Seed

Burpee

Pioneer

The private sector dominates corn breeding throughout the industrial world. However, the roles of the public and private sectors differ markedly in Western Europe, different regions of the USA, Canada, and Australia.