BioLumic achieves strong early gains in DDSR rice establishment traits
Stand establishment trait performance achieved in multiple rice varieties
In 2023, we announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to prove how Genetic Expression Traits™ can be activated in rice seeds, significantly enhancing positive traits in Dry Direct-Seeded Rice (DDSR) such as seedling emergence speed, emergence consistency, early vigor, and other performance objectives. After rigorous first-stage testing across multiple rice varieties, we are excited to report the successful achievement of statistically robust, DDSR-positive traits, paving the way for adoption of DDSR systems that increase grower profitability and reduce environmental footprints.
DDSR: Challenges and Opportunities
With 90% of the world’s rice grown in Asia, this staple crop feeds over 3.5 billion of the world’s population. However, over 80% of Asian rice is cultivated using transplanted-flooded rice cultivation systems, which pose significant long-term environmental, economic, and sustainability challenges. These include excessive water use leading to groundwater depletion, increased methane emissions, and labor inefficiencies.
DDSR offers a promising alternative to standard cultivation methods by eliminating the need for transplanting seedlings and reducing crop water requirements. This lowers irrigation inputs, labor demands, and methane emissions – all while boosting per-hectare returns for growers. Despite these significant benefits, the wider adoption of DDSR hinges on the availability of crop performance traits such as early uniform germination, seedling vigor, weed competitiveness, drought tolerance, and resistance to various stresses.
Breeding methods in use today for DDSR-suitable varieties are costly, with research showing that it can take one to two decades to develop a single new variety (Negi et al., 2024). These methods often result in genetically-fixed traits that may not fully address the evolving needs of farmers. BioLumic light seed activation technology offers a breakthrough solution to enhance DDSR performance and drive adoption, significantly reducing time and costs.
Unleashing the Light Signal Platform
BioLumic programs genetic expression of plants through short-duration light treatments of seed that rapidly and cost-effectively activate beneficial plant traits. Our technology activates natural biological pathways, rather than altering the genome, to produce enhanced plant performance outcomes. These are what we call Genetic Expression Traits™.
Our Light Recipe Platform is at the heart of this innovation, combining marker insights, biological responses, and data-driven algorithms to develop specific Light Signal combinations that foster DDSR-positive traits. Insights from this project have advanced our modeling capabilities, refining trait targeting and amplifying plant performance outcomes.
Our objective was to enhance seedling emergence and stand establishment in four long-grain rice varieties through our Light Recipe platform. Over 20 trials were conducted by our Science team in controlled-environment growrooms/greenhouses, measuring 11 traits and generating over 100,000 data points. The result? A significant improvement in DDSR-positive rice stand establishment traits across repeated trials, with impacts including:
“These results highlight the transformative potential of UV light signaling to enhance stand establishment in direct dry-seeded rice systems.” said BioLumic CSO Jason Wargent. “By addressing critical challenges like poor seedling emergence and early vigor, we’re providing rice farmers with the tools they need to adopt more sustainable and efficient practices."
Illuminating the Path Ahead
As we continue our partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, our next objective is to screen molecular markers for light activation in rice, leading to the release of marker-assisted light recipes for DDSR varieties, and the creation of novel understanding related to DDSR-positive trait regulation.
The implications of these DDSR-positive traits are profound. By developing a novel, natural trait development tool, we can reduce the time and costs associated with traditional trait development for underserved crops like rice. This enables us to advance agriculture by fostering crop equity and resilience while minimizing environmental impact along the value chain.