ARF21 - Development of High Oil Soybeans for Improving the Production Efficiency of Biodiesel in Ontario

| Alternative Renewable Fuels - Project Summaries 2007-08 |

Researcher:

Dr. Istvan Rajcan, Dept. of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph

Objectives:

1. To develop a set of laboratory analyses (chemical), molecular and breeding tools (genetic) for selecting high oil trait in soybean seeds from segregating breeding populations.
2. To develop breeding populations by crossing high oil parents of diverse background to produce trangressive segregants (beyond the parental values and current industry standards) from which high oil.
   

Expected Benefits:

An increase in oil content from 18% to 24% of domestically grown soybeans could displace imports and be used to produce a significant amount of Ontario's biodiesel target, while also alleviating growing concerns in the food versus fuel debate. This project is aimed at assisting Ontario alternative renewable fuels facilities to reduce the cost of extracting soybean oil by increasing the oil yield from Ontario soybean varieties, leading to more cost-effective biodiesel production. Additionally, Ontario farmers profitability will increase by increasing the value of their soybeans through higher oil content..

Summary of Research Results:

Currently not available