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University of Reading plays key role in major breakthrough for global oil palm industry – University of Reading

The University of Reading, working with Sumatra Bioscience, BioHybrids International Limited, and the University of Aberystwyth, has made a major breakthrough in oil palm yield.

Professor Jim Dunwell, Professor of Plant Biotechnology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading, said: "This collaborative research has developed the world's first process to produce F1 oil palm hybrid varieties and is potentially the most significant breakthrough in plant breeding in the last 50 years."

Palm oil is the most productive of all oil crops with the highest yield per unit area. It is the main source of oil in South East Asia and is used widely in foods and industrial lubricants. In the UK it is found in around 10% of all food products stocked on supermarket shelves.

The impact of the production of palm oil in South East Asia is a major source of concern, with regard to de-forestation and its contribution to global warming. Jim Dunwell commented; "Working on behalf of Sumatra Bioscience, a subsidiary of PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia Tbk (Lonsum), this research will have huge ramifications for increasing yields per unit area of land. It will reduce the pressure to use more land in South East Asia for oil palm cultivation as a greater yield can be achieved from the existing area under cultivation. It could also help alleviate the escalating global food shortage crisis, have a positive impact on increasing biofuel production and have knock-on benefits for the environment."

An F1 oil palm seed is a first generation offspring of two distinctly different genetically uniform oil palms, each with two identical sets of chromosomes. The process, which involved no genetic modification, will enable Sumatra Bioscience to produce F1 oil palm hybrids that are expected to more than triple conventional yield.

The process to produce F1 oil palm hybrids involves the following steps:

• Identifying rare, naturally occurring haploid₁ and double haploid oil palm seedlings through screening from which true-breeding parent plants can be produced:

• Doubling naturally occurring haploids:

• Crossing superior homozygous doubled haploids to produce F1 oil palm hybrids:

ENDS

Further information on the University of Reading's involvement in the research from Alex Brannen, Media Relations Manager, on 0118 378 7388

Information about Sumatra Bioscience from Sophie Hughes

Tel: +44 207 395 7104, Mobile: +44 7932 635 784

Notes to editors:

₁ A haploid is a plant with only half the usual number of chromosomes.

This pioneering work was undertaken by Sumatra Bioscience, a newly created subsidiary of Lonsum. Sumatra Bioscience will spearhead the company's R&D activities and collaborative partnerships in oil palms and other food crops both in Indonesia and around the world. It inherits the decades of R&D efforts undertaken by Lonsum's Bah Lias Research Station.

This news came on the back of the publication of a patent application from the European Patent Office, which verifies Sumatra Bioscience's approach to F1 oil palm hybrids as the first of its kind and thereby potentially allowing it to become the first commercial producer of F1 oil palm hybrids.

Sumatra Bioscience expects to commercialise the production of F1 oil palm hybrids by 2018.

Today, approximately 95% of corn crops in the United States are grown from F1 hybrid seeds. F1 hybrids have also been achieved in many other crops such as oil seed rape, sunflower, sugar beet and rice, as well as in fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants.

Research biographies

All of the principal researchers currently work, or have worked, at the University of Reading.

Jim Dunwell, Researcher

Professor Jim Dunwell is currently Professor of Plant Biotechnology in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Reading in the U.K. With more than 38 years of R&D experience in plant and biomolecular science, Professor Dunwell's key role in the F1 Hybridisation programme is his knowledge of comparative methods for production of haploid plants.

Stephen Nelson, Researcher

Dr Stephen Nelson is the Director of Research at Sumatra Biosciences, an independent R&D centre backed by London Sumatra. Dr Nelson graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Botany from The University of Reading in the U.K. in 1990. He went on to earn his Doctorate in Philosophy from The University of Reading in 2000.

Peter Caligari, Researcher

Professor Peter Caligari is one of the founders and Managing Director of BioHybrids International Ltd and is also currently the Director of the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Talca, Chile. He was formerly, Professor of Agricultural Botany at Reading.

Mike Wilkinson, Researcher

Professor Mike Wilkinson is the Head of Biological Sciences at Aberystwyth University's Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences in the U.K. He was formerly a member of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading.

Bryan Dyer, Managing Director, Lonsum

Based in Indonesia, Mr Dyer joined London Sumatra in 2004 as the Managing Director of Operations. Mr Dyer graduated with a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Reading in 1971.

Sumatra Bioscience

Sumatra Bioscience is a leading research & development centre focusing on plantation crops such as oil palm, rubber and cocoa and has been operating in Indonesia since the 1980s.

PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia Tbk

Founded in 1906, London Sumatra (Lonsum) is the second largest plantation company listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange and one of the leading palm oil producers in Indonesia.