Industrial Cereal Crop Development
ID: 3571

Abstract: Traditional agriculture is expected to become increasingly integrated into emerging opportunities in biorefining, where crops are purpose grown for use as sustainable feedstocks for the production of biobased materials, chemicals, energy and fuels. New crops and new crop varieties with improved characteristics and optimized traits will be required for efficient biorefining and manufacturing of a wide range of bioproducts. Triticale, a fertile hybrid of wheat and rye, is a hardy, drought tolerant and high yielding cereal crop used primarily as animal feed and is well adapted to the cooler climate zones of the world. Triticale also produces a significant straw biomass and has a unique grain morphology which allows for identity preservation with minimal impact to existing infrastructure of grain production, storage, and distribution. Triticale has been left largely undeveloped in terms of specialization for food or feed and is an excellent genetic platform for the development of dedicated bioindustrial triticale varieties. This panel will discuss recent progress made by the Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative in establishing Triticale as a bioindustrial cereal, with presentations on enhanced triticale genetics, bioprocessing, and biorefining sustainability.

Moderator: Stan Blade, Alberta Agricultral Research Institute  (Canada)

Presenter 1: Toward the Integration of Genomics and Genetic Engineering in Designer Triticale
François Eudes, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, (Canada)  [Confirmed]

Presenter 2: Value-Added Opportunities From Triticale To Ethanol Fermentations 
David Bressler, University of Alberta, (Canada)  [Confirmed]

Presenter 3: Triticale Biorefinery: Defining Sustainability Metrics 
Virginie Chambost, Ecole Polytechnique, (Canada)  [Confirmed]

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Panel Organizer:
Ray Bergstra, MTN Consulting Associates, (Canada)

Why should your submission should be selected for this year’s program?
The development of new alternative cereal crops as feedstocks for biorefineries is essential to the growth of the bioeconomy in all climatic regions and for maximizing the efficiency of future biorefining processes. The Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative (CTBI) has secured funding of $20 million over the last 3 years, and represents a unique and fully integrated series of research and development projects that span genetics, agronomics, processing, new bioproduct and chemicals, commercialization, and sustainability. The CTBI network includes 30 projects and over 100 scientists, from several of Canada's leading research organizations (including our speakers), many of which will be attending the Bio World Congress in Montreal.