Using AI to speed up breeding of hybrid tomatoes

Seed-X and TomaTech have announced a new pilot of GeNee Breeder, the seed phenotype analysis system that offers breeders reliable real-time classification of a wide range of genetic traits in vegetable / row crop seeds and grains.

"By combining Seed-X advanced computer vision and AI technology with TomaTech's innovative and superior quality hybrid tomato breeding program, we aim to accelerate time to market by significantly increasing the probability of desired traits when segregating population and improving prediction capability in the breeding process," says Dr Favi Vidavski, General Manager of TomaTech.

 In order to achieve quality traits in vegetables today, many breeders rely mainly on their proprietary breeding expertise and work processes. Seed-X's GeNee Breeder offers breeders an alternative seed qualification system that analyzes seed images. GeNee Breeder provides breeders with a way to capitalize on genetic models that until now have been off-limits to all but the seed industry's biggest players due to lack of relevant genomic information.

"We are excited to offer TomaTech a new way to achieve its breeding targets faster and more cost effectively by significantly shortening their breeding cycle time. This is a key advantage of the GeNee Breeder system," said Seed-X CEO, Sarel Ashkenazy.

The pilot program, which will take place in TomaTech's breeding site in Rehovot, in central Israel, will study the variation within each seed population and the prediction accuracy for different types of traits.

Some complementary data
 A video is available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US2txPXrJpY

Source: www.hortidaily.com
 

Article amended on 28 August 2019, new company brochure added: