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NIAB has established this Centre as a national and international resource for novel trait discovery, appraisal and delivery. Its core competency is a molecular genetics group that is uniquely harnessed to expertise in pre-breeding and crop evaluation. This product conferring capability is unmatched in the UK and an essential component in the delivery of research outputs from publicly funded crop science.
As the Centre develops its cornerstone activities will be to:

• Build on existing NIAB strengths in analysis of genomic diversity, association genetics and genotyping to create a world-class capability to isolate alleles determining trait variation and to mine germplasm for novel alleles for improved crop performance and novel uses.
• Establish a pre-breeding group with the capability to deliver and validate novel traits and associated markers in small grain cereals, oilseed rape, pulses and non-food crops.
• Develop the core business activities in variety evaluation and make strategic investments in the evaluation team to underpin development of pre-breeding activities
• Work with UK plant science institutes and university departments in the UK and abroad to develop novel trait and pre-breeding opportunities
• Engage with commercial breeding companies and other end users on specific trait and pre-breeding opportunities to ensure passage through to commercialisation.