GENETICS and AGROCHEMISTRY
GENETICS
The word genetics in the company name is closely related to the exploitation of the effect of heterosis in the tribe Triticeae. Heterosis is a complex phenomenon that, despite numerous studies, is still not fully explained. Today, the exploitation of heterosis most often occurs in the context of the use of F1 hybrids and hybrid varieties. F1 hybrids and hybrid varieties should generally achieve higher productivity compared to their parental components and/or standard varieties. The formation of an F1 hybrid requires at least two parental components with a different genetic structure, which is in a more or less homozygous state in each individual parental component. The basic condition for combining two genetically different parental components is often that the female parental component is induced to induce male sterility. The RGA company recognized the fulfillment of this basic condition, i.e. the induction of male sterility, as its business opportunity. In developing innovative solutions for the induction of male sterility in hermaphroditic plant species such as common wheat, the company has forged numerous partnerships at regional and global levels, including with the largest representatives of the global seed industry, in its ten years of existence. Therefore, the letter G, as in genetics, has a central meaning in the entire operation of the RGA company, in the past, in the present and in the future.
AGROCHEMISTRY
The development of modern varieties is a big challenge in itself. Being innovative in this area and to be distinctive from other seed material providers means being creative and having a clearly defined vision. From its very beginning, the RGA company has aimed to provide the end user, that is, the grower, with the greatest possible support in exploiting the high genetic potential of RGA varieties. At the beginning of the business path, such solutions were mainly focused on finding ``chemical`` solutions, such as the use of growth regulators. This period was followed by a period of searching for ``biological`` solutions, such as the development and use of agents for biological nitrogen fixation in small grains. It is worth highlighting here that the interests of the RGA company today are mainly focused on finding effective solutions enabled by nanotechnologies and new findings from the field of microbiology. Above all, this is primarily about optimizing the supply of plants with nitrogen and exploiting the holobiont in terms of increasing resistance to abiotic and biotic stress.