DHanf

The DHanf project is developing a highly innovative technology platform to decisively accelerate and improve breeding programs for useful plants. Industrial hemp serves as the model plant – a traditional crop for food, fibers, and medicinal purposes, whose breeding potential has so far hardly been exploited.

The central innovation of DHanf is the development of a universal, genotype-independent process for the economical production of homozygous (true-breeding) plants using double-haploid (DH) technology. With this method, 100% homozygous plants are produced directly from microspores (pollen precursor cells). This shortens the development time of new varieties by up to six years, considerably reduces costs, and enables a significantly faster market launch.

However, previous DH methods are inefficient and often fail due to the resistance of many plants (recalcitrance). DHanf overcomes this hurdle through a novel process of chemical reprogramming of hemp pollen cells.

The goal is to systematically increase the yield performance and quality of hemp, for example by reducing seed shatter, optimizing fiber quality, or targeted control of constituents. In this way, the project creates the technological foundation for modern, efficient breeding of industrial and medicinal hemp in Europe and opens up high potential for value creation.