Project Leader:   
Soheil Mahmoud

Lead Institution:   
University of British Columbia Okanagan

Technology Applications:   
Essential oils, lavender breeding and production

Research Funding Program:   
SOF 1

The project will identify traits which will assist lavender farmers to improve yield and quality of the resulting essential oils thereby strengthening the industry in the province.

Lavender is one of the most important essential oil crops in the world resulting in a multimillion dollar industry for cosmetic, pharmaceutical and alternative medicine applications. The discovery of genes that control production, secretion and storage of these essential oils is important for development of improved plants through traditional breeding programs and plant biotechnology. The team at the University of British Columbia Okanagan will use an Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) library to discover new genes involved in regulating essential oil production in lavender.

Once the genes required for high yield and quality of lavender essential oils are well characterized, this data can then be used in selective breeding programs to develop novel plants that could revolutionize the essential oil crop industry in Canada.