Written by cpm
Using genome-wide selection, breeders at Dekalb’s research facility in France are taking a whole new approach to variety progression. CPM visits to gain an insight. We can predict the probability of success with a hybrid before we actually sow it. By Tom Allen-Stevens In amongst the large white tents that dot around the field there’s a single row of plants. These are clearly oilseed rape, but bear little resemblance to the mighty hybrids that festoon the surrounding trial plots – small, stunted, distorted, they cling to the vining wire they’ve been carefully attached to, while some of their pods have been bagged up like surgical mittens. “These are our F1 parents, sown by hand,” explains Dekalb breeder Gonzague de Gassart. “They’re weak because they’re isolated – each plant represents an individual line and will yield 5-15g of seed. But they should have the phenotypes we’re after and some of them will go on to become the parents of the next generation of Dekalb hybrids.” Some of the plants within the parental breeding lines bear little resemblance with the mighty hybrids they’ll produce. Around 8000 lines are assessed every year across this 60ha facility at Boissay, near Orléans, France, of…
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