The Rural Voice, 2003-02, Page 27The seven step approach
to on-farm plant breeding
By Jeffrey Carter
Farmers can and should go back
to the basics when it comes to
plant breeding, says retired
University of Guelph plant breeder
Dr. Neil, Stoskopf.
While the idea may seem
intimidating at first, it can be done.
Besides, the central prerequisite may
be an attribute that many farmers
already possess, Stoskopf says.
"If we give you people
opportunities to make selections,
farmers like yourselves who've
successfully produced crops, you
will have the eye to make the
selections," he says.
The work is meticulous and
requires a small land base but the
talents of a dedicated group of 10
individuals may be enough for
success. It may be the type of project
a retired farmer would be interested
in, Stoskopf suggests.
Stoskopf, speaking at a meeting
in Ridgetown sponsored by Great
Lakes Organic Inc., used wheat as an
example, as he described seven basic
steps a breeding project might
include.
STEP 1: Set your yield. disease
tolerance, and/or quality objectives
and identify specific plant
characteristics you are looking for.
STEP 2: Determine which parent
materials to use to meet your
objectives.
With wheat, an initial cross
involving at least 50 seeds should be
made to maximize the number of
gene recombinations. Planted out,
each spaced plant should produce
about 200 seeds making
approximately 10,000 available for
the following season.
STEP 3: Distribute the seed arnong
the participants and have the
participants plant each seed six
inches apart in rows. Mark those
plants with the desired
characteristics and remove plants
that fail to meet the objectives. By
harvest, only 10 to 20 plants should
remain, about one per cent of the
total.
STEP 4: Sort the resulting seed for
Dr. Neil Stoskopf
colour, size. the presence of disease
and other specifications. Between
10.000 to 20.000 seeds should
remain.
Repeat Step 3 but keep about 10
per cent of the plants to harvest.
STEP 5: Grow all the resulting seed
at a single site. (Or, if more
uniformity is desired. repeat Step 4:
uniformity may increase yield but
decrease yield stability.) In addition,
eliminate obvious off -types, harvest,
and bulk the seed together.
STEP 6: There should now be
enough seed for a yield trial. Official
replicated plots are expensive to run.
A drill strip across a field the width
of a combine header may be a
satisfactory alternative. The combine
operator should take note of general
yield. lodging resistance, threshing
ease, and other factors.
STEP 7: Use the resulting seed to
run several drill strip trials. If your
group wants to go further by
licensing the variety, additional steps
will be needed and the services of a
lawyer, accountant and professional
breeder may be required.
There may be an additional award
if a club has a new variety licensed.
Stoskopf says.
"If you strike it lucky, you could
become a very wealthy plant
breeding club."0
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(Nancy Ackert, Life Insurance
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FEBRUARY 2003 23