DES MOINES, la.
Biotechnology, often described as
futuristic research that can
achieve everything from new
vaccines for viruses to square
tomatoes, is currently being used
by major agricultural companies
to speed up traditional plant
breeding methods.
Scientists at Pioneer Hi-Bred
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Biotechnology speeds up plant breeding
International, Inc., a leading could prove very useful to plant
developer and marketer of crop breeders.
seeds for agriculture, for example, “Potentially, we can select
are incorporating biotechnology plants for specific traits by
tissue culture techniques into the growing their cells in the
company’s ongoing plant breeding laboratory,” explains Tomes. “We
program. can screen for traits such as
Dwight Tomes, of Pioneer’s disease resistance, the ability to
Department of Biotechnology grow in salty soils, herbicide
Research, says this technique tolerance or nutritional quality
a
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 1,1984—D13
iUiiHm
Dwight Tomes, microbiologist for Pioneer Hi-Bred In
ternational, Inc., uses tissue culture techniques to identify
traits useful to plant breeders. According to Tomes, this
process could save years of field breeding work necessary to
incorporate certain traits, such as disease resistance, into a
hybrid.
while the plant is still at the
cellular level.”
According to Tomes, selection
for certain traits in the laboratory
is much more efficient than “whole
plant selection” in the field.
“Exposing plants to various
disease toxins in a petri dish is a lot
easier and more precise than
spraying an entire field,” Tomes
says. “In the laboratory, we can
test as much breeding material in
10 petri dishes as would require
one acre of plants in the field.
Thus, tissue culture techniques
allow us to measure the resistance
of millions of plants where before,
we could only test thousands.”
Once plants with resistance to a
specific herbicide or disease have
been identified, they are grown out
in the field. Seed from these plants
is then tested to see if the trait has
been passed on to the following
generations.
“We’ve concluded,” says
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Phone (717) 272-8943
• V
Tomes, “that growing com at the
cellular level does not change the
agronomic qualities of the com
plant. We could expect to add a
desirable trait, such as disease
resistance, to a hybrid without
altering its agronomic charac
teristics - for example. This
process could save years of field
breeding work necessary to in
corporate disease resistance into a
hybrid.”
Agricultural companies, such as
Pioneer, are speeding up the plant
breeding process through these
and other biotechnology
techniques.
Company officials point out,
though, that this new science is not
a replacement for plant breeding
in the field. Rather, it is a new tool
that will help improve traditional
methods - a means of more
quickly developing new hybrids
and varieties with improved traits
for farmers.
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