aktuell - Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz

Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz
Association for Crop Development
aktuell
Biodynamic Plant Breeding
WINTER 2015
Annual Report
About the one tenth of a percent crop rule
for seeds as common property
Peter Kunz, Ueli Hurter, Johannes Wirz
The common property of seeds is
characterised by close interrelation of
general and public interests with private demands. There are several legal
claims attached to each bag of seeds:
1. Seeds as trading goods start out as
commodities with a single owner. 2.
In the same bag there is also a variety
that is protected under international
guidelines (UPOV) which recognises
the breeder’s achievement as intellectual property right and a contribution to the further development of the
crop. The performance of the breeder
includes the skills put into the variety
as well as those acquired through training and experience, which help the
breeder to anticipate future potentials
of plants and by refined analysis and
examination to take steps towards
new varieties. Furthermore, the breeder and his team require an economic
income. Without developments are
prone to fail. Plant breeders’ rights
and the concomitant licences form an
indispensable basis for funding breeding activities. This fact is also essential
for biodynamic breeding initiatives for
both, financing and recognising their
achievements. 3. Moreover, the same
grains in the seed bag are a genetic resource: according to international law
they are a common property accessible to all and form the indispensable starting point for all breeder colleagues to develop the crop further.
Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz
Verein für Kulturpflanzenentwicklung
Seestrasse 6 | 8714 Feldbach | T +41 55 264 17 89 | [email protected]
www.getreidezuechtung.ch
Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz is recognised as a non-profit
association. Donations for our projects are tax-deductible.
CHF 84-34345-2 Postfinance
€ IBAN CH43 8148 1000 0025 0523 7, BIC RAIFCH22E81
Thank you for your support!
Contents
Seeds as commons GZPK Association Latest project information
Calendar of events 1
3
4
8
Over the last 150 years, subsistence
farming has been replaced by the separation of farming, seed propagation
and breeding activities. In extreme
cases, sterile seeds that can neither
be propagated nor be used for further
breeding processes are the rule. Seeds
are treated according to the understandin of the traditional and yet still
very dominant Roman legal practice
and ownership. Patents on seeds are
largely based on the Roman occupatio, according to which ownerless
things become the property of the first
person who takes possession of them.
Find the German, French
and Italian version of the
GZPK annual report & the
latest events calendar on:
www.getreidezuechtung.ch
Treating seeds as commodities and
means to attain income without work
for shareholders prevents the existence of a mutual future interest in crops.
However, Open Source seed initiatives
are not adequate alternatives to finance the costsof breeding. Open Source
is not a real model – even free software, which is often used for comparison, receives funding from elsewhere.
One of the main challenges is finding
the right balance for the often contradictory demands placed on seeds
as commons. For the time being, the
only source of funding for plant breeding, in agreement with common interests, stems from free donations and
charity contributions. It goes without
saying that this temporary solution
calls for new and better ideas.
Together with representatives from
Syngenta, the Berne Declaration (BD)
has drafted a completely new funding
proposal for the preservation and development of genetic resources and
has opened the topic for international
discussion. According to this proposal,
all seed companies should be obliged
to pay one-tenth of a percent of their
seed turnover into a fund for non-profit seed activities. This proposition, as
a benefit sharing system, has received
widespread support. The international
flow of funds from the sale of seeds
currently amounts to around 50 billion
euros. The annual growth rate equals
10%, due to a rising demand for seeds
around the world. At the same time,
increasing division of labour and specialisation prevents farmers and gardeners to propagate their own seeds,
not to speak of developing the varieties further. As a result, they are no
longer able to claim property rights
to varieties (in the context of the aforementioned ownership through performance).
For around 15 years, a few organic processing businesses have taken their responsibility one step further. As direct
users they have acknowledged the importance of breeding for product quality and truthfulness and are taking
part in breeding projects with fixed
financial contributions or obligations
to pay one-tenth of a percent of sales.
If we think one step further, all consumers are beneficiaries of breeding. Without exception, all food, even animal
products, ultimately stem from crops,
GZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
Zukunft säen! at L‘Aubier, in Montézillon
all of which have to be adapted by
breeders to changing environmental
conditions and processor’s and consumer’s requirements, which requires
extensive legwork and intellectual engagement. Thus, a general one-tenth
of a percent crop rule on the overall
food turnover is justified and will benefit breeding activities for the common
interest. The one-tenth of a percent
crop rule is a type of basic economic
rent for the long-term development of
all crops, beyond all commercial interests and success. In Switzerland alone, this crop rule would liberate huge
funds for non-profit plant breeding,
amounting to 31 million Swiss francs
per year. True enough, this extracost
wouldn’t hurt anyone and would not
even be noticeable in a product’s price
calculation! It is interesting to put this
suggestion in relation to the demand
put forward by Maya Graf in the National Council: Breeding the 60 most
important types of crops in Switzerland. In its response, the Swiss Federal
Council estimated the costs to an additional 10–15 million francs/year. Currently, the Swiss federal administration for plant breeding merely spends
around 4 million francs/year, while private breeding companies (excluding
Syngenta) contribute a total of some 6
million francs/year.
2
The one-tenth of a percent crop rule
would therefore represent a very substantial and efficient solution that could
be implemented immediately. As a
supplement to the seed-linked variety licences, the seed rule imposed on
seed companies and processor contributions the entire value-added chain
ultimately could participate equally in
the cultural task of crop development.
This text is an extract out of a common project by Goetheanum and Agrecol, supported
by Mercator Foundation and Software AG
Foundation.
GZPK Association
Herbert Völkle
The new work centre in Feldbach has
proven its efficiency in the first year.
For day-to-day use, it is extremely beneficial to have sufficient space with
flexible possibilities of use, as well as
at least one breeding garden located
right in front of the building. During
the harvest, it was great to see every
bit of free space between the desks
and laboratory devices filled with precisely labelled individual ears, bunches
of ears and grains in different quantities. Towards the end of summer,
these thousands of specimens were
threshed, cleaned, assessed and analysed. Finally, a significant proportion of
them were refilled for sowing. The hall
becomes empty once more at the end
of September, which marks the beginning of the sowing season. The breeding gardens in Feldbach, Darmstadt,
Rheinau and surrounding locations
are painstakingly put grain by grain,
from individual ears to 40m² plots. For
two months, the tangible result of our
work is therefore indoors and for the
rest of the year in the fields. During
these two months decisions are made
to whether a certain ear, specimen or
line is processed further or discarded.
This cycle is prescribed through winter
grain breeding. Spring grains, peas,
sunflowers and maize need less time
in the field leaving us with more preparation time.
Breeders’ work includes different phases, from extreme physical labour to
the utmost concentration when selecting individual grains. They must be
able to turn their attention to a different focus almost every week. Basic
work and deeper research are reserved
for winter. Likewise, securing financing for ongoing works and projects
also tends to be a job for the winter
months. The two non-profit companies create the framework for practical
breeding: Contributions from foundations, organisations and companies,
as well as over 400 private donations,
can be seen on the revenue side of the
joint budget of GZPK-Verein in Feldbach (Switzerland) and GZPK-gGmbH
in Darmstadt (Germany). Licensing revenue from seed propagation and sales by our partners across Europe now
form a contribution of around 12% of
GZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
the budget. Some 70% of revenue is
dedicated to the employees’ income,
30% account for material expenses.
In Germany and Switzerland, support
from the public sector is currently only
possible in the form of individual project contributions. In 2015, we made
a few applications and are currently
waiting for the decisions. Financing
will continue to pose a challenge next
year, so we are very grateful to our
supporters for their loyalty.
New employees
Monika Baumann has complemented
the team with her profound experience
since July. In addition to secure continuity in the office, she is happy to give a
helping hand out in the field whenever
it is needed.
After two summers long-term internships, we are happy to welcome Verena
Weyermann as a permanent employee. The biologist’s work focusses on
questions of phytopathology. With an
increasing epidemic incidence of plant
diseases, the last few years have shown
the topics of resistence and plant health to require even more attention.
Regina Lange started working with us
for the implementation of Kultur im
Labor, and brings many years of experience in the art and cultural sector. The
events that have already been accomplished leave a desire for more.
Kultur im Labor
Regina Lange
From October to June (i.e. from sowing to harvesting), we have created
a completely new test field: Kultur im
Labor kicked off with a presentation
held by Peter Kunz on the question of
seed property rights.
The first joint cooking event will be
held in December to promote hospitality and new encounters: Refugees will
be at its centre, together with traditional recipes from their home countries
and their past experiences.
Further events are planned from February to June 2016 on every first Wednesday of the month, including a discussion on the relationship of value,
price and sharing, a movie about a
private rainforest project in Brazil, a
Fiesta della Pasta and an artists’ performance.
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Getreidezüchtung Peter
Kunz Deutschland gGmbH
The gGmbH in Germany started its
activities in Darmstadt on 1st January
2015, led by Catherine Cuendet and
Herbert Völkle. The new supporting
body accommodates spelt breeding
in particular, and allows us to directly take part in research projects in
Germany and the EU.
Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz
Deutschland gGmbH
Erbacherstrasse 125, 64287 Darmstadt
+49 6151 95 04 86 18
IBAN: DE62 4306 0967 6032 7531 00
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
By providing your address when making a payment, you will receive a
tax-deductible donation confirmation
for Germany.
Fonds für Kulturpflanzenentwicklung
In 2015, the fund took part in the
KNUST.Schule association: Bakers,
millers, farmers, cereal breeders and
scientists teamed up to allow bakers
once again to do what the baking
industry has gone to great lengths
to teach them not to: process regional cereal varieties and exercise
their venerable craft skills as experts.
www.knust.schule
Other projects and participations
are being planned. More information: www. kulturpflanze.ch or tel:
+41 55 264 17 88.
IBAN: CH16 0900 000 8508 8444 0
Swift: POFICHBEXXX
The programme is depicted on our
website. We look forward to the enrichment of our work and to new friendships and connections.
Project information
Wheat
Nicole Bischofberger, Michael Locher, Peter Kunz
The new varieties ROYAL (APW.1110)
and POESIE (ARIST.3391) are currently
subjected to FiBL (Research Insitute for
organic Agriculture) internal testing.
In comparison to WIWA, they have a
slightly higher yield (ROYAL +8%; POESIE +6%). ROYAL fares particularly well
under the limited nitrogen supply prevalent in organic farming. Despite a
slightly lower content of total protein,
its protein is of high-quality important
for baking quality. In an assessment
of indirect baking quality features
conducted by Swissmill, such as wet
gluten content, sedimentation value,
water absorbency and dough energy,
both varieties scored very impressive
results. We are continuing to pursue
the development of TOP varieties for
organic farming, but at the same time
we also want to increase the N-efficiency of varieties with an over-average baking quality and medium protein
content under limited nitrogen conditions. The increase in yield will increase
the proportion in Switzerland, which is
currently just 30% for organic wheat.
Protein payment
From the 2016 harvest on, Swiss organic wheat with a protein content
of over 13% will be rewarded with a
bonus. The protein payment system
will be introduced in light of growing
consumer demands, as wheat is increasingly processed industrially or
into frozen products. For organic farming, the assessment of quality based on protein content alone is very
one-sided.
Organic variety baking trials confirm
time and again that protein content
and baking properties are less closely
linked, unlike in conventional farming.
Furthermore, the variety spectrum is
one-sided and extremely limited for
the heterogeneous demands of organic areas in Switzerland. To create
a sustainable quality payment system, protein quality at the very least
must be assessed. However, it is too
time-consuming and costly to implement such a quality assessment at the
time the cereal is accepted by the mill.
GZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
Prospects
Two new varieties have been registered for official variety testing: ZISCA.5
with a higher yield potential is a nitrogen-efficient variety and TASCA.5 with
a high protein and wet gluten content
is a TOP variety candidate. The PIZZA
variety has been provisionally added
to the recommendatory organic variety list. Thanks to its weed inhibition
properties and high dough stability,
PIZZA is a sound and safe alternative
to WIWA, the most popular variety in
Swiss organic farming. PIZZA seeds
will be available in autumn 2016.
Nomen est omen!
Where do the names come from? ROYAL obtained its kingly name from its blue glimmer.
The positive properties POESIE were the dream of its poet – hence its name. Stability and
base led to PIZZA’s name. WIWA, our most
popular variety, is invigorating and healthy all
round.
Mini baking test
As all laboratory tests are very much
dependent on protein and gluten
content, yet only deliver approximate values for effective baking quality,
a mini-baking trial was developed in
summer 2015. This trial saw the production of three mini-breads from 50
g of flour according to variety-specific modelling and dough properties,
which were then tested for all important criteria (dough development, baking behaviour, exterior and interior
bread qualities including sensory properties). The reliability of the baking
trial is now being checked against
the 2015 harvest and grain samples
from previous years. The aim is to find
further N-efficient wheat varieties for
the future that can deliver over-average baking results even with reduced
gluten contents. Processing partners
can then use this as a basis to develop
specific N-efficient wheat variety products, not just taking N-efficiency into
account during the farming stage, but
also allowing it be improved along the
following processes of the value-added chain.
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Spelt
Catherine Cuendet, Franca dell‘Avo
The spelt harvest was characterised
by extreme drought and another bad
occurrence of yellow rust. Hardly any
rain fell in the breeding location of
Darmstadt from April to the end of
June. On the one hand, this led to poor
yields and difficult selection conditions, but on the other hand it created
excellent seed quality.
Eight new spelt varieties were registered for official testing this year,
despite the high costs associated for
several reasons: The worldwide range
of spelt varieties is still shockingly low.
New, aggressive strains of yellow rust
have made the situation even worse,
as many varieties have proven to be
highly susceptible. Some of our own
varieties have also been affected. The
general lack of varieties is linked to the
niche status of spelt and the associated pork production cycle in the market, which has also affected the range
of breeding companies. Around the
world, less than a handful of breeders
is developing this crop further.
Registration of new varieties helps to
ensure a good diversity on the farm.
This is important since only officially approved varieties can be used in
practice. Another reason for the large
number of variety registrations is that
new varieties are urgently required for
extensive to more intensive farming.
In conventional spelt breeding, the
trend is to use short varieties for intensive agriculture. This means that spelt
competes with wheat in the crop rotation and loses its status as an extensive
crop whose quality does not depend
on other crops, i.e. the very thing that
characterises it.
In future, the gap between old farming varieties and intensive varieties
will become even bigger. Is this the
spelt of tomorrow? GZPK wishes to
close the gap between these two extremes. With the new candidates, we
are covering the spectrum from early
to late maturation, from high yield to
yield extensive (to the benefit of straw
yield), from very soft to somewhat
more solid wet gluten and, of course,
always with intensive spelt-typical maturing and harmonious growth. Two
of the variety candidates are summer /
transition spelt, which are suitable for
Nicole Bischofberger carrying out crossing
work in the spelt field in Darmstadt
sowing in both spring and autumn. An
innovation! We look forward to finding
out how they fare in practice. Demand
for summer spelt is huge, particularly
in neighbouring countries. GZPK summer spelt is even being tried in India
and Tanzania.
The challenge lies not only in the development of new varieties but also
in their implementation in cultivation.
Thus, extensive fundamental work in
regard to seed production is mandatory. We’re crossing our fingers for
our candidates!
Triticale
Cora Schibli, Benedikt Haug
Yellow rust was again observed this
year, yet again underlining the robustness of triticale’s plant health. This
property is particularly appreciated by
German organic farmers, as triticale
represented around 12% of the entire
cereal production. Triticale currently accounts for 7-8% of conventional cereal
production.
It is a valuable source of feed for laying
hens. However, the proportion of triticale in the diet is limited by its high
viscosity (tendency to gelatinise), as –
in contrast to conventional feed – it is
prohibited to contain any enzymes. The
results of our viscosity measurements
last winter have already been used to
GZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
plan crossbreeding and, in the long
term, will help to improve this characteristic in our varieties. This and other
advances in breeding were presented
at a triticale field day in June. Important
players from the Swiss cereal industry
took part, underlining the importance
of our work.
Organic breeding – triticale
In all European countries, plant breeds
must run through a governmental testing system to prove their agronomical performance, i.e. their value to regional cultivation. Taking the example
of triticale, the difficulties for organic
breeding are clear: The test system
is designed for conventionally bred
varieties. Because herbicides and mineral fertiliser are used, our breeding
lines cannot really play their trump
cards (high weed tolerance and frugality) and thus suffer an important
disadvantage. Organic (triticale) breeding must find the balance between
adapting to and resisting against this
kind of test system. With respect to
institutional hurdles, organic breeders
are often required to be persuasive
and pioneering.
Triticale bread sets a precedent
This summer, triticale variety MP2.53
was of optimal quality to produce flavourful 100% triticale bread. The nutty,
long-life bread made by Franz Dolde-
5
rer is available in the organic shop in
Winterthur. The experienced baker
worked intensively to make this bread
– and the results are clear for all to see!
Meanwhile, other bakers in the region
are also experimenting in this area. As
the legacy of its ancestors durum and
rye, triticale is heavily dependent on
weather conditions for the shape of
its grains. Particularly affected is enzyme activity, which leads to outgrowth
and changed baking behaviour in wet
years. To achieve more stable triticale bread varieties, selection has been
concentrated on high outgrowth resistance.
Over the coming months, the plan is
to investigate more closely whether
and how enzyme activity and baking
behaviour can be better stabilised by
grinding, e.g. by removing germ buds
and outer seed coats. As lighter flours
can also be ground from triticale, this
unveils new purposes, such as adding
wheat or spelt flour to improve shelf
life and taste.
Emmer (Triticum dicoccum)
variety testing
Like many old wheat varieties, emmer suffers badly from new disease epidemics, in particular yellow
rust. Large yield losses were unavoidable.
This is why we are preparing an
inspection project: All genetic resources available worldwide will
be tested for their farming suitability, disease resistance and processing quality in order to pursue
a small breeding programme at a
later date.
Maize
Stefanie Rost
2015 has been a tough year for maize. Firstly, it was too wet for roots to
form after sowing, and then the very
high temperatures and long periods of
drought obstructed its growth. Without
irrigation – we do not have the facilities
for this as these kinds of droughts only
occur every 30 years – the maize plants
remained small and had severely curled leaves. Considerable yield loss was
unavoidable.
Much less visible, albeit much more
problematic for breeding, was the reduction in pollen. Under the stressful
conditions of drought, the plants only
formed small quantities of pollen during a very short period of time. This
meant that fewer hybrids crossings
could be made than originally planned.
Despite these difficulties, enough
grains could be harvested from the selfing and hybrid crossing cobs in Feldbach to continue the project.
Population varieties
At Sativa Rheinau, only the new population OPM.12 is still available for
trial and practical farming, as the predecessor OPM.11 is being retained for
research purposes. OPM.12 has a very
wide genetic basis and therefore still a
lot of potential to improve, even with
regard to yield. Unlike conventional
hybrid varieties, populations can be
continuously bred to maintain and
improve achieved levels. The goal is to
produce several early-mature groups
and types.
In order to maintain a good resistence,
they also need to be selected for leaf
health, e.g. for their resistance against
helminthosporium leaf spot (exserohilum turcicum). As a result, infestation
in the Feldbach breeding garden has
been additionally increased by spreading infested leaves in order to allow
resistant types to be selected and
spread into the population.
EU approval continues to pose problems due to the required homogeneity. GZPK is involved in the EU population project, not just with maize but also
with five wheat populations. The goal
is to create an EU approval process adapted to heterogeneous populations,
similar to the niche variety regulation
established in Switzerland.
GZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
Job vacancy for maize breeder
In Feldbach, there are still a great number of genetic resources for basis populations, which unfortunately had to
be put on hold this year for time reasons. This work should be reassumed
as quickly as possible. We are looking
for someone to strengthen our team
to help with this.
Protein maize
The goal is a variety with high
protein in particular methionine
levels for human diets and poultry
feed. This would improve domestic protein supplies.
The protein properties were crossed into early-mature varieties
and now have to be discovered
in the offspring. This happens by
performing step-by-step analysis, selection and re-crossing the
best offsprings. At the same time,
negative properties have to be
removed by field selection and
yields have to be improved. The
harvested cobs are individually
threshed and analysed for protein,
methionine and lysine content
using NIRS. The best cobs are then
selected using the lightbox method. Quick and non-destructive
NIRS analysis is a very important
selection tool. It allows the few
valuable seeds to be used again
immediately for breeding. NIRS
calibration is regularly checked
and improved using wet-chemical laboratory analyses. We are
currently testing whether both of
the analytic selection tools can be
comlemented with a genetic marker analysis in order to further improve selection successes.
Grain legumes
Agata Leska
The summer of 2015 was good for
peas. The warm and dry weather had
a very positive effect on the plants.
The yields and protein contents were
above average and hardly any fungal
diseases were observed. However, there were a lot of problems with insects.
In the Feldbach breeding garden, infestations of leaf edge (sitona lineatus)
6
and seed beetles (bruchus pisorum) are
increasing from year to year. This year,
15% of all the seeds were eaten and
barely germinable. Of particular concern is the problem affecting the F1
crossings, where we only have a small
number of seeds. In Neunkirch, Schaffhausen, however, hardly any feeding
traces of frass were observed.
Grain legumes day
On 2nd June, we organised a grain legumes meeting on diversity in Neunkirch, Schaffhausen. The participants
(representatives from the research,
propagation and seed trade industry,
and farmers) showed great interest. In
addition to summer peas with mixing
partners (triticale, barley, camelina),
we have introduced new broad bean
and lupine varieties from Poland. A
follow-up meeting is planned for next
summer in cooperation with the FiBL
and the Strickhof.
Pea breeding
Together with variety trials, the entire
GZPK breeding programme was applied at two locations. In addition to
our own candidates, ten new, foreign
varieties with some very promising
qualities for organic farming were tested. The results will be published next
year after two seasons of testing. Based on yield, protein content and field
ratings, four of the eight candidates
will proceed to the next round. In Feldbach, varieties were in turn inspected
to find crossing partners with good
properties (disease resistance, stability, vigour etc.). Many of the crossing
partners do possess positive individual properties, but they also exhibit negative properties that need to be eliminated. 15 new crossings have been
created which are already growing as
F1 plants in the greenhouse and can
be harvested before Christmas. This
enables us to achieve two generations
per year and we can already select
good individual plants next summer.
Of the crossing populations in the previous years, over 500 elite individual
plants were selected and these can be
tested next year in small plots of 2m2.
Winter peas
In cooperation with Getreidezüchtungsforschung Darzau, a winter pea
strain test is underway in Rheinau and
Mesikon in mixed crops with triticale
for subsequent pea variety registration. According to current results, this
combination can achieve – in addition
to the triticale yield (average 44-48dt/
ha, maximum 58dt/ha) – a pea protein
yield of 200-250kg/ha (best candidate:
460kg/ha pea protein).
These results show that there is still
untapped potential for suitable varieties and corresponding combinations.
Eternal pea farming
If future pea varieties are to be in the
crop rotation every four years, they
need a high resistance against soil
born diseases.
In our lines and in crossing candidates,
these kinds of resistances are present;
they just need to be recognised and
selected. At healthy organic sites, infestation is low and resistant plants are
nowhere to be found. This is why we
are now testing a covered and controllable test system in large boxes (see
picture), which are filled with soil from
the pea test field in August. Now in autumn, the second generation of peas
is already growing in the same soil.
As of next spring, two generations of
peas will be farmed and tested under
these extreme conditions each year.
The same lines that survive this procedure will either be made into new varieties or serve as crossing candidates
in order to spread the desired resistance properties into the next cycle.
Phytopathology
Verena Weyermann
Last autumn, the bunt breeding garden got off to a difficult start. A few sowing errors occurred due to problems
with the sowing machine, which was
rather long in the tooth. In addition,
there was a strong infestation of mice
and mole crickets, which led to a moderately successful breeding garden.
Nevertheless, we were still able to harvest a few promising, resistant lines,
which will be used next season in the
conventional breeding process.
For the “European Tilletia Ringtest”
project, different varieties and lines
are being tested for bunt resistance
(tilletia spp) at 10 locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Sweden, Turkey,
Denmark, the USA and Iraq, respectiGZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
Controlled pea trials in large boxes, Feldbach
vely. The ring test was already carried
out from 2007-2010 and now, after a
break, will run for another two years.
Three of our wheat varieties (WIWA,
ROYAL and POESIE) are also being tested. Unfortunately, all three varieties
showed an increased susceptibility in
the first year at all locations. This is a
clear sign that bunt-resistance breeding needs to be well integrated into
the breeding process.
As part of the EU research project “Healthy Minor Cereals”, spelt, rye, oats,
einkorn wheat and emmer are being
tested for their resistance against different plant diseases in multi-year
trials, for example. In the next three
years, GZPK will test 80 spelt lines for
their susceptibility to bunt, yellow and
brown rust as well as fusarium.
As already shown last year, infestation
of yellow rust was also very strong in
all three cereal cultures this season.
Many lines were affected by infestation at all stages of the breeding process. In future, the natural infection of
yellow and brown rust will be increased in the variety tests of the three cultures of wheat, spelt and triticale using
highly susceptible varieties known as
spreaders. This will make it even easier
to remove susceptible lines.
We are also involved in a yellow rust
monitoring project led by research
institute Agroscope Changins. The
7
aim is to assess the yellow rust species
present in Switzerland with different
virulences and to discover new virulences early on. A preliminary test is set to
start in 2016 and will be continued over
the next few years on a larger scale.
A multidisciplinary project responding to consumer‘s increasing
demands for healthy, nutritious
food produced sutainably. The
project aims to boost cultivation,
production and consumption of
minor cereals in Europe, and is focused on five species - spelt, rye,
oat, einkorn and emmer. These
traditional or ancient cereals have
largely fallen out of use in European agriculture, and have been
hardly studied by modern scientific methods.
The project will exploit genetic diversity of minor cereals and optimise methods for their cultivation
under organic and conventional
agricultural systems, considering
both ecological and economic
aspects, and will develop innovative processing methods and new
food products with high nutritional quality for consumers.
Sunflowers
Durum project in Italy
Charlotte Aichholz, Herbert Völkle
Peter Kunz
The lack of organic varieties and seeds
as well as growing demand in the
high-oleic sector prompted the breeding of two high-oleic sunflower populations. For cooking and baking in
particular, there is a need for oils that
remain stable even when exposed to
heat. Sunflower oil, with its high oleic
acid content, as well as mild taste and
nutty flavour, is excellently suited to
this. Heat stable oils are also a prerequisite for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, where they are
used to produce ungunents, for example. The higher proportion of oleic
acid in the oil prevents the synthesis of
potential carcinogens.
Breeders have turned their attention
to open pollinating sunflower populations with a high oleic acid content
that can cope with hybrid varieties. As
we breed on site, the varieties promise adaptation to the climate north of
the Alps. Over the last seven years, two
populations from two different seed
pools have been developed.
Durum breeding in Italy –the source of
good pasta – is largely in the hands of
Syngenta. Varieties suitable for organic farming are in short supply, while
old varieties suffer from serious shortcomings we also are familiar with in
Switzerland. A three-year project managed by our Zukunft säen! (seminareilfuturo.it) partner EcorNaturaSi has
been initiated. Varieties and potential
candidates are being tested at four organicly managed locations with four
partner companies: Fattoria di Vaira
(Petacciato), CRA di Foggia, Girolomoni (Montebello), University of Palermo
(Pietranera). The aim is to find adapted
varieties and to provide a basis for future organic durum breeding.
Furthermore, an Italian agronomist is
ready for an internship with us in Feldbach in the summer 2016. He will survey the project after having acquired
the pertinent skills.
Events calendar
Kultur im Labor
The next Kultur im Labor is
planned on 3rd February 2016.
Details can be found at www.getreidezuechtung.ch
Organic farming day
The Swiss organic farming day will
take place in Brütten/Zurich on 9th
June 2016. Details can be found at
www.bioackerbautag.ch
Breeding garden open day
The breeding garden open day
will take place in Feldbach on
Saturday, 2nd July 2016 from
10:00am to 5:00pm. Don’t forget to
write the date in your calendar. We
look forward to seeing you there!
Sowing the future !
Countries from across Europe –
including Italy, France, Germany,
Luxembourg and Belgium – teamed up once again in 2015. Young
and old alike worked hard to plant
seeds in the ground. More information can be found at www.avenirsem.ch and seminareilfuturo.it
bioverita
Teamwork in Stäfa for sowing the bunt-resistance trial
GZPK aktuell | Winter 2015
8
Redaktion: Peter Kunz | Layout: Monika Baumann | Bilder: GZPK, L‘Aubier, Giorgio Hösli
Saatgut aus biologischer Züchtung