Plant breeding seed quality

Soil Health. To support a crop with the highest possible yields, the soil in which the seeds are planted must be in good condition and must match the needs of the particular plant breed. The health of soil can be measured on the basis of its physical properties, its chemical makeup, and the biological material it contains. These qualities are tracked by soU surveys that are conducted and published regularly. Many formers switch the types of crops they grow in a particular field every few years in order to keep certain soil nutrients from being depleted. This practice is known as crop rotation. 

The functional food concept based on stearidonic acid is relevant due to the common use of blackcurrant seed oil (Ribes nigrum) and some other food-quality seed oils. Novel plant-breeding and development techniques should make it possible to produce oils with selected composition such as a canola oil with a high content of selected fatty acids (Kabakibi et al., 2001), but only when we know what we want. 

Vollman, J., Grausgruber, H., Stift, G., Dryzhyruk, V., Lelly, T., 2005. Genetic diversity in camelina germplasm as revealed by seed quality characteristics and RAPD polymorphism. Plant Breed. 

The most important criteria for selection of breeding plants are quality, yield, and resistance to cold, drought, and the various pests of the area. Seed tea plants have a long economic life and there are known instances of plants over 100 years old. 

Buffalo gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima). The buffalo gourd is a vine-Uke plant that grows in semiarid regions of the United States, Mexico, Lebanon, and India. The seed contains good quality oil (32-39%) and protein. The oil is very variable in fatty acid composition, thus lending itself to seed breeding. A typical sample contains 16 0 (9%), 18 0 (2%), 18 1 (25%), and 18 2 (62%) (88). 

Seed Germination. Across the American cotton belt, cotton germinates under environmental stresses such as low soil temperature, moisture deficit or excess, oxygen deficits, and mineral extremes. Seed treatments to increase tolerance to early season stresses would be very beneficial. When large scale replanting depletes the best seed, lower quality seed must be used. So any treatment which would improve the performance of such seed, even under favorable environmental conditions, would be valuable. In the future, plant breeders may select breeding lines for... 

The qualities needed in organic animal breeds are different from those that are most popular today. The argument here parallels the one on seeds and planting material in that new, well adapted chicken breeds, with for instance low incidence of cannibalism and certain food needs, do not come about very easily or quickly. 

---