The Annual 2018 Journal for breeders and producers of plant material Prophyta 2018.indd 1 17-04-18 09:28 inspections • Quality inspections • Import inspections • Plant Passport Naktuinbouw safeguards • Quality-plus systems • NAL / Naktuinbouw-Elite and promotes the quality, testing and research identity and health of • Health and quality testing horticultural propagating • Seed analysis • Diagnostic testing material • DNA tests • Disease resistance 1 testing registration, listing and plant breeders’ rights • DUS Testing for Plant Breeders’ Rights for agricultural and horticultural crops • Description of varieties education • Identity investigation • Regular workshops and training courses • In company workshops and training courses Naktuinbouw +31 (0)71 332 6262 [email protected] www.naktuinbouw.com prophyta annual 2017 Prophyta 2018.indd 2 17-04-18 09:28 Prophyta – The Annual 2018 A publication of the Prophyta Foundation in co-operation The Annual 2018 with Blue Bird Publishers Journal for breeders and producers of plant material editorial advisory board Theo Ruys, John van Ruiten and Jan Timmerman publisher/chief editor Monique Krinkels contributing editors Anke van den Hurk, Geert-Jan de Klerk, Radha Ranganathan, Marlies Reus, Fabiola Rivera, John van Ruiten, Jan Velema, Christiaan Weijts 4 In Short 22 the idealists cover photograph Dr. Gianpaolo Grassi 5 Editorial Sowing relief in Africa sub editor Mireille McNutt 3 6 world seed congress 2018 25 seed drying graphic design Marcel Bakker, De Ontwerperij Innovative atmosphere offers Energy efficiency becomes more printed by Global Printing important address Blue Bird Publishers fertile ground for seed industry vof, Jan Kostelijklaan 16 27 half a century of seed enhancement 1981 cg Velsen-Zuid Innovation never stops the Netherlands phone +31 (0)255 521 852 28 sow to grow fax +31 (0)847 510 694 Let’s play plant breeder [email protected] www.bluebirdpublishers.com prophyta foundation [email protected] www.prophyta.org © 2018 All rights reserved. No portion of contents may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. The publisher and authors declare that they have 8 australia compiled this publication The ongoing debate on the carefully and to the best of their knowledge. However, history of agriculture no warranty or representation 12 digital sequence information (dsi) not is made to the accuracy or the very first hybrid plant completeness of information the solution 30 contained in the articles. The Trapped by biodiversity Oxheart cabbage (just) beat maize publisher and authors assume no liability whatsoever for any legislation 33 25-27 september 2018 damage resulting from the Seed meets Technology celebrates use of this publication or its contents. five-year anniversary 34 ista 2018 annual meeting in japan Flourishing Asian market inviting 36 an overview Mineral nutrition in plant tissue culture 16 seed health testing The Annual 2018 Journal for breeders and producers of plant material What you need to know when using a PCR assay On the cover: At the Italian 20 medicinally cannabis research institute crea-ci Cannabidiol opens new market Cannabis sativa L. varieties were developed the medical for breeders world was waiting for Prophyta 2018.indd 3 17-04-18 09:28 In Short Get Prophyta ments; all aimed at providing be sent to a p.o. box, so please you with information that really provide a valid street address for free matters. (either company address or Besides ‘Prophyta – The private address). Annual’, we also publish How to subscribe for ‘Prophyta – Focus on Europe’. your free copy? Earlier editions of ‘Prophyta The latter edition is dedicated In order to guarantee that – The Annual’ and ‘Prophyta – to the interests of participants Focus on Europe you receive ‘Prophyta – The Focus on Europe’ can be down- Journal for breeders and producers of plant material of the esa Annual Meeting and Annual’ and/or ‘Prophyta – loaded from www.prophyta. will be published annually on Focus on Europe’ at the correct org. Prophyta is represented at the occasion of this congress. address, please email your the isf Congress and the esa 4 Hence, this publication will be name, organisation/company, Annual Meeting by Monique distributed exclusively to pro- sales. In-depth interviews with postal address and function to Krinkels, chief editor. You are fessionals in the seed industry, leading international profes- [email protected]. welcome to call at her desk working in the areas of breed- sionals, broad articles about Please note that due to postal and receive an extra copy and ing, production, marketing and current and future develop- restrictions, Prophyta cannot subscribe. Climate change threatens doomsday vault The Svalbard International Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsber- gen, which was founded 10 years ago, will receive a new entrance. It should provide better protection for the approximately 1 million seeds from 234 countries that are now stored there. At the end of 2016, water was discovered near the entrance. Because of the exceptionally high temperatures and rain at the end of that year, water had entered the 100-metre long tunnel to the seed vault. The moisture did not get any further because it was frozen, but scientists started to worry. It has now been decided to build a new watertight entrance. Norway will spend 100 million Norwegian Crowns (€ 10.4 million) to upgrade the doomsday seed vault. The work is expected to last until May next year. The seed vault was constructed in an has the capacity to store 4.5 million crop war or global warming kills certain crops, abandoned Arctic coal mine at a depth of varieties. The aim is to store and safeguard governments will be able to request seeds 120 meters in a mountain in the vicinity of the world’s crops and plants against global from the vault to restart their agricultural Lonyearbyen, the capital of Spitsbergen. It natural or man-made disasters. If nuclear industries. Record in Nanopore Sequencing This year, KeyGene research- run 48 such flow cells, large- for KeyGene’s partners Rijk KeyGene with a single Prome- ers generated 76 gigabases scale de novo whole genome Zwaan, Enza Zaden, Limagrain thion flow cell thus represents of dna sequence of a lettuce sequencing will soon be Vegetable Seeds and Takii & approximately 30-fold genome (Lactuca sativa) genome with a feasible. KeyGene expects that Co, which use the genome coverage. The N50 reads single Oxford Nanopore Tech- Promethion’s long reads and sequence to support the lengths were 29 kb with a fair nologies (ont) Promethion low costs per base will disrupt development of new varieties. amount of reads longer than flow cell. This is a new record the current sequencing field, Lettuce has a complex genome 100 kb. With these very long in the plant genome sequenc- accelerating crop innovation. of approximately 2.7 gigabase dna sequences, the assembly ing area for long reads. As the The nanopore sequencing of the pairs (Gbp). The output of of complex genomes becomes Promethion has the capacity to lettuce genome was completed 76 gigabases generated by much easier. prophyta annual 2018 Prophyta 2018.indd 4 17-04-18 09:28 In Short Editorial Short circuit in communication Workshop on seed identification Nowadays, people suffer from an information overload. Apart 5 from the daily newspaper, television and radio, they also receive This autumn, Naktuin- identification is not a prerequi- e-mails, e-newsletters, e-magazines, read Facebook, Instagram bouw (Netherlands Inspec- site to attending the workshop. and Twitter, and search the Internet for the latest developments in tion Service for Horticulture) will again organise a Seed Content of the scientific, economic and business-related topics. The drawback Identification Workshop for workshop of the rapid advances made in information and communication international participants. The Over the three days, technology. At the same time, the paradoxical situation is that, workshop will take place from participants are given lectures, although there is an abundance of information available, it is often 1-3 October 2018 in Roelofar- excursions and plenty of practi- difficult to obtain useful, relevant information when it is needed. endsveen, the Netherlands. The cal assignments in which they No wonder that managers sometimes feel overwhelmed and aim is to improve identification have to identify seeds under the of seeds found as impurities in microscope themselves. A first productivity falters, as reading and sifting takes too much time of seed samples. The participants major step in seed identification the individual. learn how to identify seeds and is the recognition of the plant Nevertheless, the seed industry wants the general public to learn fruits from the seventeen most family to which a particular more about seeds and plant breeding. There is a need to open important wild plant families seed/fruit belongs, making it the ‘black box’ in the food chain, as many people hardly know occurring in European arable possible to consult reference landscapes. These plant fami- collections efficiently and seed what happens to food before it is displayed in the supermarket. lies are responsible for frequent atlases for a final identification. And even if they are aware that there are farmers involved in impurities. In this workshop, a selection of food manufacturing, the processes of plant breeding and seed The workshop is specifically families has been introduced production remain hidden from sight. ‘Unknown is unloved’, as developed for seed analysts that represent the majority of a Dutch proverb goes, and it makes the sector an easy target for and those in industry who are the seeds from the ista univer- unfounded criticism. involved in seed purity analysis sal list of plant species. and/or seed identification. More information available at: Seed organisations have recognised the need and have taken Specific knowledge of seed www.naktuinbouw.eu action. isf and esa are active on Twitter and Facebook, asta offers, among others, blogs by plant breeders.