Use of Co2, Bee Pollination and Seedling Vernalization to Increase Self Incompatible Lines in Subtropical Lowlands

News source: Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station, Taiwan, ROC
For further information: dennis@mail.tndais.gov.tw, 2003-06-01

Si Genes for Breeding Brassica Crops

The use of self-incompatibility (SI) genes in breeding hybrid vegetable Brassica crops has been widely used for Brassica oleracea and B. rapa. In 2000, the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station (Tainan DAIS) developed a seedling vernalization technique to overcome the insufficient low temperature requirement for cabbage seed production in the lowland. However, one major problem of the SI system is the effort and cost involved in seed production of the self-incompatible lines by bud pollination and isolation.

Carbon Dioxide and Bee Pollination to Increase Self-Incompatibility

In 2002, this technique was combined with CO2 enrichment and bee pollination to increase the self-incompatible line of cabbage in a small greenhouse. This system was successfully applied to generate self seed of `K-Y cross' cabbage in the subtropical lowland. Using this new method, each silique had 17.3 seeds while the control treatment only generated 0.3 seed per silique. The cost of seed product can be reduced by 90% compared with that of seed production using the conventional bud pollination.

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