Amphasys was awarded for “exceptional accomplishments in development and design of innovative, technology-oriented and know-how based products, processes and services” by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Central Switzerland (IHZ). IHZ points out that Amphasys has succeeded in providing an innovative technology to easily analyze the pollen quality as a basis for the production of high-quality seed.
Inspired by the success of our Amphacademy we have created a series of Amphasys tutorial movies to share our best practice recommendations with the whole Amphasys user community. Check them out for easy setup in the lab or mobile use in the field, for sample preparation, maintenance and software handling including tips and tricks.
Predicting seed yields under changing environmental conditions is a big challenge for seed producers. Sufficient pollination with good quality pollen is a key factor in achieving high seed yields. In his talk, Dr. Marcel Ottiger discusses how pollen quality monitoring, from pollen collection to storage and pollination facilitates more accurate predictions of the seed set. Download the presentation.
From October 7th to 9th, Amphasys will be present at the ESA European Seed Association 2018 Annual European Seed Trade Meeting in Madrid, Spain. Our team Pamela Klein and Ruthger Van Zwieten will be presenting the benefits of pollen quality monitoring for breeding and seed and crop production at booth 29. Schedule a meeting.
Wheat is one of the most widely grown crops in the world. It plays an important role in feeding a growing global population. Researchers around the world are working on the hybridization of wheat.
One important aspect when it comes to hybrid wheat is the fact that wheat is a self-pollinated species. For hybrid seed production, the male and female inbred lines are grown normally in stripes and only the female lines are harvested. To optimize seed production, a high female to male ratio is aspired. This requires the selection of an inbred male donor with a large pollen production and high viability to secure the fertilization.
It is no secret that wheat pollen is very short-lived. Literature indicates that the survival time of pollen after shedding is usually between 30 minutes and three hours.
This presents a major challenge for plant breeders when it comes to controlling pollination in hybrid wheat breeding and production. Hybrid wheat breeding requires high viability and long pollen life, as pollen must migrate from the male to the female plant. Several attempts to establish protocols for the successful storage of wheat pollen have unfortunately been unsuccessful to date.
Just recently, a group of researchers of the Leibnitz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research has evaluated the effects of fast-drying and cooling on the storability of wheat pollen. With the aim of identifying a new practical method for longer storage of wheat pollen without loss of pollen viability [1].
Unfortunately, the results of the study only confirmed the fact, that long-term wheat pollen storage is still not efficient due its extreme sensitivity to the removal of water molecules and osmotic concentration.
In a previous blog article, Dr. Georg Roell highlites the important role of pollen in wheat breeding and hybrid wheat seed production.
In his article, he provides a practical overview of three different methods for wheat pollen extraction. Furthermore, he shares his experience with wheat pollen lifetime and shares his insights on how to store wheat pollen just a little longer.
Based on the feedback of our customers and our own experience with wheat pollen at Amphasys, we have developed a proactive approach to measure wheat pollen directly in the field.
With the fully portable Ampha P20 Pollen Analyzer, wheat pollen can easily be measured directly in the field. Be it for the selection of male lines with high quantity and quality of pollen or to check the pollen of CMS lines in hybrid seed production.
At the upcoming International Plant & Animal Genome conference in San Diego Amphasys will present its “lab-on-chip” technology which enables efficient and reproducible determination of pollen viability, ploidy and developmental stages of microspores. In a collaboration with the New York based full service distribution partner Neutec Group, the highly innovative solutions from Amphasys are presented in booth 532. Download the poster.
Amphasys has been ranked as nr. 66 among the top 100 Swiss startup companies (www.startup.ch/Amphasys). The 100 most innovative and promising Swiss startups are picked by renowned startup experts from over 100’000 young companies.
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