home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

An Approach to Organic Plant Breeding of Cabbage and Cauliflower

Chable, Dr Véronique (2002) An Approach to Organic Plant Breeding of Cabbage and Cauliflower. Paper at: 1st International Symposium on organic seed production and plant breeding – ECO-PB (European Consortium for Organic Plant Breeding) Organic seed production and plant breeding – strategies, problems and perspectives, Berlin, 21-22 November 2002.

[thumbnail of proceedings_berlin_symposium.pdf] PDF - English
1MB


Summary

Plant breeding activity has to be considered in the context of the agricultural system. The organic agriculture (OA) is more than a way of production: it is consistent with an ethics of the place and role of the man in the nature. Working for OA means to prefer a holistic approach with a ecological vision of the plant and animal in their environment to an analytic approach with a biochemical vision of the living beings.
The variety plays at least two roles in the organic way of production: (i) an ecological adaptation of the crop and the keeping of the environment equilibrium in the planting, (ii) a valorisation of products from a soil and a savoir-faire. Moreover, the breeders have to take in account the respect of the natural crossing barriers and the fertility of the species to enhance the vitality of the planting and to optimise the seed production.
The adaptability to OA of the current varieties has to be examined for each species. For cabbages and cauliflowers, the F1 hybrids have replaced the population varieties for the last two decades and moreover, the cytoplasmic male sterility is largely widespread in these hybrids. This male sterility, created by protoplast fusion, will not be allowed for organic farming.
For two years, an INRA project with the collaboration of IBB (Inter bio Bretagne) has initiated the first step of a breeding programme: the evaluation of the Brassica genetic resources and the definition of the selection criteria of cabbage and cauliflower with the farmers. A second project is building up to go further and to begin the selection and the organisation of a seed production. At the long term, in order to join the environment and the production qualities of the variety, we propose a composite structure with useful fixed characters (agronomical and economical traits) which will maintain the heterozygoty of the genetic backgrounds. Others alternatives have to be examined for the next years. The close participatory of the farmers will be necessary to a better targeting of the means and the needs.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Paper
Keywords:cauliflower, breeding, genetic resources, "Variétés et semences de choux et choux-fleurs pour l'Agriculture Biologique : de l'évaluation des ressources génétiques vers l'organisation d'une filière semences"
Subjects: Crop husbandry > Breeding, genetics and propagation
Research affiliation: France > INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
Related Links:http://www.orgprints.org/6801
Deposited By: Chable, Dr Véronique
ID Code:6633
Deposited On:20 Dec 2005
Last Modified:12 Apr 2010 07:32
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Not peer-reviewed

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics