PLANT VITALITY ASSESSMENT
The Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IPP PAS) has the capabilities to perform physiological, biochemical, molecular and biometric analyses of plant material. The methods we use permit, among others, the assessment of the broadly defined plant photosynthetic efficiency together with the elements of plant productivity, including the yield quality (the content of essential nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants). It is possible to analyse the expression of selected gene encoding proteins, e.g. those that are involved in the structure and function of the photosynthetic apparatus, including the structural photosystem proteins and enzymes that bind carbon dioxide and are responsible for biomass production. Estimating the plant photosynthetic efficiency integrated with an analysis of plant stress indicators, such as the accumulation of stress hormones, osmoprotectants (proline, sugars) and phenolic compounds, antioxidant system activity and cell membrane stability creates a comprehensive system that allows the vitality of plants growing in both semi-controlled (greenhouse, growth chambers) and field conditions to be assessed, which may be useful, e.g. for evaluating the plant response to:
- new fertilisers and agrochemicals, including plant protection products, growth regulators, chemical anti-stress regulators, biostimulants, etc.,
- toxins of various origins, including fungal toxins and heavy metals,
- the intensity and spectrum of light (suitable for testing, e.g. new-generation greenhouses with artificial light sources),
- various types of environmental stress that have a key impact on agricultural, horticultural and fruit production, e.g. frost or drought
Such a comprehensive assessment of the vitality of plants provides an opportunity to compare different groups of plants and can be applied to:
- the selection of lines/cultivars in terms of their resistance to environmental stress and crop quality,
- growth characteristics, yielding and stress resistance of new lines or cultivars, as well as transgenic plants (GMOs) and plants that are obtained in the process of physical or chemical mutagenesis,
- the characteristics of the adaptation of new cultivars to changing climate conditions in different vegetation seasons and/or locations,
- the characteristics of viability of young seedlings, plantings, etc.
OBTAINIING DOUBLED HAPLOIDS (DH)
IPP PAS develops technologies that are used to obtain doubled haploids (DH) for various crop species, including cereals using the androgenesis process (anther cultures and isolated microspore cultures) and interspecific crosses. The DH that are obtained are transferred and included into breeding programmes, thus reducing the time and costs of the production of new crop cultivars.
GROWING PLANT CELL CULTURES
IPP PAS proposes techniques for acquiring and growing plant cell cultures (cell suspensions, protoplast suspensions, anther cultures, callus cultures and other tissue and organ cultures, embryo cultures, algae cultures).
Detailed information about the opportunities for companies and research units to collaborate with IPP PAS is available on the web pages with profiles of the individual departments.