November 2020 - 8

SEEDS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
stress outside and produce a uniform
crop, " Leskovar said.
A broad research effort
A variety of techniques are
examined for use on high-value
seeds and seedlings such as tomatoes,
peppers, lettuce, watermelon, onions
and artichokes.
" My component of the research is
Broccoli seeds coated with soy flour and vermicompost
biostimulant and seedlings 30 days after
planting in the greenhouse. Photo: M. Amirkhani
and A. Taylor/Cornell AgriTech
dealing with applied research trying
to improve the seedling and transplant
quality, " Leskovar said.
The team of researchers includes
Alan Taylor from Cornell University
and Bob Geneve from the University
of Kentucky, who Leskovar described
as " pioneers in this multi-state regional
project for more than 25 years. "
Taylor, a seed science and technology
specialist, said Cornell's AgriTech seed
treatment and coating lab where he
works is the only land grant university
in the country equipped to apply seed
treatment and coatings. His work has
focused on seed coatings as a delivery
system for biological stimulants, pest
management seed treatments and even
materials to help with germination, such
as super-absorbent polymers, which
soak up water from the surrounding
soil and make it available to the seed.
A paper he published last year showed
the use of soy flour and vermicompost,
showing that even these natural
materials were effective biostimulants
for the seeds when used as a coating.
" Especially the high-value vegetable
crops can really benefit from the
enhancement, because the seeds are
already coated by seed companies, "
Taylor said. " So let's go ahead and
not just put something that's an inert
material in the coating. Put in something
that, I'll say, 'revs' up the seeds, as far as
the physiology of the seeds, to get them
to grow faster. "
Another research area for the group
is the " preconditioning " of transplants
in the nursery, preparing them for field
conditions.
This is the commercial equivalent of
how gardeners " harden off " transplants
before spring planting, but " it's also
possible to precondition transplants
earlier in their development, " Leskovar
said.
" You can have a transplant preconditioning
prior to being shipped to the grower, as well
as during the seeding development - you
can precondition plants to have a better
performance later on in the field, " he said.
Other projects in the past have
included research into priming seed -
initializing germination of seed before
planting- and also phenotyping, or
finding markers of desired genetic traits,
for plant-breeding programs.
" It's not a single technique, it's a
package of techniques that can be
put into the seed to improve their
performance, " Leskovar said.
Tomato techniques
Much of Lescovar's work is focused
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on the development of grafting tomato
transplants. Although others in the
industry have explored robotic systems
for grafting large numbers of tomato
scions onto rootstocks, Leskovar's work
is focused on the act of grafting itself and
doing it well - looking at techniques that
maximize or improve the graft union.
Techniques such as using plastic clips at
the graft union are tested against others.
" We are looking at the performance
of a limited number of rootstocks,
more varieties that we grow on top of
rootstocks, and how they respond to
open fields versus, say high tunnels,
how they perform in organic versus
conventional systems, " he said.
The team will treat tomato seedlings
with different LED light qualities,
media-enhancers and foliar applications
of gibberellin inhibitor, according to a
news release from Texas A&M. Pre- and
post-grafting measurements will include
survival rate, number of healed grafts,
traits related to root system architecture
and shoot components, internal water
status as well as dry biomass.
To better understand the
physiological, biochemical and genetic
traits underlying drought stress
tolerance in grafted plants when using
wild-type germplasm, the team will also
investigate different tomato rootstock
combinations and their responses to
abiotic stresses.
" Growth, physiological activity
in terms of leaf gas exchange and
biochemical aspects, such as protein,
sugars, amino acids, osmolites and
antioxidant enzymes, will be measured
to get a more complete picture of all the
mechanisms involved, " Leskovar said in
the news release. VGN
8 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
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November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2020

November 2020 - 1
November 2020 - 2
November 2020 - 3
November 2020 - 4
November 2020 - 5
November 2020 - 6
November 2020 - 7
November 2020 - 8
November 2020 - 9
November 2020 - 10
November 2020 - 11
November 2020 - 12
November 2020 - 13
November 2020 - 14
November 2020 - 15
November 2020 - 16
November 2020 - 17
November 2020 - 18
November 2020 - 19
November 2020 - 20
November 2020 - 21
November 2020 - 22
November 2020 - 23
November 2020 - 24
November 2020 - 25
November 2020 - 26
November 2020 - 27
November 2020 - 28
November 2020 - 29
November 2020 - 30
November 2020 - 31
November 2020 - 32
November 2020 - 33
November 2020 - 34
November 2020 - 35
November 2020 - 36
November 2020 - 37
November 2020 - 38
November 2020 - 39
November 2020 - 40
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/vgn-2025-digital-seed-guide
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyers-guide-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/july-august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/may-june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/april-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/vgn-digital-seed-guide-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyers-guide-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/july-august
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/may-june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/march-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/vgn-digital-seed-guide-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyers-guide-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/july-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/may-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/seedguide-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyersguide-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/july-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/may-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/march-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/seedguide-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyersguide-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/october-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/august-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/july-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/june-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/may-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/april-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/march-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyersguide-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/october-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/august-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/july-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/june-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/may-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/april-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/march-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/february-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyersguide-2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2019
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com