EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 55 NEW SPEEDY BROCCOLI FROM SEED TO HARVEST IN EIGHT WEEKS ‘This new broccoli is all about speed,” says Dr Jonathan Clarke, Head of Business Development at the John Innes Centre. “It takes 8-10 weeks from seed to harvest. We have accelerated the pro- cess, because of our scientific knowledge about flowering time.” Dr Judith Irwin revealed the details of the new broccoli during her presentation – ‘Developing a short generation broccoli for 21st Century horticulture’ – at Agri-Tech East’s ‘Nutritious and Delicious’ event in Norwich. The new broccoli line is fast due to the John Innes Centre’s knowledge about flowering. This is the specialism of Dr Irwin; she works in collaboration with Professor Dame Caroline Dean to translate fundamental research on the control of flowering from the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana to Brassica crop species. The timing of the switch to flowering (the part of the broc- coli plant that we eat) is essential, as it is critical for adaptation to the environment and resulting yield. Judith explains: “We harnessed our knowledge of how plants regulate the flowering process to remove the requirement for a period of cold temper- ature and bring this new broccoli line to harvest faster. This means growers could turn around two field-based crops in one season, or if the broccoli is grown in protected conditions, four to five crops in a year.” In addition to having a short growth period, there is a poten- tial opportunity to move production into urban farms for con- tinuous production. EXTRAS NEMATODE RESISTANCE IN SOYBEANS BENEFICIAL EVEN AT LOW RATES OF INFESTATION Each spring, tiny roundworms hatch and wriggle over to the nearest soybean root to feed. Before farmers are even aware of the belowground infestation, the soybean cyst nematode silently begins to wreak havoc on soybean yield. Fortunately, breeders have identified soybean varieties with genetic resistance to the nematodes and have used them to create new resistant varieties. As you might expect, resistant varieties yield more than susceptible ones when SCN is in the soil. But, until now, it wasn’t clear whether that yield advantage held up at low SCN infestation rates. By looking at 11 years of data from 408 sites around the Midwest, the researchers found that there was a yield advan- tage for SCN resistance even at low infestation levels—as low as 20 eggs per 100 cubic centimeters of soil. In environments with no SCN infestation, the team saw evidence of yield drag, where resistant varieties yielded slightly less than suscepti- ble ones. The most common source of SCN resistance is from a soybean accession known as PI 88788. It is well known that SCN is increasing in its ability to overcome 88788-resistance throughout the Midwest. The researchers wanted to find out if varieties with 88788-resistance are still able to produce high yields despite mounting pressure from nematodes. NEW PAPER PUBLISHED IN PHYTOBIOMES MAY LEAD TO NOVEL METHODS OF RHIZOCTONIA SOLANI CONTROL In a research paper just published in Phytobiomes, a fully open-access journal of The American Phytopathological Society, University of Florida researcher Ken Obasa and col- leagues identified a novel and important biological aspect of R. solani while investigating brown patch infected cool-sea- son turfgrasses. The intriguing observation was that R. solani isolated from diseased tissue were persistently associated with bacteria during growth on solid media. This led them to uncover the impact of a bacterium on brown patch disease. The findings of this study suggest that at least some Rhizoctonia species in the anastomosis group 2-2IIIB can harbor intracellular bacteria that affect the biology of their fungal host and, in turn, the way the fungus interacts with plants. Ultimately, this research helps raise the prospects for developing alternative Rhizoctonia disease management strat- egies in plants. The article, titled "A Dimorphic and Virulence- Enhancing Endosymbiont Bacterium Discovered in Rhizoctonia solani," offered several interesting findings: An endosymbiotic bacterium can influence the disease phenotype of the turfgrass brown patch pathogen, as the dis- ease was greater when the bacterium was present. The elimination of the bacterium from its fungal host by antibiotic treatment resulted in a significant decrease in the production of the virulence factor phenylacetic acid (PAA). Wild-type R. solani and R. solani cured of the endosymbi- ontic bacterium appear genetically identical, with no variation seen in cultural characteristics and DNA profile, which suggests that the changes in PAA production and virulence could be attributed to the loss of the bacterium. This and similar recent discoveries raise important questions about the distribution and significance of fungal microbiomes to our understanding and management of phy- topathogenic fungi. DRONES IN AGRICULTURE AND HANDS-ON DRONE TRAINING If you haven’t noticed that Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), otherwise known as drones, have been impacting the agriculture industry lately, it may be time to crawl out of your winter hibernation. Drones are everywhere in the agricultural landscape and are being used to determine plant health, inventory plants, collect farm asset information, assess crop damage and even determine areas of low soil moisture. This information is proving useful to agricultural professionals in the context of precision agriculture and farm management. This revolution is being fuelled not only by advancements in drone platforms, but by improved sensors as well. Numerous lightweight cameras are now available that capture reflected light energy beyond that which is visible to the human eye.