Plant breeding for organic and sustainable, low-input agriculture

Methodology of testing of the suitability of varieties for the condition of organic farming
Petr Konvalina, Zdeněk Štěrba, Jan Moudrý
University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
The Czech organic production of cereals is characterised by low and fluctuating yield which is
caused by an absence of varieties bred and tested specifically for the conditions of organic
farming. The farmers nevertheless need the varieties adapted to this type of management
(Lammerts van Bueren, 2002). However, the testing of the varieties for certain station conditions
would be very expensive (Wolfe, 2002). Because the proportion of arable land is low and the
area of organic cereals is small there, the official tests are not supposed to be established in the
Czech Republic. Therefore, it is a need to create a simple methodology of testing for suitability
of varieties at an organic farm and at breeder's level.
In 2006, a work version of the „Methodology“ has been conceived. The part of methodology for
evaluating biological characteristics such as resistance to diseases is based on the methodology
of Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture for tests of VCU. The Descriptor
of genus Triticum L. for the international evaluation of genetic ressources is applied for
evaluating the morphological and economic characters. Some characters are also evaluated
according to the handbook called Cereal variety testing for organic and low input agriculture
(especially competitivness, etc.). Methodology is being tested in small-plot trials at two stations
under two different types of the land-climatic conditions (production, non-production areas). The
testing has been carried out with a divers set of varieties (modern, obsolete cultivars, landraces of
spring wheat and emmer wheat).
The methodology is divided into four parts: morphological, biological, economic and quality
characters. When evaluating each character, a user finds a code, name, description, scale of the
evaluation and point evaluation of each character, combined with its importance for organic
farming system. The characters may be evaluated as individual results in each category of the
morphological, biological, economic and quality characters or as a sum of all of them and a
variety number may be indicated. The Methodology may be used by several users. A farmer can
find a list of characteristics which can be evaluated in the agroecosystem, in particular landclimatic
conditions of a particular farm there. He is able to test the suitability of the varieties
available. A breeder can find a proposal of the characteristics serving as a simple indicator of the
suitability for the screening of the considerable collections of the genetic resources. The main
difference between the testing of the varieties in organic system and conventional one is based
on an emphasis on indirect measurable indicators as the morphological characteristics are, e. q.: a
distance between flag leaf and spike which is very important for the spreading of Septoria
nodorum infection or the optimal position, length and width of flag leaf as a condition for a
higher degree of the assimilation of sunlight.
Acknowledgement: The project is funded by the MSM 6007665806
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