Old method of Plantbreeding rediscovered. By: Joost van Winsen
Can a plant adapt to its environment? If that appeared to be
true, than it offers (huge) breedingpossibilities for organic
agriculture and agriculture in poor areas. Trials at the Russian
Timirasov-University show that winterwheat adapts itself to
growthcircumstances and can be selected on this. Sonja
Temirbikova is a Russian doctor in plantbreeding and
cropprotection. Since ten years she is testing winterwheat on
their capacity to adapt to circumstances of growth. The research
started after meeting with Jan Diek van Mansvelt from the
Agricultural University Wageningen in the Netherlands. Van
Mansvelt visited Russia ten years ago to see what the
possibilities are for organic agriculture in Russia. In the
first year of the research Temirbikova planted Dutch wheat
between Russian wheat of the same variety.Ten percent of the
Dutch wheat appeared to be suitable for the extreme cold
circumstances in Russia. Also the second year the Dutch wheat
proved r