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Research Tools & Equipment
To carry out its research projets, GEVES uses equipment and tools to evaluate variety behaviour and seed quality, including phenotyping, molecular biology, and pathology.
GEVES’s research activities are geared largely around the use of tools and equipment for phenotyping, biochemistry and molecular biology, and pathology. These tools are important for making progress in adapting methods for seed testing (physical analysis, germination, seed health) and variety testing (DUS and VSCU testing, variety resistance), for developing molecular and biochemical analyses, and for managing genetic resources.
These tools and equipments are also available to researchers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector, for conducting research projects in collaboration with GEVES or corporate research activities. |
Seed phenotyping platform
For a long time, phenotyping relied on visual observations by breeders, geneticists, plant pathologists, agronomists and others. In recent years, automation, robotisation, the use of new contrasts and non-destructive physical measurement tools have made their way into this field, as has, more recently, artificial intelligence applied to images. The seed and seedling phenotyping platform developed at GEVES, within the SNES, forms part of PHENOTIC, a platform run by SFR Quasav, of which GEVES is a partner. Seed and seedling phenotyping activities are aimed at professionals and researchers alike, taking the form of either services (such as germination kinetics or X-ray analysis), collaborative research projects or, in the long term, access to our tools.
Variety phenotyping
GEVES uses multispectral imagery for testing varieties for resistance to pathogens and pests, as well as Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (RMN) to test varieties’ technological characteristics.
Biomolecular tools
BioGEVES, the biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory at GEVES, uses and develops tools for conducting molecular and biochemical analyses on seeds and varieties, testing variety purity of seed batches, checking for resistance genes in varieties, evaluating technological characteristics, and detecting specific sequences (GMOs, pathogens, etc.)
Plant pathology
GEVES develops tools for different types of pests and pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes, and insects. These tools are used for testing varieties for resistance via resistance tests, testing seed health, identifying strains for epidemiological studies, and providing incolula for testing variety resistance and the effectiveness of phytosanitary treatments.
MATREF national network of reference material
GEVES coordinates the MATREF network, providing a collection of reference material (pest and pathogen isolates, seed material) for testing vegetable varieties for resistance against pests and diseases.
Cytometry platform
To register varieties of polyploid species in the French Catalogue, ploidy analysis is a compulsory step in the evaluation process. This criterion also makes it possible to identify certain species and evaluate the physical quality of seed. At GEVES, cytology analyses are conducted on the cytometry platform at the SNES, which is used to determine the ploidy of seed batches using flow cytometry. These analyses can be carried out on seeds, plants and cuttings for a range of different species.
