Research Tools & Equipment

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 VCUS 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.

 

 



Phenosem, plateforme de phénotypage des semences

For a long time, phenotyping has relied on the visual observations of plant breeders, geneticists, pathologists, and agronomists. However, over the last few years, automatisation, robotisation, and the use of new contrasts and non-destructive physical measurement tools have made their way into this domain.

PHENOSEM is a seed phenotyping platform developed at GEVES’s seed testing station (SNES) as part of the SFR Quasav platforms, of which GEVES is a partner. PHENOSEM is part of the PHENOTIC instrumentation and imagery platform for seeds and plants. The platform’s activities are aimed at both professionals and research, for specific services (such as germination kinetics or radiography), collaborative research projects, or 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.