Project Manager: Annick Bellamy annick.bellamy@valinov.fr

Company Relations Manager: Ellen Bouty ellen.bouty@valinov.fr

The Plant Breeding platform will help design, boost or accompany your plant breeding programmes and thus encourage innovation in your company.
Project Managers from the Valinov Plant Breeding platform can be brought in at any stage in your plant breeding projects, or for an entire project, to offer customised plant breeding advice, a wide range of innovative, effective resources or support in evaluating and developing your plant varieties.

Our Services

Plant breeding consultancy

• Define your plant breeding strategy and draw up your breeding schemes in line with the particular needs of your plant material, resources and objectives;
• Carry out a thorough audit of your current programmes and propose new or complementary orientations for your plant breeding programmes.

Support for plant breeding

• Determine the genetic diversity of your collections;
• Study the floral and reproduction biology of your species to identify the causes of sterility and cross-pollination failures;
• Draw up your cross-pollination plans;
• Create genetic diversity in your plant material;
• Introduce and manage the addition of new traits in your varieties;
• Reduce the time taken to create your varieties;
• Improve your plant material;
• Maintain, multiply and preserve your varieties and collections over the long term.

Evaluating, protecting and developing your innovations

• Check your new varieties for consistency and stability (experimentation, quality control);
• Identify your varieties for the purposes of quality control, traceability or protection (in the event of disputes);
• Complete the registration and protection formalities with French, European and other organisations.

Producing document and bibliographical summaries

Our Expertise and Resources

Plant improvement:

• Self-pollination, Intra- and inter-species hybridisation;
• Genetic analysis, Quantitative genetics;
• Phenotyping (morphological diversity);
• Pollen viability tests and pollen conservation methods;
• Polyploidisation;
• Mutagenesis (chemical, physical);
• Selection for preservation: seed production, registration of varieties.

Field, tunnel and greenhouse experiments

Histology, Cytology and Cytogenetics

• Floral and reproduction biology: Observation of reproductive organs, pollination, fertilisation and embryo development;
• Chromosome count and ploidy level.

Molecular biology:

• Molecular fingerprinting (RAPD, ISSR, SSR, AFLP, SCAR...);
• Genetic mapping;
• Localization of major genes and quantitative traits (QTL);
• Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS);
• Functional genomics.

In vitro culture:

• Micropropagation;
• Haplomethods;
• Somatic embryogenesis;
• Embryo rescue;
• Protoplast fusion;
• Meristem culture;
• Plant transformation.

Other:

• Cryopreservation;
• Quality Analyses: Sensory analysis, physico-chemical measurements, nutritional analysis.

Our Facilities

Valinov equipment:

• Caliper LabChip GX: robot for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, molecular marker separation)

Equipment available in our Research partner laboratories:

• Molecular Biology Laboratory: bead mill, thermocyclers, centrifuges, electrophoresis on agar and acrylamide gel, quantitative PCR...
• Access to IFR Quasav's technologies core facilities for nucleic acid analysis (ANAN) genotyping and medium throughput transcriptomics analysis (Nanodrop, Capillary sequencer, Licor...)
• Access to IFR Quasav's shared dedicated resources for cell imaging (IMAC) (stereoscopic microscope, electron and fluorescent microscopy, cryostat, microtome, flow cytometer, etc.)
• In vitro culture laboratory and growing rooms
• Laboratory for measuring physical-chemical qualities (NIRS, texturometer, penetrometer...)
• Access to ESA's sensory analysis laboratories
• Access to experimental facilities (S1 greenhouse, tunnels, container area, field plots) at Agrocampus Ouest -INHP Angers Centre .

Other:

• Access to high throughput sequencing/genotyping and high throughput Transcriptomics core facilities at Ouest-Genopôle.

Our scientific partners:

UMR GenHort (Genetics and Horticulture - INRA Combined Research Unit Angers Centre / Agrocampus Ouest - INHP Angers Centre / University of Angers):

• Management of genetic resources: knowledge of collections, impact of domestication on genetic diversity, static or dynamic management strategies
• Study of the genetic bases of traits of horticultural interest: resistance to pathogens in apple and carrots, double blooming and architecture in rose, apple quality
• Methodology of selection and plant breeding: development of methods and tools for the creation of genetic diversity, and for the selection and evaluation of apples, pears and ornamental shrubs.

UMR PMS (Seed Molecular Physiology - INRA Combined Research Unit / Agrocampus Ouest - Angers - INHP / University of Angers):

• Physiology of seeds during germination and emergence: cellular and molecular approaches

UMR Sagah (Agricultural Sciences Applied to ornamental Horticulture - INRA Combined Research Unit / Agrocampus Ouest - Angers - INHP / University of Angers)

• Study of the effects of environmental factors (ornamental ligneous plant model)

GEVES/SNES

• Seed qualities: Germination Team and Sampling and Cytology Team

GRAPPE Laboratory (Food Industry Products and Processes Research Group) Ecole Supérieure d' Agriculture College)

• Sensory Analysis Team
• Fruit Quality Team