Seed production - Mass selection

Seed production - Mass selection

The main method used for conservative breeding or variety maintenance is mass selection. This involves eliminating off-type plants during cultivation to ensure that the seed produced will come from plants, fruits, or vegetables that correspond to the variety as described.

At the Ferme de Sainte Marthe, we set up batches large enough to produce quality basic seeds, ensuring the reproduction of the species or variety over time and also seeds to be marketed that meet the criteria for describing the variety.

We check that the plots used are healthy, disease-free and, above all, free from regrowth.

Rotations, particularly for species with underground storage organs, are encouraged: it is important to avoid growing a species in the same place two years in a row.

Many precautions must be taken during installation: it is preferable to plant in squares rather than in rows to avoid external pollution, particularly pollination. We take the basic seed in the middle of the squares. In the same way, the prevailing winds must be taken into account even if we are often forced to work in a tunnel with an anti-insect net to avoid anemophilous (by the wind) and entomophilous (by insects) contamination.