A high-throughput seed germination assay for root parasitic plants

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Pouvreau, Jean-Bernard | Gaudin, Zachary | Auger, Bathilde | Lechat, Marc-Marie | Gauthier, Mathieu | Delavault, Philippe | Simier, Philippe

Edité par CCSD ; BioMed Central -

International audience. Some root-parasitic plants belonging to the Orobanche, Phelipanche or Striga genus represent one of the most destructive and intractable weed problems to agricultural production in both developed and developing countries. Compared with most of the other weeds, parasitic weeds are difficult to control by conventional methods because of their life style. The main difficulties that currently limit the development of successful control methods are the ability of the parasite to produce a tremendous number of tiny seeds that may remain viable in the soil for more than 15 years. Seed germination requires induction by stimulants present in root exudates of host plants. Researches performed on these minute seeds are until now tedious and time-consuming because germination rate is usually evaluated in Petri-dish by counting germinated seeds under a binocular microscope.

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