Publications by authors named "S Ducournau"

Elevated temperatures inhibit the germination of a concerning number of crop species. One strategy to mitigate the impact of warming temperatures is to identify and introgress adaptive genes into elite germplasm. Diversity must be sought in wild populations, coupled with an understanding of the complex pattern of adaptation across a broad range of landscapes.

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Phenomic prediction implemented on a large diversity set can efficiently predict seed germination, capture low-effect favorable alleles that are not revealed by GWAS and identify promising genetic resources. Oilseed rape faces many challenges, especially at the beginning of its developmental cycle. Achieving rapid and uniform seed germination could help to ensure a successful establishment and therefore enabling the crop to compete with weeds and tolerate stresses during the earliest developmental stages.

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Faced with the challenges of adapting agriculture to climate change, seed production should have increased resilience to abiotic stress factors and the expected proliferation of pathogens. This concerns both the nutritional quality and seed vigor, two crucial factors in seedling establishment and yield. Both qualities are acquired during seed development, but how environment influences the genetic and physiological determinisms of these qualities remains to be elucidated.

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A high throughput phenotyping tool for seed germination, the ScreenSeed technology, was developed with the aim of screening genotype responsiveness and chemical drugs. This technology was presently used with Arabidopsis thaliana seeds to allow characterizing seed samples germination behavior by incubating seeds in 96-well microplates under defined conditions and detecting radicle protrusion through the seed coat by automated image analysis. This study shows that this technology provides a fast procedure allowing to handle thousands of seeds without compromising repeatability or accuracy of the germination measurements.

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Several seed and seedling traits are measured to evaluate germination and emergence potential in relation with environmental conditions. More generally, these traits are also measured in the field of ecology as simple traits that can be correlated to other adaptative traits more difficult to measure on adult plants, as for example traits of the rooting system. Methods were developed for deep high throughput phenotyping of hundreds of genotypes from dry seed to the end of heterotrophic growth.

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