Oilseed rape with closed flowers: No outcrossing?

A flowering oilseed rape field near Braunschweig: While one half of the field glows bright yellow, the other half looks somewhat paler. This half is being used to grow cleistogamic oilseed rape, i.e. plants with flowers that do not open. The idea is to prevent the plants from releasing pollen into the environment. This trait could be used in future for the biological containment of foreign genes in genetically modified oilseed rape plants. This field trial is designed to show whether the method works in practice.

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After havesting, the plant residue remaining on the field is collected at different time points to investigate the decomposition of the mulch and the microorganisms involved.

Maize litter and micro-organisms

It is the middle of April and there is stubble as far as the eye can see. There are still a few weeks left until the next crop of maize will be sown and the trial field lies abandoned. Scientists from Müncheberg have arrived to collect samples of the maize litter that was left on the field after the harvest last autumn. They are investigating whether the cultivation of Bt maize has an impact on soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi that break down maize litter. more

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Pollen diet for caterpillars

January 2010. It is below freezing outside, but in a greenhouse at RWTH Aachen University winter has been kept at bay and clouds of butterflies are fluttering about in a carefully controlled atmosphere in a large tent-like net. Mechthild Schuppener has succeeded in establishing a breeding programme for small tortoiseshell butterflies. She needs small caterpillars for feeding experiments that she is conducting in the laboratory. She is trying to find out whether genetically modified Bt maize is harmful to butterflies.more

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Bees at the hive entrance

“We are looking at how bee colonies that can gather pollen from only one type of maize develop.”

The maize test area in the middle of August. Gauze-covered tents, distributed over the whole maize test area, represent the restricted habitat for the bees during the maize flowering season, each with two bee colonies. For the maize plants the space in the tents is rather cramped; their tops are bent under the three-meter high net. This flowering season is the crucial time for the bee trials of Stephan Härtel and his co-workers from the University of Bayreuth, since only then can the bees gather the maize pollen.more

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Will new plant substance lead to changes in potato characteristics?

It is a stormy, overcast afternoon in mid-July. Genetically modified potatoes which provide the raw material for a biodegradable plastic are growing in neat rows on a fenced-in release site belonging to the University of Rostock. Overwintering trials will be conducted on the potato tubers this winter and their rotting behaviour will be observed. more

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Binding sites and soil horizons

It is a cool, sunny July morning on the maize trial field. Scientists from the University of Göttingen are digging up a soil profile. The University of Göttingen’s Institute of Applied Biotechnology in the Tropics (IBT) is part of the maize research group. It is responsible for characterising the soil on the trial fields. Its scientists are also investigating in the laboratory how much Bt protein the soil can bind and whether the Bt protein can move to lower soil layers.more

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