US 11,737,404 B2
Hybrid cereal seed production
Thomas Jolliffe, Lincoln (GB); Mark Glew, Lincolnshire (GB); Mark Rusling, Lincolnshire (GB); Alain Murigneux, La Roche Blanche (FR); and Pierrick Varenne, Chartres (FR)
Assigned to LIMAGRAIN EUROPE, Saint-Beauzire (FR)
Appl. No. 15/125,007
Filed by LIMAGRAIN EUROPE, Saint-Beauzire (FR)
PCT Filed Mar. 10, 2015, PCT No. PCT/EP2015/054963
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 9, 2016,
PCT Pub. No. WO2015/135940, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 17, 2015.
Claims priority of application No. 14305344 (EP), filed on Mar. 10, 2014.
Prior Publication US 2017/0079224 A1, Mar. 23, 2017
Int. Cl. A01H 1/02 (2006.01); A01H 4/00 (2006.01); A01H 1/04 (2006.01)
CPC A01H 1/02 (2013.01) [A01H 1/04 (2013.01); A01H 4/00 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
 
1. A method of producing hybrid cereal seeds comprising:
(a) mix-sowing parental seeds consisting of a mixture of a first set of parental seeds for shorter female (male sterile) plants and a second set of parental seeds for taller male fertile plants, wherein:
(i) the second set of parental seeds for taller male fertile plants comprises 15% or less of the total number of parental seeds at mix-sowing, and
(ii) the shorter female (male sterile) plants are dwarf, semi-dwarf or double-dwarf plants and the male fertile plants are taller than the female (male sterile) plants at anthesis,
(b) allowing crossing said shorter female (male sterile) plants with said taller male fertile plants,
(c) passing a tool extending at a height that is above the height of the shorter female plants between anthesis and up to 10 days after anthesis of the male fertile plants comprising main stems or main and secondary stems, wherein said tool is motor driven or supported by a motor driven vehicle and is moved in order to contact the male fertile plants and not the female plants that are shorter and below the height of the tool, and said tool applies by this contact an herbicide on said taller male fertile plants standing above this height in order to prevent or reduce normal self-fertilized male seeds development, and to produce no or residual shriveled self-fertilized male seeds on the main stems and/or on the secondary stems,
(d) harvesting the seeds and obtaining harvested seeds comprising hybrid seeds and male seeds, said male seeds representing from 1 to 15% of said harvested seeds, wherein said harvested male seed comprise a portion of shriveled self-fertilized male seeds, and
(e) sorting the harvested seeds by size using a sieve to remove undesirable shriveled self-fertilized male seeds that are shorter in size than said hybrid seeds, and recovering hybrid cereal seeds with a limited amount of self-fertilized male seeds,
wherein the cereal is selected from the group consisting of oat, wheat, barley, rice, spelt, triticale, millet, and rye.