Countless factors affect pollen dispersal. Some of these factors, such as wind, are beyond farmers' control. However, field orientation, and land-use practices in the proximity of GM crops, are among the things which may be steered to influence out-crossing rates and which therefore can be strategically adjusted to facilitate co-existence. Several research projects are underway to find out what factors in the surrounding landscape affect the travel of pollen.
Models for long distance maize pollen movement
Flowering maize plants release pollen into the air, which can travel distances between a few centimetres and several kilometres.
Flowering maize plants release pollen into the air. This pollen can travel distances between a few centimetres and several kilometres.
With the introduction of GM crops, predictive tools modelling velocity and pollen concentration fields over heterogeneous canopies are required to assess the cross-pollination rates between GM and conventional crops. In this approach, models will be validated against maize field experiments.
This task takes advantage of other ongoing national or European research projects identifying major factors affecting the movement of maize pollen. Researchers examine data to find out the typical sizes, shapes, and surroundings of maize fields in various regions of Germany, France, and Bulgaria. This data is then entered into computer programs to predict how pollen could drift across landscapes under a wide range of situations.
Pollen movement across plantings of tall and low crops
One ongoing project is measuring the degree to which maize pollen moving from one field is interrupted by other crops on its way to another maize field. For example, upwind of a series of small, pollen-accepting maize plantings, researchers have planted a field of pollen-producing maize, embedded in a field of barley or sunflowers. Sunflowers, being a tall crop, would be expected to interrupt more pollen than barley, a relatively low-growing crop. Researchers then can detect and quantify out-crossing by counting the number of kernels formed on the ears of the pollen-accepting maize plantings. To make sure they were truly a result of out-crossing, researchers perform genetic analyses on the kernels .
This research project also utilises results from related national projects (e.g. from the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in Germany).
Models for long distance pollen movement
Based on gathered data, a model of fluid mechanics for pollen dispersal over heterogenous landscapes was successfully validated. An article based on the project findings has now been accepted for publication in a scientific journal and, upon publication, the key findings will be summarised here.
Pollen movement across plantings of tall and low crops
Preliminary results show that plantings of tall or low crops between maize fields have no major effect on the rate of out-crossing. Due to suboptimal weather conditions in the previous year, the experiments will be repeated in 2006 .
| NAME / ORGANISATION | CONTACT INFORMATION |
| Yves Brunet / Laurent Huber Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA), France |
Email: info@coextra.eu |
| Xavier Foueillassar ARVALIS - Institute du végétal, France | |
| Joachim Schiemann / Alexandra Huesken Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Germany | |
| Don Pendergast National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), United Kingdom |