Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Plant – seedling – plant seed – or plant part – per se – Higher plant – seedling – plant seed – or plant part
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-21
2004-11-23
Kruse, David H (Department: 1638)
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Plant, seedling, plant seed, or plant part, per se
Higher plant, seedling, plant seed, or plant part
C435S410000, C800S260000, C800S278000, C800S279000, C800S298000, C800S300000, C800S301000, C800S302000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06822143
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a new and distinctive celery (
Apium graveolens
var.
dulce
) variety, designated ADS-1. There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. The goal is to combine in a single variety or hybrid an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. These important traits may include increased stalk size and weight, higher seed yield, improved color, resistance to diseases and insects, tolerance to drought and heat, and better agronomic quality.
Practically speaking, all cultivated forms of celery belong to the species
Apium graveolens
var.
dulce
that is grown for its edible stalk. As a crop, celery is grown commercially wherever environmental conditions permit the production of an economically viable yield. In the United States, the principal growing regions are California, Florida, Texas and Michigan. Fresh celery is available in the United States year-round although the greatest supply is from November through January. For planting purposes, the celery season is typically divided into two seasons, summer and winter, with Florida, Texas and the southern California areas harvesting from November to July, and Michigan and northern California harvesting from July to October. Fresh celery is consumed as fresh, raw product and occasionally as a cooked vegetable.
Celery is a cool-season biennial that grows best from 60° to 65° F. (16° to 18° C.), but will tolerate temperatures from 45° to 75° F. (7° to 24° C.). Freezing will damage mature celery by splitting the petioles or causing the skin to peal, making the stalks unmarketable. This is an occasional problem in plantings in the winter regions. However, celery can tolerate minor freezes early in the crop.
The two main growing regions for celery (
Apium graveolens L.
) in California are located along the Pacific Ocean: the central coast or summer production area (Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo Counties) and the south coast or winter production area (Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties). A minor region (winter) is located in the southern deserts (Riverside and Imperial Counties).
In the south coast, celery is transplanted from early August to April for harvest from November to mid-July; in the Santa Maria area, celery is transplantaed from January to August for harvest from April through December. In the central coast, fields are transplanted from March to September for harvest from late June to late December. In the southern deserts, fields are transplanted in late August for harvest in January.
Commonly used celery varieties for coastal production include Tall Utah 52-75, Conquistador and Sonora. Some shippers use their own proprietary varieties. Celery seed is very small and difficult to germinate. All commercial celery is planted as greenhouse-grown transplants. Celery grown from transplants is more uniform than from seed and takes less time to grow the crop in the field. Transplanted celery is placed in double rows on 40-inch (100-cm) beds with plants spaced between 6.7 and 7 inches (22.5-cm) apart.
Celery is an allogamous biennial crop. Celery consists of 11 chromosomes. Its high degree of out-crossing is accomplished by insects and wind pollination. Pollinators visiting celery flowers include a large number of wasp, bee and fly species. Celery is subject to inbreeding depression, which appears to be genotype dependent, since some lines are able to withstand continuous selfing for three or four generations. Crossing of inbreds results in heterotic hybrids that are vigorous and taller than sib-mated or inbred lines.
Celery flowers are protandrous, with pollen being released 3-6 days before stigma receptivity. At the time of stigma receptivity the stamens will have fallen and the two stigmata unfolded in an upright position. The degree of protandy varies, which makes it difficult to perform reliable hybridization, due to the possibility of accidental selfing.
Celery flowers are very small, significantly precluding easy removal of individual anthers. Furthermore, different developmental stages of the flowers in umbels makes it difficult to avoid uncontrolled pollinations. The standard hybridization technique in celery consists of selecting flower buds of the same size and eliminating the older and younger flowers. Then, the umbellets are covered with glycine paper bags for a 5-10 day period, during which the stigmas become receptive. At the time the flowers are receptive, available pollen or umbellets shedding pollen from selected male parents are rubbed on to the stigmas of the female parent.
Plants require a period of vernalization while in the vegetative phase in order to induce seed stalk development. A period of 6-10 weeks at 5-8° C. is usually adequate. However, unless plants are beyond a juvenile state or a minimum of 4 weeks old they may not be receptive to vernalization. Due to a wide range of response to the cold treatment, it is often difficult to synchronize crossing, since plants will flower at different times. However, pollen can be stored for 6-8 months at −10° C. in the presence of silica gel or calcium chloride with a viability decline of only 20-40%, thus providing flexibility to perform crosses over a longer time.
For selfing, the plant or selected umbels are caged in cloth bags. These are shaken several times during the day to promote pollen release. Houseflies (
Musca domestica
) can also be introduced weekly into the bags to perform pollinations.
Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plant reproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F
1
hybrid cultivar, pureline cultivar, etc.). For highly heritable traits, a choice of superior individual plants evaluated at a single location will be effective, whereas for traits with low heritability, selection should be based on mean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of related plants. Popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, mass selection, and recurrent selection.
The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method. Backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few favorable genes for a highly heritable trait into a desirable cultivar. This approach has been used extensively for breeding disease-resistant cultivars. Various recurrent selection techniques are used to improve quantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes. The use of recurrent selection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease of pollination, the frequency of successful hybrids from each pollination, and the number of hybrid offspring from each successful cross
Each breeding program should include a periodic, objective evaluation of the efficiency of the breeding procedure. Evaluation criteria vary depending on the goal and objectives, but should include gain from selection per year based on comparisons to an appropriate standard, overall value of the advanced breeding lines, and number of successful cultivars produced per unit of input (e.g., per year, per dollar expended, etc.).
Promising advanced breeding lines are thoroughly tested and compared to appropriate standards in environments representative of the commercial target area(s) for three years at least. The best lines are candidates for new commercial cultivars; those still deficient in a few traits are used as parents to produce new populations for further selection.
These processes, which lead to the final step of marketing and distribution, usually take from ten to twenty years from the time the first cross or selection is made. Therefore, development of new cultivars is a time-consuming process that requires precise
A. Duda & Sons, Inc.
Jondle & Associates P.C.
Kruse David H
LandOfFree
Celery named ADS-1 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Celery named ADS-1, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Celery named ADS-1 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3309187