The authors, supported by Innovate UK funding, conclude that the right pollination bag material is species-specific, and that paper and cellulose almost always came out as the worst option:
“Through iterative material development coupled with physical and biological testing we determined that nonwoven fabrics outperform paper and cellophane” *
The work was carried out on Arabidopsis, wheat, miscanthus, and sugar beet and improvements made by nonwovens vs traditional materials used for pollination control include:
• More successful crosses
• Less contamination
• Increased seed yield
• Healthier seeds
“Overall, non-woven fabrics outperformed existing materials for both pollination and seed set” *
PBS International are dedicated to using sound science to bring market leading, outstanding pollination products to the market. We invest heavily in research and development to both understand the issues around pollination control and bring innovative new ideas to help increase seed quality and yields.
*All references are taken from the research article “Investigating the potential of novel
non-woven fabrics for efficient pollination control in plant breeding”
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