COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY TO ENABLE ON-DEMAND POLLINATION IN COMMERCIAL HYBRID WHEAT SYSTEMS

The goal of this Phase I SBIR project is to prove the feasibility of developing a scalable collection and preservation technology for large volumes of wheat pollen.Technical Objectives:1: Prove the feasibility of designing/constructing a scalable method for mechanically harvesting male wheat spikes containing mature viable pollen.2: Construct a scalable prototype to validate the concept of separating anthers containing viable pollen from green plant material.3: Develop and prove an efficient method of liberating viable pollen grains from intact wheat anthers for subsequent conditioning and storage.