A Portuguese company, a result of a spin -off of the University of Coimbra (UC), aims to be a bank of genetic agroforestry.
The idea arose in order to " increase production and improve the quality of national wine and oil, making them more competitive in international markets, and preserve endangered varieties and varieties relevant national (Galician)," revealed the university.
The new technology affixed in vitro culture methods (cloning techniques) for the preservation and propagation of plants, much faster and more efficient than conventional ones. "Let's not only ensure the production of high quality plant plants, but primarily to ensure the reduction of production costs for incubators / farmers associated with the elimination of pests or diseases, and improve their productivity, enhancing the domestic and stimulating the Portuguese economy with more competitive products, also worldwide, "said the founders of the QualityPlant - Research and Production in Plant Biotechnology Ltd, Elisa Figueiredo and Monica Zuzarte.
The techniques thus guarantee the uniformity of plant genetics and leads to a large number of species of higher quality within a relatively short time. Therefore , this technology will " overcome several limitations of conventional propagation ( cuttings and seed), including the lengthy and unsuccessful process of rooting in vegetative propagation by cuttings ( egg , olive and citrus crops ) , the contamination of many species by pathogens ( citrus sad virus , black rot of the vine , the olive tuberculosis , among others) and need large space ( eg tree species ), "explain the researchers from UC . On the other hand, the preservation of national germplasm varieties is an economic potential, innovative and want this to be the great asset of the newly created company.
