The present invention provides methods for the production of plant inbred seed, or for the production of plant hybrid seed, wherein the seed obtained exhibits altered and/or improved germination properties, in particular improved germination properties such as enhanced seed germination rate, enhanced seed germination capacity and/or enhanced seedling fresh weight. The present invention also provides for the use of periclinal chimera plants for improving germination properties of seed.

A novel hybrid pumpkin plant, designated HMX0686 is disclosed. The disclosure relates to the seeds of hybrid pumpkin designated HMX0686, to the plants and plant parts of hybrid pumpkin designated HMX0686, and to methods for producing a pumpkin plant by crossing the hybrid pumpkin HMX0686 with itself or another pumpkin plant.

The current invention provides methods for creating a block of genetically linked transgenic traits or a megalocus that can be transmitted as a single genetic unit. The present invention further provides methods for trait introgression to other plants, varieties or species using the megaloci of the invention. Also provided are plants, seeds, and plant parts comprising the megaloci.

The present invention discloses a breeding method and application of a new downy mildew-resistant interspecific hybrid Cucumis sativus variety. The breeding method comprises the following steps: performing hybridization to obtain F1 with the high-generation inbred line CCMC of ‘Changchun dense thorn Cucumis sativus’ as a female parent and a Cucumis sativus-Cucumis hystrix introgression line material IL52 as a male parent, selfing the hybrid F1 to obtain F2, and continuously constructing an F6 recombinant inbred line by the single seed transfer method; and by identifying of phenotypes of the recombinant inbred line populations during the natural inoculation of downy mildew at the adult plant stage in the field for 4 years, recombinant individuals with high resistance and good fruit marketability will be screened; and utilizing backcrossing and molecular marker-assisted selection to obtain the individuals as the new downy mildew-resistant interspecific hybrid Cucumis sativus variety in which the genotype in the dm5.2 region coincides with the banding pattern of IL52 and the other chromosome regions are the banding pattern of ‘Changchun dense thorn Cucumis sativus’. The new variety has a high downy mildew-resistant trait, high yield and excellent fruit quality.

The current invention provides methods for creating a block of genetically linked transgenic traits or a megalocus that can be transmitted as a single genetic unit. The present invention further provides methods for trait introgression to other plants, varieties or species using the megaloci of the invention. Also provided are plants, seeds, and plant parts comprising the megaloci.

The present invention provides tomato plants exhibiting resistance to the TOSPO (GBNV) Virus exhibiting the traits of healthy and evenly ripened fruits without brown spots, reduced wilting of the top portion of the tomato plants and reduced dark spots on the leaves and stems of the tomato plant, and materials useful for improving tomato yield. In particular, the present invention provides a path to the development of hybrid tomato plants exhibiting resistance to TOSPO (GBNV) virus infection, seed of hybrid tomato plants exhibiting TOSPO (GBNV) virus resistance, and methods of producing the same. Methods described herein involve the use of marker-assisted selection and marker-assisted backcrossing utilizing molecular markers associated with a tomato TOSPO Resistance phenotype.

The present invention relates to non-transgenic and transgenic plants, preferably crop plants, having biological activity of a haploid inducer and comprising a polynucleotide which comprises a nucleotide sequence encoding a centromer histone H3 (CENH3) protein, wherein the polynucleotide comprises at least one mutation causing an alteration of the amino acid sequence of the CENH3 protein, and to a part of the part. Further, the invention provides methods of generating the inducer plants, methods of generating haploid and double haploid plants using the inducer plants as well as methods of facilitating cytoplasm exchange.

Dihaploid recoveries of Schendonorus meadow fescue and festulolium may be created using the method disclosed herein. The method includes crossing a ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) inducer line (IL) with individuals from a meadow fescue or festulolium cultivar or population. Such a cross can create a variety of resulting individual plants, including dihaploid recoveries. Some of the dihaploid recoveries can also be rhizomatous even when the parental meadow fescue or festulolium plant did not display a rhizomatous trait.

The present disclosure provides cultivated tomato plants exhibiting increased resistance to Mi-1 resistance-breaking root-knot nematodes. Such plants comprise novel recombinant chromosomal segments comprising alleles associated with disease resistance from Solanum pimpinellifolium on chromosome 1 and/or chromosome 6. In certain aspects, compositions and methods for producing, breeding, detecting, and selecting plants or germplasm with an increased disease resistance phenotype are provided.

An object of the present invention is to provide an F1 hybrid or a portion thereof, and use of the F1 hybrid or a portion thereof. The F1 hybrid of the present invention is an F1 hybrid between Nicotiana umbratica and Nicotiana kawakamii.