Establishment of a hop (Humulus lupulus) seeds germination protocol for cultivar development

葎草是一个开花植物的小属，原产于北方的温带地区。啤酒花是啤酒花的雌花（球果，球花），是啤酒的主要风味成分。H.啤酒花是作为农作物无性繁殖的，因此其种子的产生及其发芽特性尚未被广泛研究。BioCan Technologies是一家植物生物技术公司，专注于品种开发和为包括啤酒花在内的各种重要经济植物开发害虫管理解决方案。为了实现这一目标，该公司已经建立了一个现有的啤酒花品种和野生啤酒花种质的种群，以支持杂交种的生产，这些杂交种结合了不同亲本品系的联合收割机的理想性状。野生啤酒花种质中存在的抗虫性状是渗入到具有其他有价值的农艺性状的现有栽培品种中的主要目标。传统的育种方法，使用控制杂交和形成杂交种子一直是一个 ** 重要的工具，在该公司的品种开发管道。然而，种子育种计划发展的一个重要瓶颈是收获后种子的强烈休眠，可能需要长达2** 年的收获后储存才能发芽。野生啤酒花品种似乎具有特别强的种子休眠性，这些特性显着减缓了 ** 公司的品种开发管道。该项目旨在通过建立一个协议来加速BioCan Technologies的育种计划，该协议缩短了种子休眠期，优化了啤酒花种子发芽的环境条件和激素要求。

Humulus is a small genus of flowering plants native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Hops**are the female flowers (seed cones, strobiles) of the species Humulus lupulus which are used as a main flavor**ingredient in beer. H. lupulus is vegetatively propagated as an agricultural crop and therefore the production of**seed and its germination characteristics has not been extensively studied. BioCan Technologies is a plant**biotechnology company focusing on cultivar development and developing pest management solutions for a**variety of economically important plants including hops. To achieve this goal, the Company has established a**population of existing hop cultivars and wild hop accessions in order support the production of hybrids that**combine desirable traits from different parental lines. Pest resistance traits that are present in wild hop**accessions are primary targets for introgression into existing cultivars which have other valuable agronomic**traits. Traditional breeding methods using controlled crosses and the formation of hybrid seeds have been an**important tool in the Company's cultivar development pipeline. However, an important bottleneck for**development of seed-based breeding programs is the strong post-harvest seed dormancy that can require up to 2**years of of post harvest storage in order to become germinable. Wild hop cultivars appear to have particularly**strong seed dormancy and these traits have significantly slowed the cultivar development pipeline for the**Company. This project aims to accelerate BioCan Technologies breeding program through the establishment of**a protocol that reduces the seed dormancy period and optimizes the environmental conditions and hormonal**requirements for hop seed germination.