15AGRITECHCAT3. Improved crop breeding programmes through advanced Pollination Control Bag materials technology

开发芒草（一种用作能源作物的草）新品种需要在具有不同特征的亲本植物之间进行授粉。控制这一过程的一个好方法是在一个被称为交叉袋的孤立环境中进行。这些袋子需要允许光线穿透，控制湿度，允许空气流通，同时防止其他花粉进入袋子。这些袋子通常是由纸质材料制成的。袋子容易被撕裂，容易受到蛞蝓的侵扰，这意味着环境不再足够隔离，以确保受控的交叉授粉。因此，需要开发不存在这些问题的交叉袋的替代材料。目前的塑料袋的优点是相对便宜，但都是一次性的；如果由替代材料制成的袋具有优越的性能（例如防蛞蝓，更好的透光性，温度和湿度控制），那么更大的种子密度将使这些替代袋材料在经济上可行，因为它们将大大提高植物育种计划的效率。

Developing new varieties of Miscanthus (a grass used as an energy crop) requires pollination between parent plants with different characteristics. A good way of controlling this process is to carry it out within an isolated environment known as a crossing bag. These bags need to allow light penetration, control humidity and allow air circulation whilst preventing other pollen from entering the bag. The bags are conventionally made from a paper-based material. The bags have a tendency to rip easily and are prone to slug infestation, which means that the environment is no longer sufficiently isolated to ensure a controlled cross pollination. Alternative materials for crossing bags that do not have these problems therefore need to be developed. Current bags have the advantage of being relatively cheap but are single use; if bags made from alternative materials have superior properties (e.g. slug proof, better light penetration, temperature and humidity control), the greater seed set would make these alternative bag materials economically viable as they would considerably improve the efficiency of a plant breeding programme.