Variations in maize pollen emission and deposition in relation to microclimate

International audienc

Effet d'une discontinuité du couvert végétal sur la dispersion efficace du pollen

National audience"Modelling of pollen dispersal appears necessary to assess the impact of transgenic crops in agro-ecosystems. Indeed pollen dispersal is a major component of geneflow and will therefore determine both cross-pollination levels between fields and from fields to potential related species. Numerous pollen dispersal experiments have therefore been published in the last ten years. Published pollen dispersal experiments on corn are seldom (Bateman (1947) reanalysed by Tufto et al. (1997), Klein et al. (2003)). For our part, the AGPM (a French technical institute of corn) performed a first experiment on corn in 1998 to measure its efficient pollen dispersal. The experimental design was a central plot of blue grain corn surrounded by classical yellow corn. The development of quasi-mechanistic dispersal models made it possible to derive individual dispersal functions from the results of these experiments (Klein et al. 2003). The knowledge of such a function makes it possible to predict cross-pollination rates between two adjacent corn fields (Angevin et al. 2001; Lavigne et al. 1996; Lavigne et al. 1998; Tufto et al. 1997). However, these models were developed for a continuous corn canopy (the all area modelled is covered with corn plants) and it is probable that discontinuities in the canopy will result in modifications of the individual dispersal function. Indeed, corn is wind pollinated and air movement differs within and outside fields (Mc Cartney 1997; Wilson et al. 1982). Two experiments were therefore performed in 2000 to measure pollen dispersal over a discontinuity in the canopy and results were compared to expected dispersal patterns over a continuous canopy to estimate the impact of such a discontinuity on efficient dispersal.Des expérimentations réalisées en 1998 par l'AGPM ont permis de mesurer la dispersion efficace du pollen de maïs en conditions climatiques réelles en utilisant une parcelle de plantes contenant un marqueur dominant (ici une coloration en bleu du grain) située au sein d'un champ de plantes ne contenant pas le marqueur. Ces expérimentations, accompagnées d'une modélisation mécaniste de la fonction de dispersion du pollen, avaient permis d'ajuster des modèles de dispersion sur les données observées (Klein, 2000 ; Klein et al., 2003). Il est alors possible de réaliser des prédictions de taux de pollinisations croisées entre deux parcelles de maïs sur la base de ces résultats (Angevin et al., 2001). Cependant, tout ce travail a été réalisé en milieu continu (c'est-à-dire pour un champ entièrement couvert de maïs) et il est très probable qu'une discontinuité du couvert végétal implique une modification de la fonction de dispersion pour cette espèce. La dispersion est en effet anémophile et la structure des écoulements d'air est fondamentalement différente à l'intérieur d'une parcelle de maïs et en dehors de celle-ci. Des expérimentations ont donc été réalisées en 1999 et 2000 pour mesurer la dispersion du pollen de maïs en présence d'une discontinuité du couvert végétal et pour vérifier dans quelle mesure celle-ci est effectivement différente de la dispersion en milieu continu. Nous présentons, dans une première partie, les résultats des expérimentations de 2000, conduites dans deux champs de maïs avec deux types de discontinuités du couvert végétal (tournesol ou trèfle). Dans une seconde partie, nous présentons quelques prédictions réalisées pour ces expérimentations en utilisant les modèles ajustés sur des données de dispersion en milieu continu ainsi que des données météorologiques acquises indépendamment

Corn pollen dispersal: quasi-mechanistic models and field experiments

International audienc

Field measurements of airborne concentration and deposition rate of maize pollen

International audienc

Field measurements of airborne concentrations and deposition rate of maize pollen

In recent years there has been interest in the dispersal of maize (Zea mays) pollen from crops, particularly in relation to gene flow and seed quality. We report the results of experiments that measured maize pollen dispersal from a 20 m x 20 m experimental crop. The experiments were done in a commercial farm in France during the summer of 2000. Pollen production was estimated to range from 10(4) to 2 x 10(6) grains per day per plant. Pollen concentrations and deposition rates decreased rapidly with distance from the crop: concentrations decreased by about a factor of 3 between 3 and 10 m downwind of the source deposition rates at 30 m were < 10% of those at 1 m. Horizontal flux of pollen were estimated from pollen concentration and wind speed profiles using a mass balance approach, and ranged from 15 to 560 grains m-1 s-1 at 3 m from the source. Comparison of deposition rates estimated with the mass balance and direct measurement suggests that only a small proportion of the pollen released from the crop would have been still airborne at distances greater than 30 m downwind. Deposition velocity determined as the ratio of the deposition rate to the airborne concentration at 3 m from the source averaged 0.6 m s-1, which is twice as large as the settling velocity for maize pollen

Updated empirical model of genetically-modified maize grain production practices to achieve European Union labeling thresholds

An updated empirical approach is proposed for specifying coexistence requirements for genetically modified (GM) maize (Zea mays L.) production to ensure compliance with the 0.9% labeling threshold for food and feed in the European Union. The model improves on a previously published (Gustafson et al., 2006) empirical model by adding recent data sources to supplement the original database and including the following additional cases: (i) more than one GM maize source field adjacent to the conventional or organic field, (ii) the possibility of so-called “stacked” varieties with more than one GM trait, and (iii) lower pollen shed in the non-GM receptor field. These additional factors lead to the possibility for somewhat wider combinations of isolation distance and border rows than required in the original version of the empirical model. For instance, in the very conservative case of a 1-ha square non-GM maize field surrounded on all four sides by homozygous GM maize with 12 m isolation (the effective isolation distance for a single GM field), non-GM border rows of 12 m are required to be 95% confident of gene flow less than 0.9% in the non-GM field (with adventitious presence of 0.3%). Stacked traits of higher GM mass fraction and receptor fields of lower pollen shed would require a greater number of border rows to comply with the 0.9% threshold, and an updated extension to the model is provided to quantify these effects