Methods and means for determining plant characteristics

1. A method for breeding plants comprising the step of

a. generating a breeding population of plant lines;

b. determining the relative ascorbate profile value for each of said plant lines of said population compared to a reference plant line by a method for determining the relative ascorbate profile value of a test plant line compared to a reference plant line grown comprising the steps of:

(i) determining the ascorbate profile value for a test plant line and for a reference plant line grown under similar conditions according to a method for determining the ascorbate profile value of a plant line comprising the steps of:

growing several seedlings of said plant line for a time sufficient to generate a population of seedlings wherein at least one plant part does not develop any further;

determining the weight of the individual plant parts and measuring the concentration of ascorbate in said individual plant parts;

plotting the concentration of ascorbate versus the weight determined for each individual plant to obtain a collection of data points;

performing regression analysis on the data points to obtain a linear regression curve; and

determining the slope of the linear regression curve, which corresponds to the ascorbate profile value of the plant line; and

(ii) dividing the ascorbate profile value of the test plant line by the ascorbate profile value of the reference plant line to obtain the relative ascorbate profile value;

c. selecting one or more plant lines with the highest relative ascorbate profile value(s);

d. crossing said selected plant lines with other plants to generate a further breeding population; and

e. optionally reiterating the process through steps b to d.

2. A method for selecting parental lines in hybrid plant production comprising the steps of

a. providing a population of at least two parental plant lines;

b. crossing different combinations of parental plant lines selected from said population to generate hybrid plant lines;

c. determining the relative ascorbate profile value for said hybrid plant lines according to a method for determining the relative ascorbate profile value of a test plant line compared to a reference plant line grown comprising the steps of:

(i) determining the ascorbate profile value for a test plant line and for a reference plant line grown under similar conditions according to a method for determining the ascorbate profile value of a plant line comprising the steps of:

growing several seedlings of said plant line for a time sufficient to generate a population of seedlings wherein at least one plant part does not develop any further;

determining the weight of the individual plant parts and measuring the concentration of ascorbate in said individual plant parts;

plotting the concentration of ascorbate versus the weight determined for each individual plant to obtain a collection of data points;

performing regression analysis on the data points to obtain a linear regression curve; and

determining the slope of the linear regression curve, which corresponds to the ascorbate profile value of the plant line; and

(ii) dividing the ascorbate profile value of the test plant line by the ascorbate profile value of the reference plant line to obtain the relative ascorbate profile value;

d. selecting parental lines which yield hybrid plant lines with the highest ascorbate profile value.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising an additional step of applying moderate stress prior to the step of determining the weight and ascorbate concentration in said individual plant parts, wherein said moderate stress is moderate drought stress.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said seedlings are grown until the plant part, which does not develop any further, starts to demonstrate symptoms of senescence as determined biochemically or molecularly, without visible symptoms of senescence.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein said plant part which does not develop any further is a cotyledon or an epicotyl.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein said plant part which does not develop any further is the first or second developing true leaf.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein said ascorbate concentration is measured by specific light absorption of the dinitrophenylhydrazine derivative of oxidized ascorbic acid, or by measuring the reduction of yellow molybdophosphoric acid to phosphomolybdenum blue by ascorbic acid reflectometrically.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein said plant is selected from oilseed rape, lettuce, tobacco, cotton, corn, rice, wheat, vegetable plants, carrot, cucumber, leek, pea, melon, potato, tomato, sorghum, rye, oat, sugarcane, peanut, flax, bean, sugar beets, soya, sunflower, ornamental plants.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising an additional step of applying moderate stress prior to the step of determining the weight and ascorbate concentration in said individual plant parts, wherein said moderate stress is moderate drought stress.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said seedlings are grown until the plant part, which does not develop any further, starts to demonstrate symptoms of senescence as determined biochemically or molecularly, without visible symptoms of senescence.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said plant part which does not develop any further is a cotyledon or an epicotyl.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said plant part which does not develop any further is the first or second developing true leaf.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ascorbate concentration is measured by specific light absorption of the dinitrophenylhydrazine derivative of oxidized ascorbic acid, or by measuring the reduction of yellow molybdophosphoric acid to phosphomolybdenum blue by ascorbic acid reflectometrically.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said plant is selected from oilseed rape, lettuce, tobacco, cotton, corn, rice, wheat, vegetable plants, carrot, cucumber, leek, pea, melon, potato, tomato, sorghum, rye, oat, sugarcane, peanut, flax, bean, sugar beets, soya, sunflower, ornamental plants.