Subject: Richters HerbLetter 95/03/31

From: conrad (Conrad Richter)
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 16:42:41 EST

-----------------------   Richters Herbletter   ------------------------
   Published by:     Richters, Canada's Herb Specialists
                     Goodwood, Ontario L0C 1A0, Canada
   Editor:           Conrad Richter <[email-masked]>
   
                     *** Trial issue: feedback welcome ***
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Issue ID: 95/03/31 20:30 GMT             

Content
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1. Natural Herbs Created from Artificial Seeds  
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   GUELPH, Ont., March 1995, Greenhouse Canada -- Researchers in Guelph, 
Ont. are creating artificial herbal seeds to capitalize on the $500-
million North American market for herbs.  French tarragon (a culinary herb),
peppermint (used for tea that calms stomach indigestion) and lemon-scented
geraniums (found in potpourri and perfumes) -- which are normally propagated 
by cuttings -- are their initial targets, with more to follow. 
   "We are not trying to make the artificial seed the same as a true seed," 
says horticultural scientist Tissa Senaratna.  "We are trying to make it 
better."
   In the first project of its kind in Canada, Senaratna and colleagues 
Praveen Saxena and Massimo Sanago are creating artificial seeds from the 
tissues of herbal plants.  Artificial seeds have several advantages over 
cuttings.  They survive better during shipping and help reduce shipping 
costs.  Because they're grown in a disease-free culture, they're free of 
pathogens and can eliminate the expense and lost time associated with 
quarantine.  They also permit mass production of hybrid plants.  
   The technology to create whole plants from small pieces of plant tissue
in sterile cultures is well known.  Researchers cut a tiny (two-millimetre)
piece of stem or leaf from the plant, sterilize it to kill bacteria and 
place it in a growth medium containing plant-growth regulators (auxin and 
cytokinins).  The growth regulators cause some cells to act like fertilized 
eggs rather than normal plant cells.  They grow into embryos, much like 
they would in a seed pod.  With the help of certain nutrients and growth 
regulators, they ultimately develop like a seed.  
   In the late 1980s, Senaratna was co-inventor of a process to dry these 
"artificial" seeds so they could be practically packaged, shipped or stored. 
By introducing a certain combination of nutrients and growth regulators
during the seed embryo growth stage -- to mimic nature's own course of 
events -- he initiated a developmental process that enables the seeds to 
tolerate drying or "dessication," so they can be easily shipped (instead of 
shipping a whole plant or cutting). 
   "The development of articifial herbal seeds is expected to considerably 
boost an already expanding industry as access, costs and disease control 
improves," says Senaratna. 
   In addition, he and Saxena are working on the creation of an artificial 
seed coat -- a nutrient-rich coating to cover the somatic embryo and enable 
enhanced growth, besides providing protection from rigorous and potentially 
damaging commercial planting techniques. 
   This research is being sponsored by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the 
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Richters Herbs of 
Goodwood, Ont. 
   "Creating an inexpensive and easy way to create artificial seeds will 
solve a common and restrictive horticultural problem," says Conrad Richter 
of Richters Herbs.  "I hope new markets will be established as a result." 

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   Richters Herb Catalogue: 100 pages, colour, over 730 herb plants, 
   seeds, and dried herbs.  Available for $2 ($4 outside N America).  
   Order by email at [email-masked].  
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RICHTERS HERBS                     | Info:                 [email-masked]
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