Small Seed Cavity Squash Breeding for Higher Edible Yield
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing squash cultivars of Cucurbita maxima have a significant proportion of the seed cavity volume relative to the total fruit volume, leading to increased waste and reduced yield of the edible portion.
Innovation Solution
Interspecific hybridization between Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata with a small seed cavity, followed by backcrossing, to introduce the small seed cavity trait into Cucurbita maxima, resulting in a squash plant with a seed cavity volume of 15% or less relative to the fruit volume.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional Cucurbita maxima cultivars are used, then the fruit has desirable traits such as taste and shape, but the seed cavity occupies a large proportion (20% or more) of the total fruit volume, reducing yield and increasing waste
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the desirable traits of Cucurbita maxima (taste, shape, yield) with the small seed cavity trait of Cucurbita moschata through interspecific hybridization. This combines the advantages of both species into a single cultivar that exhibits both characteristics simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the seed cavity volume parameter by introducing genetic material from Cucurbita moschata into Cucurbita maxima through backcrossing. This genetic parameter change results in a seed cavity occupying 15% or less of the total fruit volume, significantly reducing waste while maintaining other desirable traits.
2Quantity of substance
If interspecific hybridization and backcrossing are performed to reduce seed cavity volume, then the seed cavity proportion is reduced to 15% or less, but the breeding process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by first creating the F1 hybrid between Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata, then systematically conducting backcrossing with Cucurbita maxima in subsequent generations. This predetermined breeding strategy efficiently introduces the small seed cavity trait while recovering the Cucurbita maxima background, reducing the overall complexity compared to random breeding approaches.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a squash plant having an especially small seed cavity, and a method for producing the squash plant. The present invention provides a method for producing a small seed cavity squash plant that includes developing, from the progeny of an F1 seed obtained by crossing a Cucurbita maxima and a Cucurbita moschata, a small seed cavity squash plant in which the proportion of the volume of the seed cavity relative to the fruit volume is 15% or less, and also provides a small seed cavity squash plant that is a small seed cavity Cucurbita maxima plant having, within the nuclear genome, a gene associated with a small seed cavity trait of a plant of the genus Cucurbita, or a hybrid plant obtained using the small seed cavity Cucurbita maxima plant as a parent, or a progeny of either of these plants.