SICILY-SARDINIA (joint field trip and stage) 2-8 December 2012
During my staying in Sardinia, I did several laboratory activities and one field collection.
In particular, I applied many protocols on seed conservation, e.g. quarantine (in order to verify the status of fruits and seeds, as well the possible presence of pests or parasites), post-maturation (by controlling temperature and humidity of the collected material in order to complete seeds ripening), seed cleaning (depending on the features of the collected material, I used different cleaning techniques in order to remove any plant or inorganic residue), seed quantity estimation and weighing (by number/weight ratio of the seeds), seed moisture content (by measuring the humidity rate of the seeds by water activity value (AW), but also by the difference in weight between dehydrated and not dehydrated seeds), dehydration (in order to decrease seed moisture content in drying room up to the optimal value for their conservation), and finally packaging/storage (both short- and long-term procedures of seeds packing and storage).
Other laboratory activities were focused on the main techniques of seed germination, such as pre-treatments (pre-warming, pre-chilling, dry after ripening, scarification, etc.), and germination tests with treatment (gibberellic acid) or without treatment in incubators at different temperatures both light and dark.
As regards the field activities, I did an excursion together with other colleagues from the University of Cagliari. In particular, we visited several localities (e.g. Simius, Porto Campana and Stagno di Piscinnì) where we collected many fruits of Pistacia lentiscus. At the end of the day, we placed the whole accession in quarantine and post-maturation room.
In conclusion, the joint trip in Sardinia was very useful for me, since I had the opportunity to improve my knowledge on the main techniques and procedures for collection, storage and germination of the seeds.
Dr. Cristian Brullo