Currently, the nursery sector faces the constant challenge of offering new varieties and rootstocks, according to the demands of the fruit growing of our country and of the consumers in the destination markets. The great dynamism of the sector can lead to problems in the identification of plants during the production processes, which can mean large economic losses for nurserymen and producers.

This problem is the one that the researcher of the Center for Advanced Studies in Fruit Growing (CEAF), Biochemist of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Dr. in Silvo-Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences of the University of Chile, Verónica Guajardo, wanted to solve, PhD began to use the PCR technique to perform genetic identification analysis or, varietal genuineness, in fruit trees. And that these days she applies to a new innovation project supported by the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA).

Due to the pandemic generated by the coronavirus, the PCR technique, called thus by its acronym in English, 'Polymerase Chain Reaction', has become known worldwide today. “But PCR has been used in diagnostic tests since the 1980s in the area of ​​human health, for example, to detect infectious agents, in paternity tests, and to identify DNA in the forensic area. It is also used in the area of ​​veterinary medicine and plant biology, among others, "says Guajardo.

"What we have been developing at CEAF is similar to human paternity tests, but we apply it to plants, since using DNA it can be confirmed that the 'presumed father' of a plant is really what one expects. The work I did during my thesis I did on cherry varieties and then I began to work with plants from the traditional Genetic Improvement Program of stone fruit rootstocks that the Center was developing, to confirm that the plants obtained in the crosses were hybrids. that is to say, that they were daughters of the expected father ”, explains the researcher.

This work was the basis for the development of a genetic identification service in fruit trees, which allows confirming the identity of the plants of a nursery or a producer using PCR. In the event that there are mixtures of varieties, these are normally observed when the plants are adults, so large losses are generated for nurserymen and producers as end customers due to the long time that passes before identifying a problem. "Currently, the service that CEAF performs for varietal identification allows customers to be informed that there are identification errors in a period of around three to four weeks," says Guajardo.

For Lorena Pinto, Product Manager of A.N.A Chile [Andes New Varieties Administration (A.N.A.®)], the main administrator of fruit varieties in the country, the service offered by CEAF is a tremendous contribution to the national fruit industry. "Nurseries can control their seedlings and daughter plants with the producers in a faster and more economical way, avoid confusion of varieties, identify fruits in destinations or packings that may come from plants that are not acquired on a regular basis and thus control the illegal propagation of protected varieties ”, he explains.

PCR express for fruit growing

Thanks to the support of the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, the researcher leads a project that seeks to further shorten the times of obtaining results with the PCR technique. Currently, CEAF is implementing a high resolution genetic identification system, a technique known as qPCR-HRM, which is based on the use of highly specialized equipment with high discrimination power. "In addition to being a simple procedure that allows for user-friendly results in its interpretation, it will favor rapid decision-making by clients," says Guajardo.

Along these lines, the executive director of the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA), Álvaro Eyzaguirre P., maintains that the characterization of fruit plants is commonly carried out through morphological analysis, being an inefficient methodology. For this reason, it is that “this new service for the genetic identification of fruit varieties will allow producers - through innovation - to ensure the quality of their products, by being able to define, at a low cost and with high certainty, the genuineness of your plants before establishing the plantation. In this way, the implementation of this new PCR-HRM technology will contribute to improving the competitiveness and profitability of our country's fruit growers; Well, we must not forget that a year Chile sells more than 180 million fruit plants ”.