It must be remembered that even if pollen for many means an allergy, in fact, almost everything we eat and grow in the ground depends on pollination. However, farmers I’ve already seen: Abnormally warm spring temperatures can actually kill pollen and disturbing crops. The problem is noted on the side corn And the the rice, two of the main foods on the planet. Tomato reproduction is particularly sensitive to heat.
It is no longer enough to dissolve hatching before the first heat, it is necessary to try to develop more heat-resistant varieties. It is still necessary to understand at what stage of the process heat does its work
That’s what researchers like Mark Westgate, a professor of agricultural engineering at Iowa State University, found, who found that it was the growth of the pistil — the plant’s female reproductive organ — that was affected by early heat. Its growth slows down, and it cannot absorb pollen.
In the case of tomatoes, the heat actually burns off the pollen before it can do its job. In 2018, a team from North Carolina’s Wake Forest University, have noticed Antioxidants called flavonols can prevent molecules from playing a destructive role in case of high temperature.
Michigan State University researcher Jenna Walters has identified a heat tolerance threshold (35 degrees) in the pollen grain of a fruit that will resonate in Quebec: blueberries.
In all of these examples, it comes down to genetics: creating a breed that, by some detour, will be less affected than others by the inevitable high temperatures looming. But each plant may have its own characteristics, and the road may be long.
