Select successful varieties with Bloomeo

Select successful varieties with Bloomeo

When is a variety successful? At the cooperative, a group of tomato producers chitchat about their varieties. They know many but two names in particular are on everyone‘s lips. If one is yours, trust me it’s a successful variety!

Now how do you get there? Meticulous planning and assessment are cornerstones of success. Particularly, where rigorous testing will help in targeting the correct market segment. From the product concept to variety launch, the process entails different steps:

·        Product design: Design products profiles to answer market demands with new varieties, and prepare business cases for this investment.

·        Variety creation and selection: Breeders innovate to deliver varieties in line with your products concepts.

·        Product evaluation: Characterize, select varieties based on trialing performance and / or wider evaluation (e.g. end consumer feedback for fresh vegetables).

A common challenge faced by seed companies is the quest for the best-performing seed variety that aligns with the targeted market segment. They strive to secure variety launch. The evaluation criteria are intrinsically linked to the breeding objectives, intended use, and environmental factors influencing seed performance. This evaluations processes require a systematic approach to acquire robust data on diverse performance metrics.

Enter Bloomeo software, designed to optimize your variety testing activities and foster the development of market-ready seed varieties. Whether you're a farmer, product developer, or researcher, Bloomeo is your guiding light throughout the pivotal stages: PD trial planning, trial execution and trial analysis to make decision on the most successful varieties for each target markets.

In this article, we embark on a journey into the world of Bloomeo to explore how it helps in testing and selecting the finest seed varieties.

Efficient trial network management with Bloomeo

Bloomeo is an intuitive web-application that simplifies the management of variety evaluations, spanning from the early stages to the product launch phase.

Bloomeo empowers you:

• ‍To Setup Selection Criteria and Materials for Evaluation: Start by articulating your objectives within Bloomeo for testing seed varieties. Whether your goals revolve around yield enhancement, disease resistance, flavor finesse, or adaptability, your selection criteria should closely mirror your objectives. Harmonize these criteria with the nuances of your target market segment, enabling your varieties to thrive in their designated domains. Next, select a diverse range of seed varieties known to possess the desired qualities by using the filters available in the software. Don't forget to include competitors or reference materials in your list of evaluated varieties for meaningful performance comparisons.
• To Design Your Experiments: Bloomeo assists you in defining suitable experiment designs while considering your resource constraints. You can opt for single replication trials for initial or late-stage screening of materials, a simpler approach requiring fewer resources but potentially yielding less reliable results. Alternatively, you can choose multi-replication trials for greater statistical significance and precision in assessing your varieties. Various experimental designs, such as Randomized Complete Block or split plot, are at your disposal to obtain more robust and reliable data, allowing for comprehensive statistical analysis and more confident conclusions.
• To Create Your Trial Network: Bloomeo emphasizes the significance of a robust trial network. The same genotype can yield different outcomes or characteristics depending on the environment in which it is placed. Understanding the genotype-environment interaction (GxE) is crucial to gain insights into your product and propose market-ready varieties. Define your market segment within Bloomeo, and the software will suggest a list of R&D sites, grower or farmer sites representative of your chosen segments optimizing the cost-effective PD trials. Create your network while considering your available resources, and efficiently manage your team planning and tasks using advanced tools to optimize collaboration with internal or external partners.

Data collection with Bloomeo

Bloomeo is complemented by a smartphone application that facilitates data collection, whether online or offline.

Setting standards in data collection ensures reliable data. First you determine properties for every trait or environment variable. Limited choice, scales, date format... there are many ways to keep data homogeneous and equivalent from one trial to another.

Bloomeo will support various user profiles:

• User-Friendly Application: The smartphone application is user-friendly and caters to a wide range of users, from your R&D staff to local farmers. It enables a diverse set of observers to join your network and contribute to the evaluation of your varieties.
• Detailed and Objective Record-Keeping: Depending on your evaluation goals, users can record metrics such as germination rate, plant height, photographs, number of flowers/fruits, disease incidence, pests, yield, oil/protein content, and more. To optimize your work, observation templates can be created to quickly select variables to score per species or per stage of your plant's growth cycle, along with filters and shortcuts for expedited data entry.
• Consistent Data Input: Bloomeo ensures homogeneity in data collection by sharing a common reference of observations with all users in your network. The same scoring rules are applied to all users, guaranteeing the conformity of your data. Additionally, Bloomeo goes beyond simple data collection; it provides real-time results due to seamless synchronization, allowing you to respond swiftly in case of outlier detection. It also facilitates real-life feedback from farmers or users. To incentivize partners to contribute data, Bloomeo allows them to visualize results directly within the application.
• Interoperability: Another critical insight of data collection is the bridges between data collection and the product development database. Preparing fieldbooks and data exports should be smooth and fast. Data should be collected and imported easily from satellite, UAV, robots, environmental...

Following a route along the field map or labelling every plot of the map also prevents human mistakes. Several steps of scoring can be automated to help technicians save time and improve their efficiency in the greenhouse. As an example, you can see below weight notation being digitalized by connecting identification and measurements devices.

Data analysis and decision making with Bloomeo

Bloomeo transcends the role of a simple database; it enriches your data and “blooms” your decision-making. 

First to ensure reliability of analysis and trial results Bloomeo thanks to its IA algorithms will support PD manager in quickly validate and identify potential data outliers especially in case of voluminous data entered in small time.

Highly integrated with data management,Bloomeo will offer PD managers the full panel of tools to make decisions on variety to advance or launch. We mention cite :

• Data Analysis Tools: Once the growing season is complete, you can analyze the collected data using a suite of statistical tools.
• User-Friendly Analysis: For users who require simpler analysis, Bloomeo offers 1v1 data comparisons and embedded dashboards to facilitate quick data comparisons. Bloomeo aims to make analysis both accurate and accessible to all users. With just a few clicks, you can input your analysis criteria and identify the best-performing varieties based on your market segment criteria.
• Communication and Collaborative Decisions: After analyzing your data, Bloomeo provides dashboards and reports to communicate results to stakeholders and make prompt decisions.

Since a new variety typically undergoes testing across multiple growing seasons, this iterative approach enhances your understanding of the variety's performance under diverse conditions and locations, resulting in robust assessments. Bloomeo also offers tools to manage approvals and the advancement of your varieties : notify stakeholders and managers, share reports, document decisions and validate in a friendly way the advancement of your varieties through the stage plan until their commercialization. This process of advancement tracking is a collegial decision done in committees which require synthetic results on variety characteristics. Learn more on how product managers and marketing teams address the targeted markets and maximize the success rate of variety launch: Secure the launch of my varieties.

To conclude

In the ever-evolving landscape of seed variety testing, accuracy, reliability and thoroughness are second to none. By adhering to a meticulously planned evaluation strategy, enriched by insights into genotype-environment interactions, you'll pave the way for an optimized seed varieties' portfolio. Bloomeo, a pioneering tool in product development, serves as your trusted companion on this journey, enabling you to navigate the intricate interplay between genetics and the environment with unmatched expertise.

Bloomeo empowers you to not only meet but exceed the standards of quality and performance in the seed industry, ensuring a fruitful future for agriculture.