Dryer (Memmert UF30)
This machine is used in our research under the Pannon Breeding Program. Several laboratories use dryers which are usually the size of a cupboard or a room, but the machine we use is of smaller size, it is approximately two times bigger than a microwave (32 litres). The dryers are used for the controlled drying of samples. The speed of drying the plant samples rather matters as the propagation material of the plants, the DNA and protein must remain testable. Our machine can be set to +5-300oC degree by adjusting the intensity of the air supply. The dryer is programmable to set along these two variables, we can set a time of the day offset or a fixed time operation.
Drying allows for a long-term conservation. On room temperature and when kept dry, seeds of certain plant species can preserve their germination ability for years and decades and even longer when they are frozen (-20oC) whereas seeds of other species can be kept dried but would be destroyed if frozen. The third group are those seeds that do not tolerate either freezing or drying.
The dryer is used in our research for testing the water content of the plant species in stress tolerance studies. The fresh, green leaves of plants are cut, weighed then dried. After that the dried sample is weighed and when the difference between the two numbers is calculated we obtain the water content of the shoot.
