Glassine paper, sometimes known as butter paper, has served plant breeding programmes for decades as a material pollination bags are made from. Used for purposes such as packaging food items and as bookbinding, it was not designed for the demands of modern hybridisation. In contrast, duraweb®, a proprietary non-woven material designed specifically for use by plant breeders, offers a more reliable and durable alternative. For breeders seeking higher efficiency, improved pollen viability, and consistent genetic purity, duraweb® pollination products deliver measurable improvements and consistency across hybrid breeding and seed production programs.
Glassine vs duraweb®
A Technical Comparison of Pollination Bag Performance
Executive Summary
Glassine paper has been used in controlled pollination for decades, but it was not designed to meet the demands of modern hybrid breeding and seed production.
The duraweb® family of non-woven materials offers a technically advanced alternative, delivering improved breathability, durability, pollen control, and reusability. The result is higher genetic purity, improved pollen viability, and more consistent pollination outcomes.
The table below provides a direct comparison between traditional glassine pollination bags and duraweb® non-woven pollination products
Pollination Bag Performance Comparison
Why duraweb® Non-Woven Material Outperforms Glassine Paper for Pollination Bags
In controlled pollination and hybrid seed production, the choice of pollination bag plays a critical role in genetic purity, pollen viability, and overall seed quantity & quality. For decades, glassine paper has been widely used for pollination control. While it offers basic isolation, its physical limitations can compromise consistency and performance in modern breeding programmes.
duraweb® non-woven material, developed by PBS International, provides a technically advanced alternative designed specifically for the demands of contemporary plant breeding and seed production.
What Is duraweb® Non-Woven Material?
Non-woven materials are produced by bonding fibres together without weaving or knitting, creating a porous yet highly controlled structure. This construction delivers a unique combination of breathability, strength, and filtration that makes it particularly well suited to pollination control.
duraweb® has been engineered to meet the specific challenges of controlled pollination, offering consistent pollen exclusion while maintaining optimal internal bag conditions.
Key Advantages of duraweb® Compared to Glassine Pollination Bags
1. Superior Breathability and Moisture Control
Glassine paper is effectively non-breathable, creating a sealed microclimate that can trap moisture, leaving the bag prone to internal moisture build up. This increases the risk of condensation, mould development, and reduced pollen viability.
duraweb® allows continuous air exchange while preventing unwanted pollen ingress down to 10 microns. This controlled breathability significantly reduces internal moisture build-up, supports pollen longevity and increased seed count, decreases disease rates and allows water vapour to pass through the material far more effectively than glassine.
2. Enhanced Durability in Field and Greenhouse Conditions
Glassine pollination bags are prone to tearing during handling and are particularly vulnerable to pest damage, with birds being a common cause of failure in field trials.
The duraweb® family of materials are tear-resistant, flexible, and robust under repeated handling. Internal testing has demonstrated negligible pest-related damage compared to glassine equivalents, providing reliable protection throughout the entire pollination cycle.
3. Improved Handling, Visibility, and Customisation
Glassine’s opaque nature makes visual inspection difficult, often requiring bag removal and increasing the risk of contamination. Because of the production method manufactures are rarely able to offer much range of size or bag specification.
The duraweb® family of materials are lightweight and can incorporate viewing windows and pollen injection valves, enable full visibility of the plant while maintaining pollen isolation. The material is also scalable beyond individual bags, allowing for large walk-in isolation structures and pollination tents.
These structures eliminate the need for spatial isolation, making it possible to grow multiple hybrids side-by-side within a single weather- and bird-proof enclosure — particularly valuable for row crops and high-density breeding programmes.
4. More Consistent Pollination Outcomes
The combination of breathability, durability, and high-precision pollen exclusion results in more predictable and repeatable pollination success.
With filtration performance down to 10 microns, duraweb® is highly effective at maximising seed purity. This together with its durability consistently supports faster hybrid scale-up, improved genetic integrity, and more efficient breeding workflows with no bags lost through catastrophic failure.
5. A Modern Alternative to Traditional Glassine
While glassine paper has served the seed breeding industry for many years, it was not designed to meet the increasing durability demands of modern hybridisation and controlled pollination.
The duraweb® family of non-woven materials offers a technically superior and durable solution. For breeders and producers focused on genetic purity, pollen viability, and operational efficiency, switching to duraweb® pollination products delivers measurable improvements across hybrid breeding and seed production programmes.
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