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Post by nathanp on Mar 18, 2015 10:54:37 GMT -5
Hi, I've seen at least two of these that are or will shortly be marketed as an option to avoid GMO contamination. www.mprnews.org/story/2015/03/17/genetically-modified-cornI guess I have real questions about this as a sustainable option. This sure seems like it will only work short term, and the corn would become highly inbred, increasingly over time. Am I correct about that? Having such a strategy just seems to be counter productive in the long run as you then cannot increase your corn variety's diversity. Having a highly inbred corn just seems like a sure-fire way to have inbreeding depression. Or am I missing something?
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Post by oxbowfarm on Mar 18, 2015 11:26:27 GMT -5
If the variety has sufficient genetic diversity at the start, and you properly select seed to prevent inbreeding than it would not be an issue, it would be exactly like any other OP corn line from a genetic diversity standpoint. With the organic hybrids using GA lines like PuraMaize you are purchasing the seed anyway, the product is designed like all hybrids to be repurchased each year. For Frank Kutka's breeding work, I have no doubt he would not be releasing a variety unless it was diverse enough for continued production as an OP line indefinitely.
My issue with the GA corn stuff is it is only a matter of time before agribusiness sees these genes as useful and co-opts them into GMO lines. Then the functionality for organic production will be lost. All the gametophytic incompatibility genetics are in the public domain, so there is nothing stopping them from being incorporated into GMO breeding work.
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