Post by canadamike on Jul 18, 2009 12:11:34 GMT -5
Here they are for everybody to see:
Evaluation/Selection/Breeding procedures for per. rye grain
Rye is wind pollenated and, nearly always, a self incompatible plant dependent on pollen from another plant for seed set.
For the best evaluation and rapid improvement of a rye material/variety/selection it is best to (1) select out the seed for color/size/other seed character, (2) plant in transplant beds or cell trays and (3) transplant into beds/blocks spacing the plants 6-12 inches apart each way.
When the above procedure is followed one can readily see the individual characteristics, and mark the plants for uprightness or prostrateness, tillering mass, spring, winter, or intermediate types, leaf color and qualities, disease, insect and weather resistances, flowering/heading time (early or late) from fall sowing, seed set, seed color of plant, regeneration tendencies (none, weak, strong,), head tendency (upright, tilted over, shattering or non-shattering), ease of and cleanness of threshing, summer-fall survival. ...etc... One can mark with sticks or the like, ...or later by colors of masking tape on a seed stalk, adding a plant number by way of an indeliable marker to a tape (one that goes with the head bunch and one that stays on the lower straw with the plant)... whatever works for you and enables you to track the plant that has the seed of the character you desire. This is very important for the rapid weeding out of characteristics not desired... don't do this and you will spend the next decades doing what may have taken you only one or 2 generations of extra care to do.
After doing the above you can now clone (divide the crowns) of select plants and isolate in pairs, or if that is to much for you, isolate blocks of similars. This simple step for even one generation can make massive improvements of the type you are looking for.
If you do not have the time to do the above, and simply are more interested in the regeneration ability, you can sow in a block. Harvest, Mow down or off the straw, and the next years harvest will come from the ones of perennial regeneration ability. ...Of course, you have no other selection pressure so it will be within the confines of whatever else the population had in it. ...You could have selected out just the light seed colors, and then planted in mass, ..later marked stems of plants with significant disease resistance, and then further narrowed it down to plants with the greatest head-shatter resistance ... So even a mass drill can accomplish things ...but with less accuracy... and that lack of accuracy can add years to your breeding effort, very possibly.
Mark down the year of harvest, the location of the isolation, if it was, or wasn't. Ryes will generally germinate well for 2-3 years, if kept frozen they will keep much longer, as will most seed. Older the seed the warmer and more even the germination temperatures should be.
The more established the plant going into winter, the less likely it is to winterkill. 1 1/2 - 2 months ahead of freeze up is generally adequate in the areas that have below 0 F temps, In coastal western US one can plant nearly anytime, though fall (Sept- Nov.)is the best.
Isolation notes
pairs of plants can be isolated every 500- 600 feet along roads, other crop fence lines, in burn areas, in fresh logged areas, and a thousand other places... and most people will never know that you have done a thing... and that used to amaze me.
Crossing notes
to make a cross, isolate a pair of whatever you wish to cross and unless one is tetraploid or has selfcompatibility genes they will make F1 hybrid seed for you to work with... if they flower at the same time.
Evaluation/Selection/Breeding procedures for per. rye grain
Rye is wind pollenated and, nearly always, a self incompatible plant dependent on pollen from another plant for seed set.
For the best evaluation and rapid improvement of a rye material/variety/selection it is best to (1) select out the seed for color/size/other seed character, (2) plant in transplant beds or cell trays and (3) transplant into beds/blocks spacing the plants 6-12 inches apart each way.
When the above procedure is followed one can readily see the individual characteristics, and mark the plants for uprightness or prostrateness, tillering mass, spring, winter, or intermediate types, leaf color and qualities, disease, insect and weather resistances, flowering/heading time (early or late) from fall sowing, seed set, seed color of plant, regeneration tendencies (none, weak, strong,), head tendency (upright, tilted over, shattering or non-shattering), ease of and cleanness of threshing, summer-fall survival. ...etc... One can mark with sticks or the like, ...or later by colors of masking tape on a seed stalk, adding a plant number by way of an indeliable marker to a tape (one that goes with the head bunch and one that stays on the lower straw with the plant)... whatever works for you and enables you to track the plant that has the seed of the character you desire. This is very important for the rapid weeding out of characteristics not desired... don't do this and you will spend the next decades doing what may have taken you only one or 2 generations of extra care to do.
After doing the above you can now clone (divide the crowns) of select plants and isolate in pairs, or if that is to much for you, isolate blocks of similars. This simple step for even one generation can make massive improvements of the type you are looking for.
If you do not have the time to do the above, and simply are more interested in the regeneration ability, you can sow in a block. Harvest, Mow down or off the straw, and the next years harvest will come from the ones of perennial regeneration ability. ...Of course, you have no other selection pressure so it will be within the confines of whatever else the population had in it. ...You could have selected out just the light seed colors, and then planted in mass, ..later marked stems of plants with significant disease resistance, and then further narrowed it down to plants with the greatest head-shatter resistance ... So even a mass drill can accomplish things ...but with less accuracy... and that lack of accuracy can add years to your breeding effort, very possibly.
Mark down the year of harvest, the location of the isolation, if it was, or wasn't. Ryes will generally germinate well for 2-3 years, if kept frozen they will keep much longer, as will most seed. Older the seed the warmer and more even the germination temperatures should be.
The more established the plant going into winter, the less likely it is to winterkill. 1 1/2 - 2 months ahead of freeze up is generally adequate in the areas that have below 0 F temps, In coastal western US one can plant nearly anytime, though fall (Sept- Nov.)is the best.
Isolation notes
pairs of plants can be isolated every 500- 600 feet along roads, other crop fence lines, in burn areas, in fresh logged areas, and a thousand other places... and most people will never know that you have done a thing... and that used to amaze me.
Crossing notes
to make a cross, isolate a pair of whatever you wish to cross and unless one is tetraploid or has selfcompatibility genes they will make F1 hybrid seed for you to work with... if they flower at the same time.
