What Plant Breeding is

[jim]

I agree wholeheartedly...but my original point that the other half of plant breeding is generating diversity to select from...and all these examples support that point. The selection of genotypes to grow for random crossing is generating diversity. You can only select when you have diversity to work with. Records or not.
Jim

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I sometimes speak inaccurately and say that I am breeding sugary enhanced sweet corn. I don't have any way of knowing if I am or not. Technically I am selecting for a phenotype: high sugar content, thin pericarp, and dense seed.

[steev]

Although I'll keep records on things I've gotten from GRIN for reciprosity to encourage them to continue granting my requests, when I start developing my own landraces, I'll most likely follow the rule that "what survives and is worth eating is a success". That doesn't work, of course, if one is trying to produce a stable, reliable, predictable hybrid.

[12540dumont]

You all know that I'm a record keeping fool,

that said,

Who sent me the Gianinni Tomato? I got so excited when it got here, I didn't write it in the records.

Since I keep records of every seed coming in, I get a sense for different seed companies offerings. For example, I have had nothing but bad luck in the last few years from Territorial Seed. In the first place, I never had garlic rust before receiving their cloves. Several years later I heard through the grapevine that they knew their stock was infected and sent them out anyway. I had other seeds from them that had a high germination failure. I would not know these things if I didn't in some way keep some records.

That said, I know every fava I planted, and sunflower, but as the years have gone by, these have turned into a huge Foothill Farm Grex that have much variability in size of seed, size of plant, flower colors, etc. I no longer know what's growing out there, can't separate them into cultivars, but the diversity is such that IF I wanted to, I could pull one of them out and work with it. Or, one of you could. My point in breeding is to collect enough of what I'm looking for and let it come into it's own birthright. I want to leave in as much variability as I can, since I don't have any idea if today's drought tolerance will have to be next year's flood tolerance. (AKA Swampy/Frosty)

In the search for the big fat sweet carrot, I have 27 cultivars out there. They are each reputed to be big. I don't put much stock in the hyperbole of seed companies...they're salesmen! So, only by growing them out will I find out if they are big. The lovely packs from GRIN at least are rated by number for size. Only by growing them out will I find out if they are sweet (or taste like soap or diesel). Only by growing them out will I find out if they are CMS. After that I have to chose which ones will stay. What if all 27 are great?

I'm very new at this and am old to get started. Hopefully my records and seed collection will give someone else a start.

Thanks for the lively discussion. You've all given me things to think while I go out and plant onions. (Again!)