F1 Parsnip?

[templeton]

I've just sown some F1 parsnip seed (Fothergill's 'Gladiator') from one of the larger seed retailers here.
It got me thinking - how did they get commercial quantities of F1 parsnip seed? My BS detector started twitching.
If parsnip are anything like carrots (haven't grown them to seeding stage yet), the individual flowers in the umbels will open progressively - not a formula for easy crossing I would have thought.
And aren't they notorious for suffering from inbreeding depression? So how do you get large populations of two different varieties to cross with each other, and only each other, without crossing with their siblings or selfing?
Do they intergrow two varieties hoping that a sufficient number will cross giving the desired hybrid line? But wouldn't that also give rise to lots of same variety crosses?

Is there some trick I'm not thinking of? Or is this just marketing spin?
T

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Mar 13, 2012 16:35:12 GMT -5 templeton said:

I've just sown some F1 parsnip seed (Fothergill's 'Gladiator') from one of the larger seed retailers here.
It got me thinking - how did they get commercial quantities of F1 parsnip seed? My BS detector started twitching.
If parsnip are anything like carrots (haven't grown them to seeding stage yet), the individual flowers in the umbels will open progressively - not a formula for easy crossing I would have thought.
And aren't they notorious for suffering from inbreeding depression? So how do you get large populations of two different varieties to cross with each other, and only each other, without crossing with their siblings or selfing?
Do they intergrow two varieties hoping that a sufficient number will cross giving the desired hybrid line? But wouldn't that also give rise to lots of same variety crosses?

Is there some trick I'm not thinking of? Or is this just marketing spin?

The trick's on you. Buyer Beware!

Hybrid parsnips, like hybrid carrots are created using Cytoplasmic Male Sterility, so any parsnips grown from hybrid seed will not produce pollen, and any descendants of those parsnips will likewise be male sterile.

[templeton]

Thanks Joseph, I won't breed from them now.
So, getting my little brain around this, CMS means that particular
variety can't produce pollen, therefore can't pollinate itself, or anyone else. But It can be pollinated by another variety, and the seed produced therefrom will also carry the CMS trait?

So a test would be to grow an isolated plot of the variety, and see if it set seed?
T

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Mar 13, 2012 20:29:54 GMT -5 templeton said:

Thanks Joseph, I won't breed from them now.
So, getting my little brain around this, CMS means that particular
variety can't produce pollen, therefore can't pollinate itself, or anyone else. But It can be pollinated by another variety, and the seed produced therefrom will also carry the CMS trait?

So a test would be to grow an isolated plot of the variety, and see if it set seed?

That is correct... My strategy for eliminating male sterility from my carrots this season is to examine each carrot blossom, and to chop out any plant that doesn't have anthers. [70% of my crop is contaminated by male sterility because I used hybrids to start my landrace...] It's easy to see, even from a distance: Carrot blossoms with anthers look fuzzy, carrot blossoms without anthers look smooth. I don't know how CMS manifests in parsnip, but I'd start by looking for missing anthers, or anthers without pollen.

Male Fertile Carrot

Male Sterile Carrot

[richardw]

interesting,something i'll keep an eye out for in next seasons seed crop,though i doubt i would have any male sterility because ive used any hybrids in the past.