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Post by nicollas on Oct 14, 2014 1:42:27 GMT -5
Hi, i would like to start a (genovese) basil landrace, and i am interested by some F1s that are resistant to fusarium. But i'm afraid to include CMS in the landrace. Does anyone aware of CMS as a way to hybridize basil ? I've checked in scientific literature and found no mention of CMS. But hybrids would be pain in the *ss to make by hand, dont you think ? Or they are labeled as F1 but are not ... The fusarium resistance was found by screening individuals plant in a heavily infected field in Israel.
(BTW i'm interested by trading genovese basil seeds for seeds of other species i have.)
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 14, 2014 9:15:57 GMT -5
The basils and mints, have an interesting reproduction strategy. They tend to propagate extensively by cloning. Thus a whole field can be the same genotype. The plant world can increase genetic diversity among populations of clones by cytoplasmic male sterility or through self incompatibility. Both are common in the lamiaceae family. Plants in high population areas near the center of origin tend towards higher rates of self-incompatibility than plants in low population areas far from the center of origin. Basil is a crop that I wouldn't worry about in regards to CMS. There are very good biological reasons for the family to have that trait.
If I were a plant breeder making hybrid basil, I would definitely go the self-incompatibility route, because it is much less labor intensive to implement. I could plant a row of one clone right next to a row of a different clone. Any seeds collected from the patch would be hybrids. On that basis I'd expect to find higher rates of CMS among open pollinated lines than among commercially produced seed. If you got really clever about it, you could identify your own clones that are self incompatible (plant them in isolation and make sure they get self-pollinated, and if a clone doesn't make seeds then it is self-incompatible) and then plant two of them together to make your own hybrid seed. You'd have exclusive world-wide rights to the variety as long as you didn't share your original clones.
High Mowing Seeds sells hybrid Basil. They claim that they never sell anything that was produced by artificial CMS. So if their basil was created using CMS, at least it is a normally expected type for that species. They sell plenty of seeds which were derived by un-naturally concentrating low levels of naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility of species that are never 100% male sterile in nature. I think that sort of activity is not compatible with what people expect when they buy "organic" seeds.
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Post by nicollas on Oct 14, 2014 10:31:19 GMT -5
Thanks for the very interesting answer. Re-reading my first post, i'm afraid i've not been very clear or precise. I was wondering if F1s hybrids for sale (like 'Numar') could be CMS. So you propose it may be from SI plants instead of CMS. Another possibility is that the F1s could be not hybrids at all.
You are saying that CMS is more likely to occur in OP than hybrids ? I can guess that in populations (traditionnal landraces, wild populations) but for OP varieties i cant figure how, because a variety is often created by selfing a particular individual so the CMS would prevent that ?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 14, 2014 11:16:37 GMT -5
As someone who has never successfully grown a crop of basil... It's only speculation on my part that OP basil varieties are more likely to be populations than highly inbred near clonal strains. I'll gladly repent of suggesting that off-the-shelf OP basil has a lot of CMS running around in it. There is enough diversity in the species that clever plant breeders could have selected against both self incompatibility and CMS.
I really wish that there was one more label in the seed industry: A diversity scale to allow the buyer to understand if they are being sold a diverse population or a highly inbred group of near clones.
CMS is manifest in most of the species I am familiar with as a lack of powdery pollen. The anthers are usually missing as well. So it's easy enough to identify and eliminate. CMS basil might not attract pollinators. (I don't know if regular basil does, or what kinds, but just saying.)
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 14, 2014 12:10:20 GMT -5
Well, when you cross two basil species, you usually wind up with a fully sterile plant. African Blue Basil (which is a cross between O. basilicum and O. kilimandscharicum)is a good example, it can flower, but the flowers never make seed.
Another point to note is that, technically, Sweet basil doesn't HAVE a center of origin as there is NO SUCH THING as wild O. Basilicum (naturalized feral yes, but not wild) As far as anyone can tell O. basilicum is the result of a long line of selections from O. tenuifolium/sanctum (Holy Basil); long enough that it is now a separate species. I think O. Basilicum CAN still make fertile crosses with tenuifolium but not with any of the other species.
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Post by imgrimmer on Oct 14, 2014 12:59:36 GMT -5
Hi Nicollas,
this is the second year I grow a mix of different genovese basil varieties in my garden.
I trashed last years harvest because most of the plants had an off type smell, kind of lakritz (is this english?)
This year I grow mostly italian originated types from a genebank, as it seems there some seeds.
I think I can share some, totally OP but some plants show these lakritz smell again. I will do selection next year
PS they are not fusarium resistant, unfortunately...
which F1 are resistant?
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Post by philagardener on Oct 14, 2014 13:04:55 GMT -5
The English word you want is "Licorice".
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Post by nicollas on Oct 14, 2014 13:23:38 GMT -5
imgrimmer Aroma and Nufar seems to be the only fusarium resistant strains, but if there are CMS it is pointless to add them to the landrace. I will contact you about seed trading, thanks  So if the mother of the F1 is self-incompatible, is there many chances that the F1 are SI too ? If chances are low, isolating one plant of the F1 and checking for seeds could be a good approach to check for CMS if no better ones are found.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 14, 2014 13:26:43 GMT -5
The English word you want is "Licorice". or "liquorice" if you are in Great Britain/ Europe (to do seed hunts he'll probably need to know both spellings.) |
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Post by imgrimmer on Oct 14, 2014 15:10:42 GMT -5
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Post by philagardener on Oct 14, 2014 20:33:04 GMT -5
Natif Dudai (the breeder of Nufar and the Aroma series) seems to remain active, and you might be able to reach him directly at nativdud@gmail.com (his professional profile is available at www.agri.gov.il/people/734.aspx ). One of his later publications from 2006 (open access apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PD-90-0058 ) describes making reciprocal crosses with Nufar (using it as both pollen donor as well as recipient, see table 1) so Nufar must not be CMS. This paper also shows that Fusarium resistance is inherited as a simple dominant trait so you should be able to back-cross it into any strain that you like. Great project - good luck and keep us posted! |
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Post by templeton on Oct 14, 2014 23:53:03 GMT -5
Nicollas,
I grew half a dozen basils in a mixed bed last year and collected the seed, thinking of a mass cross grow out this year. Only sowed one tray so far, with patchy results, seems that the small leafed basil was the only one to set seed, or it is a dominant trait - or it was the only one that would germinate in my poor seed sowing mix.
Happy to send you some seed, but it does include Thai basil, which has a strong licorice aroma.
T
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Post by nicollas on Oct 15, 2014 2:08:21 GMT -5
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Post by nicollas on Mar 5, 2015 3:11:26 GMT -5
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