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Old July 28, 2017   #12
crmauch
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Honey Brook, PA Zone 6b
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frogsleap farm View Post
Genetic drift is the inadvertent loss of genetic variation due to small sample size. For example in a F2 generation derived from a F1 of dis-similar parents - there will be abundant genetic variation among F2 family members, each carrying a different combination of traits from the F1 parents. If you can only grow out 2-3 F2 individuals, you have a very small sample of the potential gene/trait combinations available - and have a high risk of not capturing the ideal combination you are looking for.
How many of the F2 generation would you usually plant? And of the resulting plants how many would you select to go forward? I'm thinking your numbers would get very large, fast. If in the F2 you grew 10 plants and 3 of those had traits you were looking for and grew out 10 of each of those for the F3 (you'd now be at 30 plants). If in the F4 you're still looking to avoid unwanted drift you could be looking at 90 plants. Are these the kind of numbers you would be talking about?
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