Quote:
Originally Posted by RJGlew
Interesting that only 1.6% of the OP plants exhibited superior characteristics worthy of being selected, while 98.4% of plants were either average or below average phenotypically. When I consider the NA Stupice I grew vs the properly selected seeds from the CZ sources it seems likely the NA selection processes have resulted in inferior plants, similar to the loss of quality seen in Turkish OPs varieties described in the article.
The author describes significant negative genetic drift occurring in just 20-30 years of seed saving without proper selection, making me wonder if `heirloom' OPs are heirloom in anything more than name. Consider home gardeners who grow a couple of plants and save seeds each year - very unlikely they will ever improve upon the baseline performance - much more likely they will drag down the quality of the variety.
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Yeah that is a little depressing since I cant realistically expect my selections through the years to do anything but make a lesser version
