more than two parents?

heirloomdaddy · August 2, 2011

I often read about a variety having more than 2 parents....how is this accomplished with any consistancy without first creating a stable OP line from just two parents? Wouldn't you get a crazy mess if you were to breed a hybrid to a hybrid?

Keiththibodeaux · August 2, 2011

I may be wrong, but it is my impression that developing a variety is the process of finding one tomato in the mess you so aptly describe with desirable qualities and then continuing to breed it until that desirable quality is stabilized through continued offspring.

heirloomdaddy · August 2, 2011

That is correct, but what I am wondering is if there is a more practical approach that plant breeders utilize. Reproducing desired results this way would be not only improbable but completely impractical. Companies that do this commercially must have an organized version of this chaos.

cornbreadlouie · August 2, 2011

I think (am guessing) companies that do that simply have enough space to grow hundreds (maybe thousands?) of the plants they want certain traits out of.

If I had the space, I could easily plant a bunch of seeds, and then uproot the ones that aren't growing to my expectations.

I'm sure the companies that do a lot of tomato geneticizing have plenty of cheap labor.

**carolyn137** · August 2, 2011

http://www.avrdc.org/LC/tomato/hybrid/05sowing.html

In forming a hybrid there are two breeding lines and each line can have up to four prental inputs as described above. The last OP in one line is then crossed with the last OP in the other line to form the hybrid tomato.

heirloomdaddy · August 2, 2011

thanks carolyn! makes sense.

travis · August 2, 2011

Breeders often will use a hybrid as a parent along with an open pollinated breeding line, or do a "4-way cross" of two hybrids, then stabilize the results over 6 or 7 generations before using the F6 or F7 as a parent with another stable breeding line.

For example, NC 50-7 is a "4-way cross" selected at the F7 for use as a parent in NCSU breeding lines and seed lines. It was one parent to the old Mountain Pride (Cherokee x NC 50-7), as well as an intermediate parent in another NCSU tomato named Summit.

NC 50-7 is the F7 stabilized selection from Blazer F1 x (Walter x Florida Dade) F1, two F1 hybrid parents, hence the term "4-way cross."

August 2, 2011	#1
heirloomdaddy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Los Angeles Z10 Posts: 291	more than two parents? I often read about a variety having more than 2 parents....how is this accomplished with any consistancy without first creating a stable OP line from just two parents? Wouldn't you get a crazy mess if you were to breed a hybrid to a hybrid?

August 2, 2011	#4
cornbreadlouie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: SF bay area... north bay Posts: 242	I think (am guessing) companies that do that simply have enough space to grow hundreds (maybe thousands?) of the plants they want certain traits out of. If I had the space, I could easily plant a bunch of seeds, and then uproot the ones that aren't growing to my expectations. I'm sure the companies that do a lot of tomato geneticizing have plenty of cheap labor. __________________ Do You Like Worms?

August 2, 2011	#5
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	http://www.avrdc.org/LC/tomato/hybrid/05sowing.html In forming a hybrid there are two breeding lines and each line can have up to four prental inputs as described above. The last OP in one line is then crossed with the last OP in the other line to form the hybrid tomato. __________________ Carolyn

August 2, 2011	#2
Keiththibodeaux Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Louisiana Posts: 587	I may be wrong, but it is my impression that developing a variety is the process of finding one tomato in the mess you so aptly describe with desirable qualities and then continuing to breed it until that desirable quality is stabilized through continued offspring.

August 2, 2011	#7
travis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Evansville, IN Posts: 2,984	Breeders often will use a hybrid as a parent along with an open pollinated breeding line, or do a "4-way cross" of two hybrids, then stabilize the results over 6 or 7 generations before using the F6 or F7 as a parent with another stable breeding line. For example, NC 50-7 is a "4-way cross" selected at the F7 for use as a parent in NCSU breeding lines and seed lines. It was one parent to the old Mountain Pride (Cherokee x NC 50-7), as well as an intermediate parent in another NCSU tomato named Summit. NC 50-7 is the F7 stabilized selection from Blazer F1 x (Walter x Florida Dade) F1, two F1 hybrid parents, hence the term "4-way cross."