Re: [nafex] Seed Variation - Apples

[jim <jmc1@epix.net>]

Apples and other pome fruits do not breed true -- period.  Apples are generally
heterozygous for perhaps 5000 to 10,000 gene pairs;  this makes for almost
infinite variability.  Just to toss numbers around -- if you made the cross
Empire x Northern Spy, for example, out of 10,000 seedlings you might reasonably
hope to have a dozen candidates that could compete with Empire -- and you could
feel confident of 100% susceptibility to scab, powdery mildew and fire blight!

Neither do the stone fruits breed true, but because of many generations of
inbreeding, the odds are a lot better that from a thousand Cresthaven pits, you
would get a few that would be close to (but not identical to) Cresthaven.

Jim Cummins
Geneva

Tom Olenio wrote:

> Hello List,
>
> Quick question on the variation from parent in apple seedlings.
>
> I have learned from this list that stone fruit seedlings will be true to the
> parent 80-85% of the time, but apple seedlings are not true to their parent
> tree.
>
> I have never seen a number as to to variation rate of apple seedlings to their
> parent.  Is it 100%?
>
> Have they ever measured the types of changes that occur, or is totally random?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Tom
> --
> Thomas Olenio
> Ontario, Canada
> Hardiness Zone 6a
>




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