Potato breeding article

[jbergeson]

Off-topic, but I thought this well-written article on potato breeding might be interesting to some:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02 ... CA58hvmmz8

[Karl K]

There is always something to learn from folks doing similar work. Breeding for yield and disease resistance in potatoes should have useful parallels for rose breeding.

And on this (off) topic, we might learn something about propagation, as well.
http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Heredity/Arthur ... o1892.html

Karl

[Don]

Great article, thanks for bringing it up. You could basically replace 'potato' with 'rose' and 'tuber' with 'bloom' and it would describe the state of affairs we have. It makes me wonder if anyone has systematically created homozygous lines of roses for breeding purposes. Does anyone know?

[Karl K]

Great article, thanks for bringing it up. You could basically replace 'potato' with 'rose' and 'tuber' with 'bloom' and it would describe the state of affairs we have. It makes me wonder if anyone has systematically created homozygous lines of roses for breeding purposes. Does anyone know?

Don,
On the one hand, rose breeders generally aim for novelty rather than uniformity. How would they market 100 "F1 Hybrids" individually?

On the other hand, a few breeders have selfed some choice varieties for a generation or two before crossing.

In this regards, at least, rose breeding is somewhat closer to dog breeding. Aim for superior lines, then market outstanding specimens. The parents of 'Radiance' are examples. Fresh "blood" strengthens the line, while also bringing in desired novelty.
Karl

[chuckp]

Doing some work on shallot breeding. Read Heney A. Jones "Onions and their Allies"
Can anyone point me to some recent research?
chuckp