Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
running several Cross Tests we can isolate the plant that is either MM
or mm and break away any Mm from the group. Whether it is MM or
mm, we can still breed the trait true by breeding it with other parents
that are only MM or mm respectively. So we may have to do several
test crosses to find a male and female that have either MM or mm for
that trait. Once we have done this we have isolated the genotype and it
will breed true within the same population.
So if we ran a seed-bank company called “PALE GREEN
LEAF ONLY BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS NOT UNIFORM LTD”
then the seeds that we create will ALL breed PALE GREEN LEAVES
and the customer will be happy. In reality though they want the exact
same plant that won the cannabis cup last year.....or at least something
close to it. So we will have to isolate all the traits that helped that
strain of cannabis to win the cup before people are happy with what
they are buying. I think you get the point.
How many tests it takes to know the genotype is not certain.
You may have to use a wide selection of plants to achieve the goal, but
never the less it is still achievable and much more so than non-
selective breeding in the wild. Each trait must be locked down in a
population, so that the population for that trait is homozygous. The
next step is to lock down other traits in that same population.
Now here is the hard part.
When you are working on a trait you must keep the other traits that
you are looking for in mind.
By breeding alone you may accidentally lock down another
trait that you do not want or even remove traits that you want to keep.
If this happens then you will just have to work harder at keeping the
traits that you want and exploring genotypes through multiple Cross
