[CH] Re: Rocotos / Chile-Heads Digest V8 #486
Cameron Begg (begg.4@osu.edu)
Thu, 31 Jan 2002 13:58:20 -0500
Hi C-H's,
At 5:43 AM +1300 2/1/02, Tony Flynn wrote:
>Tell me more . What do I need to do?
We select for the characteristic we wish to improve - in this case
size - and keep the seeds from the largest peppers. We then send
these seeds to the guys in the other hemispere who repeat the
process. There are more scientific ways of doing this but I think it
would get too complicated. (People just won't be bothered with
measuring and weighing peppers and keeping careful records.)
Obviously if there are standouts; for example in the unlikely event
that a couple of people grow 4"dia. pods, then we will focus our
attention on them. Be aware that this may not work very well if at
all. Rocotos have been grown for a very long time and may already
have been bred to as large a size as they will go. Also, there is the
possibility that we might unknowingly breed out another desirable
property, dare I say it, such as heat! But I think this is very
unlikely. Another potential pitfall is that the period of seed
dormancy will not match the day length at their destination, but here
also I think the seeds will not "know". The test rocotos will have to
be some how isolated from other "normal" rocotos that the person
might be growing. Even this criterion is not too important if we
always select the biggest pods.
Disclaimer: I am not a plant biologist or geneticist. I am ready to
be corrected by those of you who know better. If this notion is too
simple minded please let me know.
If the consensus is that it's worth trying, we'll need volunteer
growers from N and S of 0deg. Does anyone on this list live in the
Tropics?
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Regards, Cameron.