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Examples of how wild plants have been improved by humans. The wild progenitor species are on the left.
Doebley, J.F., B.S. Gaut and B.D. Smith. 2006. Cell 127: 1309-1321
The process of breeding has greatly reduced the genetic diversity of crops over time as we select only a few favored types each generation.
If we use colored dots to represent the amount of genetic diversity at different levels of domestication:
Wild species
Early domesticants
Modern varieties
So, using wild plants as breeding parents often makes sense to improve traits like environmental adaptation, disease resistance and flavor!
Chile
Ecuador
Ecuador
Rocky Mountains
All crops have wild relatives somewhere. Here are the locations where our crops were originally domesticated by people.
Maize Tomato Squash Cotton Beans Cassava Yam White Potato Sweet Potato
Biotechnological
Marker assisted breeding, mutagenesis, tissue culture, recombinant DNA techniques (GMO)
These technologies are covered in other modules!
Did the same thing with rice, first in the Philippines and then the rest of Asia
Recent Purdue plant breeder that won the world food prize
Golden rice
Blueberry harvestor
Diversified markets
Table vs wine grapes Potatoes for chips vs. baking Blueberries for cereal vs. pies
The end !
Recommended next: Principles of inheritance