Re: Are they really all REALLY different? Well, no!

The difference might be that Iris are being vegetatively propagated, dogs aren't.  When someone buys and Iris they want to know that what they have bought will perform in a predictable and reliable way.  Each "pale blue standards and dark blue falls" seedling without doubt will not perform the same as any other even within the same batch of siblings from the same pod.  Even less so with seedlings from different climates.  Not rue of dogs.  The goal with Iris is not necessarily uniformness or homozygosity (which I know you know this) is detrimental in dogs and other animals in general.  

Yes, they are in general, or should be, bred to a certain standard.  Unfortunately everyone's standard is different depending on their preferences as well as the constrainsts imposed during seedling selection by the environment.  Having bred quite a few seedlings myself it is not so easy to get what you want to fit that standard.  Maybe if I had the space and multiple copies of myself that could happen.  The very fact that different breeders are producing similar looking, but not behaving, plants is the issue.  The bloodlines can then be a boon and a curse to the whole propagation and distribution or a variety.  A dog example might be between that of a Husky and a Chihuahua - neither is suited to the others' environment and each would obviously outperform the other (and without human intervention die) in their non-native evironments and expectations of performance.
 
The Iris genome has so much variability that there is unlikely to be a lack of genetic diversity to occur in even the distant future.  Then again certain genetic deficiencies may actually be part of the problem with the highly varied performance in various climates.  As we know the existing diversity limits what varieties grow where.

Paul Archer
Raleigh, NC  Zone 8



-----Original Message-----
>From: Debby <totallyterriers@gmail.com>
>Sent: Aug 16, 2007 7:43 PM
>To: iris@hort.net
>Subject: Re: [iris] Are they really all REALLY different? Well, no!
>
>Okay, coming at this from a different point of view (I don't breed
>iris, but I do breed dogs).
>
>I agree, there are a lot of very similar looking iris out there, but
>is that really an issue? As far as hybridizing them goes I mean.
>
>In breeding dogs the idea is to breed to a written standard. You are
>basically trying to get all of them to look alike in other words.
>Being alike isn't a bad thing... they each offer something different
>to the gene pool as breeders are working from various bloodlines.
>
>So... are iris that different? So you have 100 iris that have pale
>blue standards and dark blue falls and they all have orange beards.
>Aren't different breeders using different crosses to achieve these
>plants? Don't they have varied genetic backgrounds which each might
>pull something different forward that the breeder can use to achieve
>his or her goal? I can see some of the "duplicate" looking plants
>might have limited value to the person who just wants some lovely
>plants to bloom the their garden (much like the person who just wants
>a good-looking, healthy pet and doesn't care if I've imported breeding
>stock from the U.K. or Australia), but isn't the gentic diversity
>important to the future of iris? Or am I missing something?
>
>Debby
>
>
>
>
>
>On 8/16/07, Gesine <kathges@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> But reading old AIS bulletins you'll see periodic
>> "we're introducing too many too-similar cultivars"
>> discussions.  Personally, I think this is more
>> true *now* when the iris field has gotten much
>> bigger than in the historic past.
>>
>-- 
>Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small
>minds discuss people. (Eleanor Roosevelt)
>
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