HYB: Numbered Seedlings

From: Sharon McAllister <73372.1745@compuserve.com>

Glenn Simmons wrote:

>  I am new in this area of irises (hybridizing) and I know I am ignorant
of many
>  factors involved here but I keep running across what Walter has
mentioned above.
>  Y 163B???    This using seedling numbers instead of a named plant
baffles me.

I can think of several factors, but expect other hybridizers will chime in
with even more.

>  This kind of practice would never be allowed in breeding animals!  

Animals aren't as prolific as iris.  Many are registered but never bred.  
If we were to register every iris seedling that is used for breeding we'd
overwhelm the system.

>  Is it that the
>  plant (seedling #) isn't good enough to register?  If this is the case
then is the
>  plant really worth using as breeding stock?  

In general, this means that the seedling was better than available named
varieties at the time the cross was made.  A seedling has to be exceptional
to get the hybridizer's attention, but it takes years to evaluate seedlings
and determine whether they merit registration and introduction so many fall
victim to the HBN syndrome -- "Have Better Now".   

Imagine that you have a breakthrough color combination that really catches
your attention, so you use its pollen with many of your best breeders and
put it on track for introduction.  TIme passes.  Your selected seedling
continues to perform well.  Its offspring bloom.  Among them, you find one
with a flower that looks just like its papa but has a superior plant, so it
goes on track for introduction.   The catch is that the two look so much
alike you don't want to register both.   More time passes as you continue
testing.  More of papa's offspring bloom and you're convinced you have a
valuable breeder in him.  But by the time that papa's evaluation cycle has
been completed, you've determined than this particular offspring outshines
him both as a show specimen and  garden subject.  So junior gets introduced
and papa will appear in many pedigrees under seedling number.

Of course, that's not the only reason.....

In recessive lines, several generations of line breeding may be needed to
obtain the desired recombination.  The carriers are essential to both the
process and the product, but may not be distinctive enough to warrant
introduction.  After all, most people grow iris because they enjoy them in
the garden -- and more people show iris than breed them.  Hybridizers can
share seedlings [and their pedigrees] with other hybridizers who understand
their value and use without registering and introducing them.

In the complex world of arilbreds, wide crosses sometimes produce valuable
breeders that don't fit into the conventional categories for registration. 
I have a soft coral arilbred that doesn't have enough aril characteristics
to merit introduction, but it has produced some outstanding offspring and
I've already introduced one of them.  I don't plan to register, introduce,
or distribute the coral breeder -- but I've included its pedigree in the
registration of its offspring, not just a seedling number.  I think that's
a reasonable solution.

Many of us make crosses as part of the evaluation process, which means we
must record our pedigrees using seedling numbers.  So sometimes people do
slip up and register the offspring using an ancestor's seedling number in
the pedigree instead of its registered name.  

Something may prove to be an exceptionally good breeder and is expected to
be in great demand, so it may be held back until a larger than normal
amount of stock can be produced -- even to the point that it's first
offspring are introduced ahead of it.  [I shoulda done that with JOINT
VENTURE!!!!]

A selected seedling may fall victim to the forces of nature.  I lost some
to a flash flood.  That doesn't mean I discarded their offspring, but if
any are introduced they will have to be registered using seedling numbers. 


Other stories, anyone?


Sharon McAllister
73372.1745@compuserve.com  

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