Re: seed

pumpkins@mallorn.com wrote:
> 
> I have some seed to give away, it's from my 433 LB pumpkin (self
> pollinated) it's parent was ANDERSON 977 . The seed I will give away
>  heaths@midcoast.com.au
> 
> Heath Sharman

Since you live in Australia, I won't request any seeds due to the cost
of mail and the low probability of what I am about to suggest below. 

Resistance to diseases, insects, good germination and other qualities
can be looked for Giant Pumpkins. Any time, we select for a single trait
such as huge size as in blackberries and pumpkins, we will always lose
some of the important traits such as skin color, cold germination, virus
resistance. 
  When lost, those traits are gone forever. Therefore, the laws of
probability guarantee that Atlantic Giant  will become ever more fragile
and capable of growing only in artificial conditions like some Japanese
ornamental fish, unless selection for these important traits is done
also. 
  While one university person says in his course that no virus
resistance is known in cucurbits, Barbara Kincaid and others may have
some evidence of virus resistance. 
  I now come to the point of my letter. Anyone who has surplus seeds
from any AG fruit should plant them and look for desireable traits or
useful markers. Seeds from a selfed fruit which was grown from a cross
is the best place to look for such traits. Selfing or sibbing seeds
generation after generation is a good way to concentrate genes, but is
not the best way to discover useful traits such as virus and mildew
resistance.
  One highly effective way to use surplus selfed seeds is to
deliberately infect the seeds or plants with disease. We will be
discussing such methods in genetics@onelist.com
  Much of the success in high bushels of corn per acre is due to
improved cold germination. Corn yields more if it has a long growing
season (that is also the way to get bigger pumpkins, I assume), but corn
planted in cold soil rots. Many messages on Pumpkins say the same thing.
Surplus seeds could be tested from germination at 10 to 20 degrees below
the usual germination temperature. Hobbyists could look for ability to
germinate and grow at lower temperatures. I do not know whether these
are related, but I have used temperature sensitive mutations on a large
scale in my genetics work with bacterial viruses and insects.
  Since one AG fruit has lots of seeds, growing AG and looking for
desireable traits is a part of this sport which allows persons with no
growing space to make important contributions. I suggest pumpkin
weighoffs include recognition for this important aspect of the sport. 
  The person who grew a small pumpkin and has seeds no one wants, might
have the genetics to make more contribution to the sport than the
champion. 
  As the members of the genetics@onelist.com find more time, we will
have on our 5 MB Shared Files section more details on the methods
mentioned above. We invite all amateur geneticists to join
genetics@onelist.com mail list. It is not limited to pumpkins, but it
appears 90% of the members are primarily interested in pumpkins. It is
important for all pumpkin growers to watch for new alleles as most of
them are first seen in ordinary patches rather than in University
breeding plots.
-- 
Harold Eddleman Ph.D. Microbiologist.       i*@disknet.com 
Location: Palmyra IN USA; 36 kilometers west of Louisville, Kentucky
http://www.disknet.com/indiana_biolab




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