Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Hempel
Here are my hybrid vs. OP observations, for 2018 in our Bay Area wine country field.
1. Virtually all of our new-generation cherry tomato hybrids are much more productive and disease resistant than the OP Bumblebee and Tiger varieties we have released.
2. Of the OP varieties we have released -- Blush, Fuego Verde and Marzano Fire were the best performers
3. Our new generation hybrid beefsteaks also clearly out-perform both OP heirlooms and our own OP beefsteaks (Jazz and Orange Jazz).
4. The clear OP beefsteak exception, for production, disease resistance and vigor was Captain Lucky. It was significantly better than all other OP varieties, and performed at the level of our best new hybrid beefsteak variety. I have always been impressed with Millard Murdock's masterpiece, but this year we grew in such a manner that it's performance was absolutely striking and unmistakable.
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Do you consider (1) as inevitable or is it more so by design? I mean if genes were stacked deliberately to get disease resistance, it stands to reason they will outperform.
Regarding OP's, do you find that they have better disease resistance in early generations of breeding( when less genetically stable), and that it is harder to find that by F5,6 and beyond? Or did the OP varieties you compared, simply have less in the way of disease resistance genes from the early stages? (less than tailored for resistance F1s I mean)
As regards productivity, I haven't been able to generalize about F1's being more productive and as I understand it, that is dependent on some very specific genes being present in the two parents. So I wondered, did you choose the F1 parents' genetics deliberately to get the 'extra productive' effect? And in the created OP's, would you generalize that there is a decline in vigor as they become closer to stable?