Myth busting Thread

[agricontract]

Following on from me and Clive’s twitter thread what other agricultural myths that industry tell us I will start with one
Hybrid seed osr can not yield if re grown

Busters

By some one clive knows also the volunteer of Bazooka barley I get always look very healthy !

What others are there ?
Topics could include do we need insecticide to grow osr
Or
Urea vs An ?

 

[traineefarmer]

Don't think anyone is going to admit to successfully growing hybrid crops from FSS with the breeders and BPBS listening.....

 

[Clive]

My agronomist knows a farmer who’s hybrid barley is now in its 3rd year FSS and says it’s never looked better

 

[Chae1]

Hmm, i think it reverts back to one of the original crosses after a couple of years.

 

[RushesToo]

My agronomist knows a farmer who’s hybrid barley is now in its 3rd year FSS and says it’s never looked better

@Clive @Chae1 It changes, but you only harvest the ones that like your farm - the rest die or are too weak. So it won't revert to either of the two - it will be the one that works best on your farm. It has two sets of genes to work with from both the parents of the hybrid.

 

[TripleSix]

Are all livestock auctioneers ripoff merchants?

 

[Danllan]

Are all livestock auctioneers ripoff merchants?

That isn't a 'myth'.

 

[yin ewe]

We are all making money faster than we can spend it- definitely a myth on our farm.

 

[Zippy768]

Oooo Twitter friend

 

[Exfarmer]

@Clive @Chae1 It changes, but you only harvest the ones that like your farm - the rest die or are too weak. So it won't revert to either of the two - it will be the one that works best on your farm. It has two sets of genes to work with from both the parents of the hybrid.

Is this hybrid diploid?
Otherwise it will only have one set of genes inherited half from each parent.
In theory since I think barleys are open flowering there will be an intermingling of the species again, thus you will create your own strain over time, but it will be mongrel and never truly a variety

 

[deleted user 837354]

It's nonsense that a hybrid barley won't grow properly. It won't be 100% identical to it's parents but it will sill be quite close. If you did it for long enough the genetics would get jumbled up and start getting a lot of variation amongst the individuals but it's not going to magically refuse to germinate or something.

 

[quattro]

It's nonsense that a hybrid barley won't grow properly. It won't be 100% identical to it's parents but it will sill be quite close. If you did it for long enough the genetics would get jumbled up and start getting a lot of variation amongst the individuals but it's not going to magically refuse to germinate or something.

So would you need to up seed rate abit

 

[Oat]

It's nonsense that a hybrid barley won't grow properly. It won't be 100% identical to it's parents but it will sill be quite close. If you did it for long enough the genetics would get jumbled up and start getting a lot of variation amongst the individuals but it's not going to magically refuse to germinate or something.

The problem is the variation you get. The original hybrid parent had a mix of genes which generally have you an advantage in terms of speed of establishment/growth, disease resistance, height etc... If you use the seed from a hybrid plant then you won't get the same mix of genes. Some plants will retain have the better traits, but some will have the weaker traits. This means you end up with a mix of characteristics within the population. If you have some plants with less disease resistance, then they may develop more disease, which will then put more disease pressure on the remaining plants. Having a mix of plants with different characteristics also means that you don't just have to manage one crop, you have to manage many within the same field. The optimum timing for one plant may be different to another, so each plant may get the nutrition or growth regulation at the best time. Even with a proper crop (conv of hybrid) there will obviously be some variation, but the variation will be much less if it is all the same variety and generation.
With hybrid barley, one of the main advantages is speed of crop establishment and growth (hence why you can reduce the seedrate). You may lose these advantages if you tried to regrow hybrid crop seed. In the case of using hybrid barley to help smoother out weeds, this is important.

 

[SilliamWhale]

On what basis is it illegal to save hybrid seed?

 

[deleted user 837354]

The problem is the variation you get. The original hybrid parent had a mix of genes which generally have you an advantage in terms of speed of establishment/growth, disease resistance, height etc... If you use the seed from a hybrid plant then you won't get the same mix of genes. Some plants will retain have the better traits, but some will have the weaker traits. This means you end up with a mix of characteristics within the population. If you have some plants with less disease resistance, then they may develop more disease, which will then put more disease pressure on the remaining plants. Having a mix of plants with different characteristics also means that you don't just have to manage one crop, you have to manage many within the same field. The optimum timing for one plant may be different to another, so each plant may get the nutrition or growth regulation at the best time. Even with a proper crop (conv of hybrid) there will obviously be some variation, but the variation will be much less if it is all the same variety and generation.
With hybrid barley, one of the main advantages is speed of crop establishment and growth (hence why you can reduce the seedrate). You may lose these advantages if you tried to regrow hybrid crop seed. In the case of using hybrid barley to help smoother out weeds, this is important.

I don't disagree with any of that, although I wouldn't grow the stuff in the first place as I consider it a passing fad wrapped up in clever marketing.

I have no doubt the seed market in future will entirely be driven by hybrids, it is the model used in many parts of the world and it would be very popular with some parts of the industry for obvious reasons.

 

[Oat]

I don't disagree with any of that, although I wouldn't grow the stuff in the first place as I consider it a passing fad wrapped up in clever marketing.

I have no doubt the seed market in future will entirely be driven by hybrids, it is the model used in many parts of the world and it would be very popular with some parts of the industry for obvious reasons.

unfortunately, you are probably correct.
Syngenta Hybrid barley + Syngenta PGR programme
BASF Clearfield OSR + BASF Clearfield herbicide

 

[Steevo]

unfortunately, you are probably correct.
Syngenta Hybrid barley + Syngenta PGR programme
BASF Clearfield OSR + BASF Clearfield herbicide

GM crops anyone...?

 

[Exfarmer]

In some crops the hybridisation is done by using a genetically male sterile plant, where this is the case it is possible the trait may pass down and the future crop may not pollinate.
Many people have concerns about this in case seeds get in the wrong hands and hybrid seeds are planted which do not produce a crop,
This was touted widely in the anti GM debate

 

[deleted user 837354]

unfortunately, you are probably correct.
Syngenta Hybrid barley + Syngenta PGR programme
BASF Clearfield OSR + BASF Clearfield herbicide

It is no accident that a lot of the GM crop varieties were hybrids for this exact reason. You can have the double or triple stacked Bt traits but you will have to pay for them each year.

 

[Kidds]

On what basis is it illegal to save hybrid seed?

Breeders rights. Like a copyright.