Open pollination

Open pollination pollen is delivered to another plant from a genetically related population. The seeds of open-pollinated plants will grow into plants that are similar to the parents. This is in contrast with hybrid plants. Seed from hybrids segregate for various traits and are not identical to the hybrid parent. 

I am about three-fourths of the way through the catalog, dazzled by the pictures of plump hybrids and beautiful open-pollinated vegetable varieties, but when I start adding up the bill for my choices, I get into triple digits very quickly, and I start to think that maybe we should just grow and save our own seed at the student farm. 

Heirloom plant An older open-pollinated variety that is no longer used in modern large-scale agriculture. Often selected by an individual and then passed down from generation to generation. 

Open pollination (OP) Natural pollination via wind, insects, etc. without the use of hybrids. 

There are three general approaches used in Jerusalem artichoke breeding (1) controlled crosses conducted under greenhouse conditions, (2) natural open-pollinated crosses using polycross nurseries, and (3) a variation of the latter where isolated pairs are allowed to cross in the field. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. 

Natural Open-Pollinated Crosses Using Polycross Nurseries... 

Evaluation for chemical constituents in open-pollinated seedling progenies of C. cassia accessions from Calicut (India) showed that these contained 1.20. 95% bark oil, 6.0-10.5% bark oleoresin and 0.40-1.65% leaf oil. The principal component of both the oils, namely, cinnamaldehyde, varied from 40.7-86.0 and61.9-91.5%, respectively, in leaf and bark oils (Krishnamoorthy et al., 1999). The bark oil of C. cassia from the Yunnan province was dominated by cinnamaldehyde (80.40-88.50%) (Li et al., 1998). The bark oil from China recorded 65.5% E-cinnamalde-hyde, 8.7% coumarin, 3.6% cinnamyl acetate and 2.7% 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde as chief components, whereas in the Australian oil, cinnamaldehyde (87%), benzaldehyde (4.7%), 2-phenyl ethanol (2.5%) and 3-phenyl pro-panal (2%) predominated (Vernin et al., 1990). Li and Yuan (1999) reported cassia oil from China containing 67.12% E-cinnamaldohydo, 6.17% methyl salicylate, E-2-melhoxy cinnamaldehyde (7.40%) and -cinnamyl acetate (3.47%) as major components. 

A similar story can be told regarding com kernel protein content. Hybrid corn typically contains 8-11 percent protein, but considerable genetic variability for this trait exists in open-pollinated populations. In an experiment involving serial selection for both high and low protein content, mean protein content has been shifted more than 139 percent from the starting point mean value (a range of at least 20 standard deviations).105-107 At generation... 

Recine (V). Cox Orange cross open pollinated X scab-resistant breeding line ripening at start of October, weak to semi-vigorous growth, good ramification, resistant to scab, early-bearing fruit medium size, two-thirds red coloured, prominent lenticels. 

An open-pollinated Russian-bred cultivar of high oil content (Peredovik variety, 40-45%) was introduced in the United States in 1966 (3). Commercial production of oilseed-type sunflower was started with the Peredovik variety among other cultivars, and since 1966, several research programs in the United States have sought to improve sunflower hybrids for oil yield. 

Most breeding programs are aimed at the development of hybrids, although other projects are for the improvement of open-pollinated varieties and synthetic culti-vars. In view of the improvements in yield, disease resistance, uniformity, and self-compatibility achieved in some modifications, open-pollinated varieties have been replaced by hybrids. Varieties have been produced with increased oil content of seeds and/or improvements in oil composition. 

Various genetically different types of cultivar are commercially available. In open-pollination varieties, each individual is genetically different from another... 

Sunola is a miniature type of sunflower developed by the Agriculture Canada Research Station in Saskatoon as a sowing alternative for areas where growth of traditional sunflower is not viable. It is the result of persistent selection of open-pollinated varieties. Plant height is small (60-90 cm), and heads are 8-13 cm in diameter. Ripening time is 99-103 days— three weeks shorter than for most sunflower varieties. Sunola has a high oil content (similar to that of the best hybrids) and a higher content of linoleic acid (72-74%) than any other commercial sunflower. 

In spite of these hopeful pronouncements and intentions, if one examines carefully many of the agricultural innovations of the twentieth century—innovations that seemed purely technical and hence neutral —one cannot but conclude that many of them created commercial and political monopolies that inevitably diminished the autonomy of the farmer. The revolution in hybrid seeds, particularly corn, had this effect. Since hybrids are either sterile or do not breed "true, the seed company that has bred the parents of the hybrid-cross has valuable property in hybrid seed, which it can sell every year, unlike the open-pollinated varieties which the farmer can select himself. ... 

Open-pollinated and heirloom vegetable, flower, and herb seeds, www.southernexposure.com... 

Rapeseed and double-low rapeseed (canola) cultivars in Canada have traditionally been open-pollinated population cultivars in both B. nap us and B. rapa. More recently, hybrid 5. napus double-low rapeseed (canola) cultivars have been developed and released in Canada. Most of these hybrids are also herbicide tolerant. Nearly 50% of double-low rapeseed (canola) production in Canada in 2005 was of hybrid B. napus types (Brandt and Clayton 2005). This proportion increases annually. 

---