Question about tomato genetics.

Hilde · July 13, 2007

Let's say that I want to cross Tomatoes X and Y to get an F1 hybrid.

If I pollinate an X flower with Y pollen, will the F1 hybrid be the same as if I had pollinated the Y flower with X pollen?

Are there specific treats that the resulting F1 will get from the pollen and specific treats it will get from the flower, or doesn't it matter whether the flower is X and pollen is Y or the flower is Y and pollen is X?

Thanks!

Hilde

feldon30 · July 13, 2007

I would check out the Crosstalk™ forum here at Tomatoville.

**nctomatoman** · July 13, 2007

A quick answer is that it should not make a difference. The reason that people tend to like to use a recessive growing characteristic as the female is that if the cross takes, it is easy to tell. For example, for the dwarf project we chose to use the dwarf plants as females, and pollen from indeterminates. that way, when growing out the saved seed from the fruit from the dwarf, if the seedlings come out indeterminate it is expressing the dominant gene and you know that the cross took. Similarly, if you use a potato leaf as the female and cross with a regular leaf variety, a successful cross results in all regular leaf in the F1.

**carolyn137** · July 13, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hilde

Let's say that I want to cross Tomatoes X and Y to get an F1 hybrid.

If I pollinate an X flower with Y pollen, will the F1 hybrid be the same as if I had pollinated the Y flower with X pollen?

Are there specific treats that the resulting F1 will get from the pollen and specific treats it will get from the flower, or doesn't it matter whether the flower is X and pollen is Y or the flower is Y and pollen is X?

Thanks!

Hilde

For practical purposes for the home gardener fooling around with making hybrids for whatever reason, no, it doesn't matter at all which variety you chose as the male and which the female.

But to answer your question directly, yes, it does matter with certain traits which would be of more interest to the professional breeder.

Right now I can't cite those traits b'c I've forgotten them.

Hilde · July 14, 2007

That's all I wanted to know for now! Thanks guys!

Hilde

July 13, 2007	#1
Hilde Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Pendleton, NY Posts: 256	Question about tomato genetics. Let's say that I want to cross Tomatoes X and Y to get an F1 hybrid. If I pollinate an X flower with Y pollen, will the F1 hybrid be the same as if I had pollinated the Y flower with X pollen? Are there specific treats that the resulting F1 will get from the pollen and specific treats it will get from the flower, or doesn't it matter whether the flower is X and pollen is Y or the flower is Y and pollen is X? Thanks! Hilde

July 13, 2007	#2
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	I would check out the Crosstalk™ forum here at Tomatoville. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

July 13, 2007	#3
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	A quick answer is that it should not make a difference. The reason that people tend to like to use a recessive growing characteristic as the female is that if the cross takes, it is easy to tell. For example, for the dwarf project we chose to use the dwarf plants as females, and pollen from indeterminates. that way, when growing out the saved seed from the fruit from the dwarf, if the seedlings come out indeterminate it is expressing the dominant gene and you know that the cross took. Similarly, if you use a potato leaf as the female and cross with a regular leaf variety, a successful cross results in all regular leaf in the F1. __________________ Craig

July 14, 2007	#5
Hilde Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Pendleton, NY Posts: 256	That's all I wanted to know for now! Thanks guys! Hilde