"echinosum" wrote in message
...

Michael Bell;941151 Wrote:
Maize is almost unique among the grasses in having heads at
intervals up the stem, which makes it possible to have a plant which
produces a lot, but isn't bent over by all that weight at the top.
That comes naturally with sedges. Just to make the "right" choice is
huge task. I have chosen on a "hunch". I am impressed by the tree's
vigour.
But didn't it take a very long time to get from wild ancestral maize to
the modern cultivated plant? Isn't it so changed from the wild ancestor
that we had considerable difficulty identifying it.

I read recently that modern plant breeders using the so-called
traditional method of plant breeding deliberately irradiate the
plant/seed (I forget at which stage) to get random genetic mutations,
which I suppose might help speed things up a bit.

I think that you will find that this is no longer practised. It was tried
with exhibition chrysanthemums in the 1960's and the results were
disasterous. Cuttings were irradiated and many mutations (sports) were
produced. These were found to be quite unstable and 'broke down' genetically
after a couple of years. Unfortunately the mutations produced were used in
conventional breeding programmes and the resultant seedlings were found to
carry the genetical instability. For some 20 -30 years the breeding of
reliable exhibition chrysanths was put on the 'back foot' by this
proceedure.

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland