One of my favorite topics is plant breeding.
Most people would imagine some kind of laboratory where biologists are carefully analyzing DNA and running experiments, and this is not uncommon.
However, most of the most groundbreaking plant breeding work is actually being done on a small scale by independent gardeners and farmers, not in a lab!
Today I want to explain to you how plant breeding works, some examples of successful breeding, a few exciting developments in the works, and why you should consider trying to cross plants yourself.
How Does it Work?
Firstly it’s important to know that different crops have different reproductive systems so this is not universal. Also, I should establish that in this article I will be using the terms “cross breeding” or “breeding” to mean “intentional selection”.
That said, when you crossbreed plants you are basically taking two parent plants (a pollen donor, and the female flower) and sharing pollen between the two. This makes the resulting fruit or flower produce a seed that now has both genes!
When this seed is planted, it will result in what we call a hybrid.
It is a common misconception that hybrids are automatically bad. This is not generally true and even when it is, it probably is for different reasons than you’d expect.
While genetically engineered hybrids have some concerns, hybrids in general occur in the wild on their own all the time!
I have written an article specifically on seeds which I highly recommend if you want to understand this on a deeper level.
Why Cross-breed?
Most gardeners are content to grow their produce and enjoy the fruits of their labors. So why breed new varieties of plants...?
There are a few reasons people do this:
Regionally adapting seeds to fit your local climate. This improves performance and can make your plants more hardy or lower maintenance over time.
To keep genetic diversity. In some crops, there is a lack of genetic diversity which is very risky! If a single disease comes along and wipes out a crop, it may never have a chance to form offspring that are resistant or immune to that disease and then the crop can be lost forever (at least commercially). This is currently happening with a few crops including bananas.
It’s a largely unexplored frontier. Seriously, you can actually invent new fruits this way! There is so much potential out there for breeding plants! You may even develop a new crop that isn’t even sold in stores yet!
Developing flavor. Some plants don’t taste as good as people want, but they have potential. Ever wanted a tropical fruit flavored tomato? You can breed those traits into it over time!
Oftentimes there are one or two specific traits someone is looking for such as cold-hardiness, pest resistance, flavor, productivity, drought tolerance, heat tolerance, or low-inputs.
Apple flowers
Examples
There are so many examples of hybrid and novel varieties of crops that have been ultra-successful (technically everything we eat was an intentional breeding attempt) but here are a few really interesting examples:
Prunus hybrids: Several people (Luther Burbank in particular) have pioneered crossing different stone fruits such as peaches, plums, cherries, and apricots!
These have resulted in new fruits such as the Pluot, plumcot, aprium, peachtarine, nectaplum, pluerry, and peacotum! (I have tasted pluerries, and they are incredible. Huge improvement on the normal plum!)Shipova: This is a really obscure and rare fruit, but it is a cross between a European pear and a Mountain Ash tree. The result is a sort of pear-like fruit with a strangely aromatic floral flavor that is unique among pomme fruit.
Tangelo: A cross between a grapefruit or pomelo, and a mandarin. I could really put most citrus fruit here since most citrus (yes, even lemons, limes, and oranges) are actually intentional crosses between other citrus!
Strawberries: Yes, the strawberries you buy (or grow at home!) are actually crosses between the Chilean strawberry and the wild North American strawberry! Some have other genetics in them as well.
Boysenberry: A multi-way cross between a loganberry (blackberry X raspberry) and another kind of raspberry, and another kind of blackberry!
Kernza: This is an intentional breeding effort to domesticate perennial wheat and it is showing a LOT of promise so far both in terms of being a successful staple grain, and flavor.
Red pluots - Wikimedia Commons
Some exciting projects I know about due to the circle of my colleagues:
Cold hardy coffee (This one is a long way off still)
Cold hardy citrus (Myself and others are working on this)
Banyan Nut (An effort to domesticate a new perennial Australian staple crop)
Cold climate banana (Yes, someone is in fact working on a Michigan-hardy banana!)
Perennial Tomatoes
Sweet Goji (Goji berries are popular in supplements and for health nuts, but they don’t necessarily taste that great so people have been successfully working on ones that taste good raw!)
Pawpaw (There is a current effort to produce a commercially viable pawpaw fruit!)
Where to Start?
There are obviously some plants that are much more beginner friendly than others. I have written HERE about more in-depth projects that need to be done if you want to check it out!
You will need to research each individual crop that you want to breed of course, but here are some that are generally considered easy to start with:
Short-term plants:
Long-term plants:
Hazelnuts
Apples (not too tricky, maybe I’d consider these a little closer to intermediate?)
Rubus species (raspberries, blackberries and their relatives! These cross very easily)
As far as what I’d recommend for work that needs to be done, eventually think about working on some of these crops:
Ramps: There is a small ongoing effort to domesticate these, but I think way more people need to be involved for it to get to farmable status. This is a largely untapped crop that I think has a ton of potential considering how good they already taste.
Aronia: These are a great medicinal crop, but the flavor really needs to be seriously improved before it sees any significant popularity in the US. Some work has been done in Europe, but it needs more momentum in the US.
Milkweed: These are actually a great vegetable and with a little work I think we could get a farmable vegetable crop that can also be used in the textile industry.
Ground Cherries: Also called “goldenberry” or “physalis” or “cape gooseberry” (no relation of the gooseberry) these could not only use some flavor improvement in North America, but some regionally adapted varieties that grow well is a huge need. There are very closely related native cousins that I think hold a lot of breeding potential here!
Spicebush: This is a native shrub that produces a pungent and delicious spice similar to allspice or nutmeg, and it is basically undomesticated. This would be a really interesting industry if people would attempt to farm it.
Nettles: While plenty of people eat the leaves and use them for medicine, there are some people working on a sting-less stinging nettle! I believe these could also have a lot of commercial potential as a textile fiber crop since they can be used similarly to flax or hemp and make a great quality fabric.
Nettle stingers
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