How to get F1 through F what ever seeds.

[patrick]

k. skwerl don't get depressed. I know it can sound frustrating believe me. To answer your question you don't know what the traits of the pepper will be when you pollinate the flower, you have to wait until it grows. That's why you control the pollination of as many flowers as you can then you just hope the genes you're selecting become dominant and they grow out to be what you want. That's the main reason it's suggested you cross peppers with themselves through at least eight generations. By then most of the recessive genes you don't want should be gone. The will never be totally gone and you'll get the occasional old style pod.

Hope that helped.

 

[Dulac]

Hmm, sorry I missed this thread. If you backcross it will be considered F1 again. The same goes if you cross F2 x F2. That will destabilize it by adding genetic diversity. However, they will not be as genetically diverse as a completely different variety x the F2 or F1, meaning it should be slightly easier to stabilize since it's slightly less heterogeneous. Only backcross if you are trying to get a particular trait that isn't showing up. It's possible the plant could pick up weak traits (more susceptible to disease for example) or strong traits (disease resistance), so there is no need to backcross unless you have a problem or a trait not showing up.

The reason you see new breeds come out of "stable" varieties is because they are not absolutely stable (100% stability is impossible) or mutation (occur from damaged DNA, deleted DNA segments by MGE, or errors in replication). People try to foment mutations (mutation breeding) by using radiation and chemicals that damage DNA on plants. Many plants we use come from mutation breeding methods. Additionally, each generation alters a few genes without changing the DNA sequence. The genes altered may or may not have an affect on the plant.