This stupid question started such a huge argument? Of course asexually
reproduced plants are genetically identical! I learned that in grade school.
What was the point of this discussion? Really. I don't think people should
be concerned so much with max growth limits of plants, we should be more
concerned with the max growth limit of the human population. Of course
that's off topic. If this concerns feeding the planet, then genetic
diversity is more important than mass cloned crops. You can only grow
certain potatoes varieties in certain "environmental" conditions. Duh.
Another thing, if something was somehow given "unlimited" growth, wouldn't
that come at the expense of other organisms? Wouldn't the potatoes take
over?
"George Hammond" <ghammond at mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:3A3AD2D8.89D52207 at mediaone.net...
> Dear Bionet:
> I am a Physicist not a Biologist. I have a simple
> question about asexual plants.
>> At the following URL:
>>http://www.uwc.ca/pearson/biology/asex/asex.htm>> We find the following statements:
>> "Asexual reproduction does not allow genetic variation,
> but guarantees reproduction (no dependence on others).
> It rapidly increases numbers of an organism and keeps
> its desired combination of traits."
>> "Economically speaking, it is very beneficial to reproduce
> plants asexually. It guarantees a "perfect" product every
> time because once the desired combination of genes is found,
> there is no need to risk losing it through sexual reproduction."
>> [Hammond]
> Now, a Potato, some forms of Garlic, Gladiolas, Strawberries,
> etc. are examples of asexually reproducing plants described above.
> What I want to know is this for instance: Is it possible
> to actually plant 100 acres of Potatoes.. producing many
> metric-tons of potatoes, and actually have each and every one
> of these Potatoes ABSOLUTELY GENETICALLY IDENTICAL:
>> 1. Is this "theoretically" possible?
> 2. Has anyone ever done it?
>> As far as research is concerned, this would be the equivalent
> of "Identical Twins" testing in Psychology... only now we
> would have a database consisting of MILLIONS of Identical Twin
> Potatoes. Is this correct?
>> The reason I ask, is that the question has come up as to
> whether you can actually PROVE that there is such a thing as
> a "growth curve variation" which is ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT
> of "genetics". It seems to me, simply measuring the yearly
> crop yield variation in such a planting of "Identical Twin
> Potatoes" would prove that such a thing exists. Has this
> already been proven. Is it a commonly known biological
> fact of Plant Biology?
>> Thanks in advance,
> George Hammond, M.S. Physics/Psychology
> --
> BE SURE TO VISIT MY WEBSITE, BELOW:
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> George Hammond, M.S. Physics
> Email: ghammond at mediaone.net> Website: http://people.ne.mediaone.net/ghammond/index.html> -----------------------------------------------------------
