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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] RE: Garlic Renaming
  • Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 20:39:56 -0500


On Mar 20, 2005, at 7:08 PM, Alliums wrote:

Karen wrote:

<< Garlic DNA seems to be
one more example of a "scientific" approach giving measurement answers
that are not consonant with the experience of experienced observers.
Could it be that DNA is not the be-all, end-all of what makes different
characteristics/performance?>>

I was thinking about this and remembered what David Stern also said about
viruses -- tests in fields show that all sorts of viruses that can affect
other alliums are present in many garlic fields; however, in many cases, if
the virus is affecting the garlic, it's not obvious.

It could very well be that, for instance, all the Porcelain garlics have the
same DNA -- however, the different strains, having been in different
locations/history, could be showing differences because of a virus
infection, similar to what happens with potatoes.


Did they compare the entire DNA for each variety, or just portions of it? The article I have that was published in the Fall 2004 "Garlic Press" (newsletter of the Garlic Seed Foundation) said they had compared only portions of the DNA (only 27 loci), and that cultivars that were identical in the tested areas might vary elsewhere. I don't know if this reference is to the same study or to a different one; but a study comparing the total genome of any significant number of garlic "varieties" would apparently be pretty massive, given that the study I'm referring to took the technician 2 years full time.

I strongly suspect that garlic color is influenced as much, or more, by soil than by genetics. Varieties that I've been growing for years under the names "Italian Purple", "French Red", "Polish White"; and which were different colors when I started growing them; all became the same purple color by the time they'd grown here for several years. I've spoken to another grower who says every strain he grows for very long turns white. I suppose it could be different viruses in the soil; but have thought that it was probably due to different mineral balances. Maybe other microbes also have an influence? There's a lot we don't know about this. (There's certainly a lot that I don't know about this.)

Accidental renaming of garlic is pretty common; people may think it's different because it looks different due to different growing conditions; but I think even more common is for garlic, which is often passed from gardener to gardener and from grower to grower, to just pick up the name of the most recent source known to the current possessor; so they call it German if they think it came from Germany, etc. Deliberate renaming purely for sales purposes would be obnoxious. I'd be really surprised if Johnny's were doing this; it doesn't sound like them. And if they were, wouldn't they have come up with more than three strains, all of them with pretty common-sounding names? (They state specifically that their New York White is also known as Polish White.)





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