To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Mules, Beefalo & persimmon
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 08:59:34 -0600
I raise beefalo (among other things). The pregnancy
of the unlike species is difficult. However if the 50% bison calf is
female she is fertile. it is the males that are sterile.
Cross the female 50% back to the bison and get 75%
this will be fertile if male or female. back to a bovine (possible
pregnancy problems) for a 3/8 bison also called a fullblood beefalo. The
3/8 is fertile wether male or female and will breed true.
Fertility problems are male only and are most severe at
50%. When you are at least 12% away (either direction ) from 50 you should
be okay.
Naomi
Idaho
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
Jwlehman@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:51
AM To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [NAFEX] Mules,
Beefalo & persimmon
Most people think of Beefalo as a cross of Bovine
and Bison. Well, it is, but not 50/50.
The two will readily mate. They
are quite different. There are enough physical differences seldom do they carry
through to a live birth. When one does it is usually sterile. Very occasionally
one will be fertile and it is back crossed to Bovine. Most of these back crosses
are also sterile but when one is fertile it is once again back crossed to
Bovine. I once had one of these 1/4 Bison 3/4 Bovine bulls with the idea of
raising beefalo. Really beautiful animal, wavy hair, light tan and very gentle.
For a year he ran with 5 mama cows, he did his thing, the cows were happy, but
no calves. He too was sterile. The point is sterility goes hand in hand with
hybrids of different species and a problem when breeding those hybrids.
I've been told very rarely a mule will have a live birth but few
survive.
A tool often used in hybridizing as Lon wrote is doubling the
chromosome numbers thus creating tetraploids, or 2 sets of each
chromosome. But if you cross this to a diploid the result is a triploid
(three chromosomes of each) which resulting plant or animal is sterile. The
interesting question is, why are the 90 chromosome American persimmon and the 90
chromosome kaki persimmons nearly impossible to hybridize? Both are hexiploid,
or three sets of each chromosome. There should be lots of chromosomes to match
up easily. But they don't, at least not easily. The Russian hybrid of kaki x
virginiana, Rosseyanka, does produce a few seeds and some of them produce
seedlings. Whether they are apomictic or a recombination with pollen is still
not known for sure, but think they are out crosses. None of the about 10 growing
here have born fruit yet, but the leaf differences would indicate
outcrosses.
For what it's worth!
Jerry
PS.
Japanese research scientists have found that some kaki are 120 chromosome. They
are breeding these for larger fruiting kaki. As 120 C. would have larger pollen
grains they are sifting pollen through stretched silk cloth. The smaller grains
(likely 90 C.) fall through and the larger grains remaining in the cloth are
used for breeding.