What’s wrong with this picture?

Slideshare is a great resource, but I’m always slightly worried I might be missing something. Take, for example, the presentation on the barriers to adoption by Haven D. Ley, just shared by the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative. In particular, look at the seventh slide. It includes this diagram:

No reference to genebanks? Really? But, who knows, maybe the presenter mentioned the need for an occasional influx of novel diversity, and the best source for that, in their verbal comments on the slide. Or made the point that the diagram is necessarily a simplification. Or even that this is an illustration of how NOT to do breeding. I’d be interested to know what our breeder readers think of this diagram as a representation of their trade.

2 Replies to “What’s wrong with this picture?”

  1. Indeed, slideshare is a great but limited resource. This graphic was gratefully borrowed from ICRISAT and FAO’s comprehensive Plant Breeding and Farmer Participation tome found here (p.213): ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i1070e/i1070e.pdf
    This image is not meant to be representation of entire breeding continuum using PVS methods, but rather a simplistic view of the organizational aspects of PVS vs. conventional breeding.

    1. Fair enough. Many thanks for commenting. When a hammer doesn’t see a nail, it cries foul. I’m afraid I see slights to the importance of genebanks everywhere. They are so consistently taken for granted. I should probably get out more.

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