A diverse pedigree is no guarantee of diversity, but don’t just take my word for it. Mike Jackson leaps from the starting gate to agree.
Some of my colleagues at IRRI in the early 90s used to argue that by combining lots of different alleles into rice varieties, and disseminating them through INGER, diversity was being increased. What was the diversity of a crop of IR64, I asked for example, grown across millions of hectares? Since all plants were (assumed to be) identical, zero diversity between plants. Could never get them to understand that aspect.
C’mon breeders; let’s be hearing from you.