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Ga.

Could someone please explain why Baby G had no mature seed,,and Fatback had over 700?? There was only 7 days difference in pkins..Brians had full sun,,mine didnt,,many other factors were different...When I had to cull 455 C,,it was only 97 lbs and the seed in it were bigger and further along in development..I'm just curious is why I made this post..I have read of other pkins larger than Brians being seedless...Kinda strange....

7/27/2002 6:27:01 PM

Deer Park, WI

Wish I had a solid answer for ya Jeff, but truth is no one knows why this may happen. Could be genetics, could be environmental. Probably a combination of both. If I were to venture a guess, and this is a long shot venture, I would have to say that the pollen was not viable. When Fertilization occurs, each pollen grain grows a tube to a separate egg sac in the femal flower. Each egg sac becomes a different seed. What may have happened is the pollen grew the tube to the egg sac and joined with the egg, like its supposed to. But in the end, the pollen grains were duds. That would cause incomplete seed formation. Perhaps the high temps caused the pollen to degrade. Thats the best explanation I can give you. Perhaps others have some better ideas.

7/29/2002 11:10:15 AM