Agrobacterium tumefaciens. A soil-borne bacterium, which causes Crown Gall disease of beetroot and fruit trees, and can be used to transfer DNA into genetically unrelated species.

Additive genes. Those in which more than one gene controls a character, with each allele of a gene making a definite contribution towards the character. This is a feature of many pigment systems, as in human skin colour. This is a feature of breeding for high yields by the Mendelian, or multigenic breeding system.

Agronomy. The study of crop cultivation and soil management. Its aim is to increase yields and nutritional quality, for the particular soil and climate.

Allele. A particular form of the gene. Alleles are usually in pairs. When these are similar, the individual is a homozygote, designated AA. If each allele is different, the individual is a heterozygote, designated Aa.

Amino acid. A subunit of a protein molecule, which contains an amino group, NH_2, and a carboxyl group, -COOH. An example is lysine, an important growth factor in oat grain, relative to other grains.

Anaerobic. Conditions of soil waterlogging inimical to the aerobic bacteria, without which man would starve unless the land is drained. An anaerobic organism can obtain energy from the breakdown of glucose in anaerobic respiration. Obligate anaerobes cannot survive in oxygen and include food poisoning bacteria, which cause botulism. Most anaerobes are facultative, meaning that they can live in the presence or absence of oxygen.

Anatomy. The study of the structure of living organisms.

Angiosperm. Plants with their seeds enclosed in an ovary. They can be monocotyledons (grasses and tulips) or dicotyledons (apple or oak).

Antibiotic. Substance obtained from a micro-organism that destroys or inhibits the growth of other micro-organisms, particularly disease-causing bacteria and fungi.

Antibody. A protein manufactured by the immune system in response to the presence of an invading foreign body or antigen. Each antibody fits exactly to an antigen and destroys it.

Antigen. A substance that causes the immune system to produce antibodies.

Archetype. The hypothetical ancestral type postulated by evolutionists for a particular species.

Asexual reproduction. The process by which organisms multiply without the formation of specialised sex cells or gametes. This results in genetically identical progeny called clones. Potatoes can be grown from seeds but are mostly cloned.

Autopolyploid. A polyploid with multiple and identical sets of chromosomes (genomes), like lucerne (alfalfa), all the genomes being derived from the same species.

Autosomal inheritance. The alleles are located on autosomes, i.e. not on sex chromosomes, so that mating is not affected by the sex of the parent and reciprocal crosses will give identical results.

Autosome. A type of chromosome found in all cells not involved in sex determination and carrying the major part of genetic information in cells, including information on sexual characteristics. From Gr. soma,body.

Backcross. A genetical term indicating a cross between a parental strain and its progeny from a previous cross. Mendel’s backcross to the recessive parent is called a testcross, a diagnostic test to reveal the genotype of the hybrid.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). A bacterium with the ability to produce a crystal protein toxic to certain insects, mainly Lepidoptera (caterpillars and butterflies) insects. Since the 1950s farmers have used the Bt toxin to control crop insect pests. GM crops transformed with the relevant gene from the Bt bacterium produce the same toxin.

Bacterium. A one-celled prokaryote or organism. It is without a membrane-bound nucleus and, therefore, with no need for mitosis or meiosis during reproduction. They are present in soil, water, air and as free-living symbionts, parasites and pathogens. They are essential for feeding mankind through nitrogen and sulphur cycles as well as preventing cancer of the intestine, where they feed on healthy foods like oatmeal, potatoes, buttermilk and yoghurt. They show man their power to kill animals (anthrax) and mankind (tetanus).

Bacteriophage. A virus that is parasitic within a bacterium. The viruses insert genes into a bacterium’s genome. These are used in GE (genetic engineering) as cloning vectors.

Baculovirus. A group of viruses specific to insects, used as bio-insecticides.

Base. The nitrogenous part of a nucleotide. DNA has four bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. In RNA, thymine is replaced by uracil. The sequence of bases determines the genetic code.

Base pairing. The chemical linking of two complementary bases. In DNA, adenine pairs with thymine and cytosine with guanine. In RNA, thymine is replaced by uracil. Base pairing holds the two strands of DNA together to form a double helix.

Balanced diet. A diet including adequate natural foods to provide plenty of fibre, calcium, lysine, minerals, vitamins, protein, fats, oil, complex carbohydrates and water.

Biogeographical region. One of 7 or 8 regions of the world which contain distinctive groups of plants and animals which are normally prevented from leaving those regions by various natural, geographical barriers. See Collins’s Dictionary of Biology by Hale and Margham (1988). See also Vavilovian centres of origin and Origins of cultivated plants.

Biological control. Pest control by using natural predators (harmless to other organisms) to reduce the pest population.

Biometry. Application of statistical methods to the study of biological measurements, as in crop variety yield trials.

Biotechnology. Any natural biological procedure to produce a farm product, including the use of rennet (from calf’s stomach) in cheese making and the use of yeast in making bread, beer and wine. This includes Mendelian plant breeding but should exclude the unnatural procedures of gene technology like GE or GM, genetic modification.

Biotype. Distinct physiological strain or race within an apparently morphologically uniform species. The biotype population consists of individuals with identical genetic constitution.

Cell. The structural and functional unit of most organisms. The smallest unit of living matter capable of reproduction. Bacteria consist of a single cell but plants and animals are made up of billions of cells. A cell contains DNA and the organelles necessary for energy conversion and protein synthesis. Virtually every cell in an organism contains a complete set of that organism’s genes. This complete set of genes is the genome. There are 20 different amino acids that are the building blocks of the thousands of different proteins found in a cell.

Chloroplast. A type of plastid containing chlorophyll, found within the cells of plant leaves and stems. The site of photosynthesis: the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide and water using the energy of sunlight.

Chlorosis. A yellowing of plant leaves caused by lack of chlorophyll pigment due to mineral deficiency (magnesium or iron), or disease like virus yellows, both of which result in a decrease in photosynthetic rate.

Chromosomal aberration. Abnormal structure or number of chromosomes, including deficiency, duplication, inversion, translocation, aneuploid, polyploid, or any change from the normal pattern.

Chromosomes. Nucleoprotein bodies that are microscopically observable in the cell during cell division. They carry the genes, which are arranged in linear order. Every species is created with a characteristic chromosome number. They are thread-like bodies (from Gr.soma, body) comprising DNA and protein.

Clone. All the individuals derived by vegetative propagation from a single original individual. Genetic engineering starts with clones. Clones lack hybrid vigour.

Colchicine. A poisonous alkaloid (an organic compound containing nitrogen like nicotine, quinine, morphine and cocaine) extracted from the corms of Colchicum autumnale, autumn crocus. It is used to produce cells with double sets of chromosomes by arresting spindle formation and interrupting mitosis.

Continuous variation. Multiple genes are responsible for this type of variation which is important in increasing crop yielding ability. This is one proof of the futility of gene technology, where only one or two genes are involved, for yield increase.

Cross-pollination. This results in cross-fertilisation or allogamy, the reverse of self-fertilisation or autogamy. The female gamete fuses with a male gamete (carried in the pollen) from a different plant to produce offspring.

Cultivar. A cultivated variety.

Cytogenetics. The combined study of the inheritance of organisms and their chromosomal makeup.

Cytology. The study of the structure and function of the cells.

Cytoplasm. From Greek plasma, shape or body. The living contents of a cell, except for the nucleus. Jelly-like material in which the cell organelles are suspended.

Cytoplasmic inheritance. The theory that inheritance, not explained by Mendel’s laws, is determined by the cytoplasm, not the cell-nucleus. The inheritance of some fertiliser treatments on flax, Linum usitatissimum, was recorded by A. Durrant (1962) in Heredity 17: 27-61. This was non-Mendelian inheritance but is very rare.

Dicotyledonae. Plants with two seed leaves: potatoes, tomatoes, beans, sugar beet.

DNA. Deoxyribose nucleic acid. This chemical code of information is specified by a sequence of four different nucleotide building blocks, based on consecutive sets of three of these nucleotides. A complex nucleic acid molecule in the chromosomes of most organisms which controls the structure of proteins, the double helix shape of which was discovered by John Watson and Francis Crick in 1953.

Diploid. From Gr. diplos, double. Having 2 sets of homologous chromosomes in the nucleus, that is, double the number of chromosomes present in the sperm or egg-cells of the particular species.

Discontinuous variation. Mendel’s discovery of distinct classes, like red versus white and tall versus dwarf, which refuted the “blending inheritance” concept of evolution, as distinct from the polygenic nature of quantitative traits like crop yields.

Dominance. A genetic interaction where one allele of a gene masks the expression of the alternative allele in the heterozygote, the phenotype of which will be that of the dominant allele. The alternative allele is said to be recessive but is not lost to future generations. The term is unfortunate as the uninitiated may be led to believe that certain dominant characters are going to take over and multiply, proving that evolution is going on. Recycling law and the Hardy-Weinberg law explain what is really a stable situation.

Ecology. Interactions between plants, animals and their environment suggest that organisms have been specially created, according to a design to ensure cooperation in enriching and sustaining the environment. From Gr.oikos, house; logos, reason.

Environment. The surroundings of organisms. This must be taken into account when selecting plants for crop improvement. See Isolection breeding method.

Enzyme. A class of proteins produced by organisms to speed up chemical reactions, from Gr.zyme, yeast.

Escherichia coli. A bacterium found in the human gut which is being used extensively in biochemical and genetical studies.

Eukaryote. A fungus, plant or animal with both nuclei and chromosomes in its cells. Excludes bacteria and blue-green algae, both of which are prokaryotes, which are without a nucleus.

F₁. The first filial generation after a cross.or mating. The hybrid generation in corn.

F₂. The second filial generation produced by crossing inter se or by self-pollinating the F₁. Usually for wheat or oats, self-fertilisation of the F₁ is implied.

F₃ bulk. P4315 oats was derived from an F₂ plant (851 G59), which yielded 600 seeds. These were bulked together in the F₃ because of their great uniformity. This bulk of seed was given the Accession no. P4315 and proven to be the highest yielding oat that the Author has bred or is aware of.

F₄ directed bulks. A similar procedure was followed to produce Blackbutt because of its great uniformity in the F₂ but in the F₃ there was segregation for habit of growth. Only the prostrate plants were harvested and planted together in the F₄, which was bulked together and given the number P4319. This proved to be the highest yielding late maturing variety and was named Blackbutt in 1974.

Family. The taxon between order and genus and usually embracing more than one genus. Animal families end in -idae like Ursidae, the bears. Plant families have endings in -ceae like Rosaceae, the roses.

Fitness. This is a nonsensical term for biology or genetics. The Author found oats to be higher yielding (fitter) than winter wheat but more susceptible to frost damage (interpreted by some as natural selection) than winter wheat, both sown on the same soil together in the same experiment for a number of years involving sheep grazing and exact dry matter weights. Neither fitness nor natural selection can be measured in a state of nature, where they have even less relationship to one another than in a statistically designed experiment.

Fixity. A state of constancy such as is observed in the 6^th generation after a cross is made.

Free Trade. Trade arrangements where tariffs or other barriers to the free flow of goods and services are eliminated. Also known as laissez-faire (French for 'leave well alone'), free trade means no taxes on manufacturing goods and no tariffs paid when goods cross a border. It was an idea dear to the hearts of Victorian manufacturers and industrialists, who believed that anything that impeded free trade would reduce their profits.

Gene. From Gr. genos, race. The unit of heredity: a small piece of the chromosome which influences the development of the organism carrying it. A gene is said to be a “paragraph” of DNA message. DNA carries the instructions of heredity in the form of bases or letters strung along the middle of a double spiral molecule. This message is divided into sections or paragraphs called genes. A single gene usually codes for a single protein chain. There is no satisfactory hypothesis to support evolution of the protein-synthesising mechanism:

“Organisation, not substance, seems to make the difference between life and non-life.” See Gary Parker (1970), Origin of Life on Earth, Bible-Science Newsletter, VIII, No. 12, p. 4.

Gene pool. The total collection of varieties maintained by a plant breeder for purposes of interbreeding to provide more and more valuable combinations of genes and their alleles present in the separately created species of plant to which the breeder is committed. The production of genetic diversity and its maintenance, as well as peaceful contact with the Vavilovian centres, must be the first goal of plant and animal breeders, not the production of clones to be injected with foreign genes, as in genetic engineering. This is related to Chapter Two of this book, which sets out an oat Germplasm Inventory.

Gene technology. This usually involves only one or two genes and is a flawed system that has grown out of stopgap methods of perpetuating unsustainable, agricultural monoculture, which naturally increases crop weeds, pests and diseases. Genetic engineering is the forcible injection into an organism of an alien gene (a gene from a separately created species), which has a very low success rate and is resented by the host plant.

Genetic load. A measurement of the amount of deleterious genes in a population, calculated as the mean number of lethal genes per individual. This has to do with inbreeding and the incidence of mutations.

Genetics. From the Gr. genesis, descent. The science of heredity and variation, which seeks to account for differences and resemblances exhibited among organisms related by descent. Mendelism deals with the mechanism by which these differences and resemblances between related organisms are inherited. Mendelism is a real predictable science of transmission genetics, in contrast with evolution, which is an ideology, but an unproven theory.

Genome. The complete set of chromosomes in an individual.

Genotype. The genetic constitution of an individual, all of whose genes are available for transmission to the offspring of that individual, but not all of which will be manifested in its phenotype or outward appearance. This is due to the masking of recessive traits (blue eyes, for instance) by dominant traits (brown eyes) but does not mean that the blue eyes will not be passed on in succeeding generations. Only genetics can account for hereditary transmission.

Genus. A category bearing a name like Avena, for oats, represents a number of species, many of which are genetically isolated from one another and may be regarded as separate creations.

Hardy-Weinberg law (1908). Proposed by G.H. Hardy in England and independently by W.Weinberg in Germany, this law explains how the various alleles (forms) of a gene could remain constant in a population and yet be inherited by the rules of Mendelian genetics. For example, dominant phenotypes are not necessarily in excess of recessive ones in a population. If a gene has two alleles, A and a, with a frequency of p and q respectively, the genotypic frequencies will be:

AA Aa aa

p² + 2pq + q² = 1.0

Such genetic equilibrium is said to occur only under conditions of zero selection, zero mutation, zero migration, random mating and a large population size. In practice, this gives rise to stability not evolution, under natural conditions, as stated under recycling law. Under controlled breeding, either allele can be selected and isolated.

Harvest Index. The proportion of grain to total biomass produced by a crop variety.

Heredity. The transmission of characteristics from generation to generation, involving genes and chromosomes.

Heritability. The proportion of phenotypic variance in a population due to genetic differences. Heritability is a measure of genetic variability, necessary for the breeder’s selection to be effective. If heritability values for a particular character is low, this indicates high environmental variability and poor response to selection.

Heterosis or hybrid vigour. The superiority of a hybrid resulting from a cross between two inbred lines, especially in maize, a cross-pollinated species, where the hybrids yield much higher than either parent. In the case of self-pollinated species, the mid-point of heterosis, advanced by the Author to explain the law of heterosis, is reached by crossing together individuals within an ecospecies (winter oat x winter oat), instead of crossing individuals from different ecospecies (winter oat x spring oat), even though both ecospecies, (subspecies is an older term), may have been formerly classed as belonging to one species, like Avena sativa, oats. The high yields and vigour obtained at this mid-point is advanced as a proof of the separate creation of the particular ecospecies. Thus there is no common progenitor for the ecospecies classed together under Avena sativa. The various ecospecies were created in and for the widely separated Vavilovian centres of creation, where the purity of the natural in-breeders has been maintained by geographical isolation.

Heterozygote. An individual possessing two different allelic forms of the same gene in all diploid cells, like Aa (expressed as the dominant A but carrying the recessive a for future generations).

Homozygote. An individual possessing two identical forms of the same gene in all diploid cells, like AA, dominant, or aa, recessive.

Hybrid sterility. This is a breeding barrier when two different species are crossed together, like the horse and the ass, each with different chromosome numbers, a different physique and preferred natural habitat. The chromosomes do not match properly during meiosis, resulting in the sterile mule.

Inbreeding. Mating between human relatives leads to a loss of physical and mental health due to the accumulation of deleterious genes from a common ancestor, because Homo sapiens is an obligatory outcrossing species.

Isolation. Geographical separation from other populations of the same species. The claim that isolation causes speciation (formation of new species) has never been proven. Isolation has long preserved the identity of separate creations, like kangaroos, eucalypts and other natives of Australia.

Isolection breeding method. The Author developed a method of space-planting individual oat plants all from the same F₂ plants and in comparison with similarly spaced plants from other F₂ plants resulting from the same cross and other crosses. The purpose of this was to eliminate environmental variability and low heritability and to pinpoint superior F₂ progenies. This gave rise to new high-yielding oat varieties and the concept of Isolection theory or law in opposition to the concept of selecting under conditions of high population. See also Malthusian Point.

Johannsen, Wilhelm (1857-1927). A Danish breeder of beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, who coined the terms gene, genotype and phenotype. He called for a total rejection of evolution theory. Once a pure line, now called a variety, has been selected and isolated, it cannot evolve.

Kölreuter, Joseph (1733-1806). The first of the great hybridisers and discoverer of the commercial value of hybrid seed production. In 1760 he published his Preliminary Reports of Experiments and Observations Concerning Some Aspects of the Sexuality of Plants, describing over 500 plant hybridisation experiments. He crossed two different species of tobacco, Nicotiana rustica and N. paniculata, securing a healthy, vigorous hybrid, which proved sterile when self-fertilized, the first mule of the plant kingdom. He then proposed that growers should use the hybrid seed once only to produce high-yielding tobacco hybrids. He proposed other schemes for increasing vegetative yields in crops and in forestry, which were not adopted until another 200 years had passed.

Laws of Creation. Three laws may be identified as proof of the separate creation of every species and ecospecies. (1) The crossing together of different species and sometimes ecospecies results in sterility or greatly reduced yields, due to various genetic barriers. (2) The law of Isolection operates in the Vavilovian centres of origin, where self-pollinating ecospecies will occasionally cross within their own ecospecies to attain maximum heterosis and biodiversity, free of pollen from other or different ecospecies. (3) The law of Heterosis applies to both types of plants but is absolutely essential to cross-pollinating plants and to animals. The Author’s discovery of the mid-point of heterosis in self-pollinating plants is advanced as a proof that the various ecospecies have been separately created.

Linkage. A number of genes or characters which are usually inherited together, on the same chromosome. This great proof of a natural tendency towards the cohesion of separate species, due to T.H. Morgan, is another argument against evolution.

Linnaeus, Carl (1707-1778). The founder of the binomial system of classifying organisms, which is still used, proving that plants and animals are still exactly the same and therefore not evolving. He wrote the Systema Naturae in 1753. He was a genius for classification, a process of identifying unchangeable forms, still indispensable for all scientists. His belief in the fixity of species was confirmed by the experiments of Gärtner and Kölreuter.

Malthusian point. Coined by the Author during plant breeding experiments, while watching over-dense plant populations die from drought. When Darwin claimed that natural selection would favour a small minority of such plants, he had obviously never tried a controlled experiment of this nature, in which every plant died, while in the same field there were individual spaced plants of gigantic size and large yields of grain. These latter were thriving well above the Malthusian point of death. The opposite point to this is the low plant density of spaced plants in the Isolection method of plant breeding. See Isolection breeding method.

Mendel, Gregor (1822-1884). Published his masterpiece in 1866. His “Experiments in Plant-hybridisation” were not noticed or acted upon until 1900, when it was obvious to all unbiased scientists that evolution was no longer tenable. The absence of transitional forms in the second generation was a very good argument against the possibility of evolution, which was supposed to be a straight line process. Gärtner, Kölreuter and others had already observed that hybrids are inclined to revert back to the parental forms. We now know that the number of hybrids and their progeny from generation to generation is continually diminishing, according to formula 2ⁿ-1, where n is the generation number. For simplicity, take “A” to be a tall pea (one of Mendel’s) and “a” to be a short pea, which are both crossed together. In the first generation after a cross, we get the ratio:

1A : 2Aa : 1a

and the 10^th generation gives:

1,023 A : 2Aa : 1,023 a

This is obviously a reversal back to the parental forms and is referred to as “the case of the disappearing hybrids.”

Mendel’s laws. Mendel’s great mathematical ability and painstaking experiments showed the amazing order of nature and this order postulated two of the greatest laws of biology:

(1) The Principle of Segregation states: (a) In individuals differing in a single character and controlled by a pair of Mendelian factors, each trait appears as a unit, passes intact through the individuals of the first filial generation where it may or may not be visibly expressed and emerges unchanged in the second generation.

Or, restating it, (b) The units contributed by each parent separate in the germ-cells of the offspring without having had any influence on one another. Or, restating it, (c ) The members of a pair of factors separate into sister-gametes in germ-cell formation.

The Principle of Independent Assortment was defined by Mendel after he crossed a variety of pea, Pisum sativum, with round seed and yellow albumen with another pea variety having wrinkled seed and green albumen, as follows: (a) The genes are assorted independently of each other in germ-cell formation. Or, (b) The relation of each pair of different characters in hybrid union is independent of the other differences in the 2 original parental stocks.

The above two laws show the essence of Mendelian inheritance to be particulate. The genetic constitution is composed of different and separate units. Each kind of unit can exist in a number of discrete forms. The hereditary transmission of any kind of unit is more or less independent of that of the other units, the restriction of independence being a partial one, concerned with the phenomenon of linkage (a post-Mendelian development). Linkage is an exception to Mendel’s Second Law: Genes in the same chromosome tend to remain linked together to the extent of 50 to 99.9 %. Disjunction of genes in the same chromosome, however, may take place due to crossing-over. Some other post-Mendelian developments should be noted:-

• A particular gene may affect the development of several distinct characters.
• A particular gene may be and probably is influenced by other genes. Thus all the genes of an organism may act together to form a single interacting system. A difference between two genetical systems may be in one factor only, e.g., tall or short peas.
• A gene may be influenced profoundly by external and internal environment.
• A gene may have several allelomorphs, like 13 eye-colours in Drosophila.
• The linear arrangement of the genes can be shown on chromosome maps, as has been done for maize and barley.
• Genes are affected in their expression by their actual position in the chromosomes.
• Where some other crosses were found to follow other rules like “blending” inheritance, these exceptions could soon be explained by the fact that certain characters depend for their expression on the interaction of 2 or more pairs of genes. Thus the expected ratios could be modified in various ways, while the fundamental Mendelian laws of transmission remained the same. Indeed, with the exception of some traits inherited through the cytoplasm, the Mendelian transmission of genes accounts for all biological heredity.

Morgan, Thomas Hunt (1866-1945). American geneticist who discovered sex linkage in 1910, using the fruit fly, Drosophila, together with a method of mapping genes on the same chromosome, the units of distance between them being called centimorgans. He is one of the founders of modern genetics. Morgan ably refuted the theory of evolution, both that of Lamarckism (by his fruit-fly experiments) and that of neo-Darwinism (by his downgrading of natural selection in The Scientific Basis of Evolution).

Morphology. The study of the shape, general appearance or form of an organism, as distinct from anatomy, which requires dissection to discover the structure of an organism. Morphology is the plant breeder’s bible.

Mutation breeding. Mutagens are used to produce new genetic forms in agriculture. This is rarely successful because the vast majority of mutations are harmful. They are unnatural and likely to upset the delicate balance of genes of any species. Moreover, most mutagenic agents, whether radiations or chemicals, are also carcinogenic, that is, they induce cancers.

Mutual aid. Prince Propotkin wrote Mutual Aid in 1902 to counter the over-stated ideology of “survival of the fittest.” He studied animals from Siberia to the Yorkshire Moors as well as human societies and found a law of love, sympathy and self-sacrifice. In humans, he based this ethical concept on conscience and a desire for human solidarity. In plants, which he did not study, there is the corresponding harmony of mutualism and symbiosis.

Natural selection. An unscientific term coined by Charles Darwin. Oat varieties vary in their resistance to frost damage but this resistance may not be detected in a state of nature, where plants seed thickly and protect one another. Variety trials must be specially designed and planted and later subjected to sheep grazing so that the crowns of the plants are exposed to a uniform type of frost damage. The grain crop yield which recovers from this treatment may not be correlated with frost resistance as a measure of natural selection. For example, rye was found to be extremely hardy but was the lowest yielding, or least fit, of all the cereals tested. The correlation presumed by Darwin, therefore, does not hold under controlled conditions. Under natural conditions, non-human selection cannot be studied because organisms protect one another, just as tomato plants are protected from frost by planting them under spinach plants already two feet high and well established.

Nitrogen fixation. Atmospheric nitrogen (80% of the atmosphere) can be made into amino-acids by free-living prokaryotes (the aerobic Azotobacter and the anaerobic Clostridium) or by Rhizobium bacteria occupying swellings in the roots of leguminous plants called nodules. The latter case is called symbiosis and is vital for nitrogen-poor soils, the bacteria getting carbohydrates from the plant host. The nitrogen is reduced by the enzyme nitrogenase to ammonia thus:- N₂ + 3H₂ = 2NH₃. The ammonia reacts with keto-acids to form amino-acids.

Origin of cultivated plants, centres of. (1) Chinese: millet, buckwheat, soy beans, apple, plum and citrus fruit; (2) Indian: rice, sugar cane and many tropical crops; (3) Indo-Malayan: bananas, rubber; (4) Central Asian: garlic, onion; (5) Asia Minor: grape, pear, soft wheat, rye and several leguminosae; (6) Mediterranean: hard wheat, sugar-beet and forage crops; (7) West Asian: almond, apricot; (8) Abyssinian: wheat, barley, flax and oats; (9) Central American: upland cotton, runner beans; (10) South American: potato, tobacco and sea island cotton; (11) Tropical African: cowpea and rice of O. glaberrima species; (12) European: blackcurrants and oats of A. sativa species; (13) Australian: macadamia nut, eucalyptus tree. These are given to update Vavilov’s original centres of origin.

Phenotype. The observed traits of an organism. These may not correspond to its genotype, as when a recessive trait (e.g. frost resistance) is masked by another trait (e.g. earliness), in which case selection for frost resistance would be futile, especially if a natural selection method were relied upon. This is another reason, like pangenesis, why evolution does not happen through natural selection.

Photosynthesis. The process whereby green plants absorb the radiant energy of sunlight by their chlorophyll, using carbon dioxide and water to manufacture carbohydrates, by the equation:- 6CO₂ + 6H₂O = C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

Physiology. The branch of biology that relates to nutrition, respiration, reproduction and excretion in plants and animals.

Plasmid. A structure in cells consisting of DNA that can exist and replicate independently of the chromosomes. Bacterial plasmids are used to produce recombinant DNA for gene cloning. Plasmids are used in genetic engineering of micro-organisms. Plasmids are important in public health, as some types possess genes for antibiotic resistance.

Polygene. One of a group of genes influencing a quantitative characteristic like height in man or yield in crops. Multifactorial inheritance is involved.

Polypeptide chain. A sequence of amino acids joined together by peptide bonds, forming a protein.

Polyploidy. Three or more sets of chromosomes in an organism. Most crops are diploid, e.g., maize, rice, barley, sugar beet, soy bean and other grain legumes, rubber and cacao. Others are allopolyploids: wheat, oats, tobacco, sugarcane, cottons and arabica coffee. A few are autopolyploids: potatoes and lucerne. Each was created according to its kind. Chromosome doubling can occur, rarely, in nature. Man can do it, using a drug extracted from the autumn crocus, but usually it is not worthwhile. The diploid number in barley is shown as 2n. This is 14 = 2 x 7, that is, twice the basic chromosome number in the temperate climate cereals. The diploid number of wheat is 6n = 42 = 6 x 7, that is, 6 times the basic number, hence it is called a hexaploid like oats. Any crop with a number of 3n or more is a polyploid: this excludes barley. Allopolyploids are polyploids whose somatic nuclei are said to contain 3 or more complete genomes derived from different species. There is no proof for this, as Kihara pointed out. They were probably created thus with non-homologous or only partly homologous genomes. And why not if it improved the overall design of which man is ignorant? Autopolyploids are polyploids whose nuclei contain 3 or more complete homologous (alike) genomes, obviously from the one species.

Prokaryotes. Bacteria or blue-green algae that lack a membrane-bound nucleus and have no mitosis or meiosis. All are haploid, that is, contain one complete set of chromosomes, in contrast to eukaryotes, which can be haploid, diploid or polyploid.

Quantitative inheritance or Polygenic inheritance. Inheritance of quantitative traits, like crop yield, stature, weight or colour intensity, depend on the cumulative action of many genes, each producing a small but significant effect on the same trait. The expression of a polygenic character is also affected by the environment, as human height is affected by diet. A generous environment is needed for high heritability and success in the Isolection system of plant breeding.

Recombinant DNA technology. DNA that contains genes from different species, alien to one another, not by Mendelian breeding, but by an artificial, undesirable and unnecessary technique known as genetic engineering.

Recycling law. Advanced here by the Author as a result of his plant breeding experiments. It represents a force within self-pollinating plants and landraces which maintains genetic stability and prevents yield variability. The best varieties bred were judged to be those which gave the highest yields on average over a number of years in one site and, still better, those which gave high yields over a number of years in more than one site, each with a different local climate. This suggested that genetic homeostasis (a term coined by Lerner) was operating to maintain the genetic stability necessary to yield well in the variable seasons which succeed one another in Northern NSW. Separate creation, not natural selection, is responsible for the genetic make-up of the landraces and crop ecospecies found in the various Vavilovian centres of crop origin, as judged by yield-testing them in different climates (those of Western Australian and Northern NSW). This seems to constitute a good argument against evolution, not unlike Kimura’s theory of neutral alleles, which are said to be independent of population size and therefore contrary to one of the requirements of random genetic drift. The Author hopes that recycling law is a clearer way of explaining genetic stability than is the Hardy-Weinberg Law.

Species. The natural, or genetic, unit of classification for animals. Each has been created separately. For plants, geographical species, called either subspecies or ecospecies, from the Vavilovian centres of origin, separated by vast seas or mountain barriers, have been separately created. This is due to creative design: plants are more sensitive to the factors of environment, while most animals are mobile, warm-blooded and able to migrate away from excessive heat or cold. Man can live anywhere from the tundra to the tropics. Plants, on the other hand, are sedentary and have been created with different types of physiology to fit them for particular habitats and climates. Hence the validity of the Vavilovian centres of creation for plants.

Symbiosis or Mutualism. A relationship between dissimilar organisms which benefit the partners or members of the association.

Transgressive segregation. When 2 individuals, which possess some quantitative character or characters in common, are crossed together, it is possible to obtain in the progeny individuals, which possess that character or those characters in a higher degree than that of either parent. This is the key to increasing crop yields by natural, multigenic, Mendelian plant breeding. This is in contrast to genetic engineering or gene technology, which involves only one or two genes and causes yield reduction in such transgenic plants genetically modified by insertion of an alien gene.

Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovich (1887-1943). One of the greatest plant geneticist and appointed by Lenin in 1930. Established 400 research institutes and collected from overseas 26,000 species and varieties of wheat. His principle of maximum diversity pinpointed the world’s centres of crop origins, usually elevated areas with a wide range of micro-climates called Vavilovian centres. His work refuted the theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, basic to Darwinian and Lamarckian evolution.

Vavilovian Centre. See Vavilov, Recycling law and Origin of cultivated plants.