Breeding wonders or how fruits and vegetables have changed

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Today's abundance of products on the table is largely a consequence of not only scientific and technological progress, but also selection, which was made not by nature, but by man. It is thanks to the efforts of farmers and breeders that we have such familiar fruits and vegetables as watermelons, corn and even cucumbers on our table. Indeed, before human intervention, all these fruits were not only unattractive, but also in some cases simply inedible.

1. Corn

People used corn for food more than 10 thousand years BC, but then it was most likely about the ancestor of the modern product - the herb teosinte. But it looked a little different: then the grains were hard, small and dry, and they tasted like raw potatoes.

In the thirties of the last century, scientists found that modern corn began to have longer ears with bulky kernels about 6 thousand years ago through the efforts of Mesoamerican farmers. And in the eighties, researchers are trying to make crops more resilient: they are trying to make them more resistant to pests and drought, as well as increasing yields.

2. Watermelon

On a fragment of the canvas Still Life with Watermelons, Peaches, Pears and Other Fruits by Giovanni Stanki of the 17th century, the watermelon can be recognized only thanks to its striped skin. Indeed, thanks to the miracles of breeding, melon has changed a lot, and today it is a juicy ruby-red fruit. But before that, watermelons had a much less attractive picture for the consumer.

The thing is that plants are able to survive in the wild exclusively due to the large number of seeds, so the early watermelon had quite a lot of them. However, farmers preferred fruits with a sugar, juicy heart, but with a small number of seeds. It was this choice that made the watermelon attractive for human consumption, but completely unsuitable for survival in the wild.

3. Banana

Bananas can be confidently considered a unique case of hybridization and selection, and all due to the fact that the most popular fruit variety does not produce offspring.

But 10 thousand years ago, the fruits, as in the case of watermelons, contained such a huge amount of seeds that they were absolutely inedible. But today, thanks to selection, there are about a thousand varieties of bananas, and the yellow fruits loved by millions are a type of the Cavendish plant: according to Novate.ru, it is this plant that makes up about 99% of world banana exports.

This variety gained popularity in the fifties due to its resistance to Panamanian disease. True, in modern conditions, the Cavendish is also under threat: the fact is that over the last century the plant has not evolved naturally in any way, and therefore has become vulnerable to insects and bacteria. It is precisely the increase in the endurance of this variety that researchers and breeders have been doing in recent years.

4. Eggplant

The origin of eggplants is still under active debate and discussion, but today the most common version is that they had thorns, and besides, they were poisonous, and belong to the nightshade family.

The presence of the needles of the ancestor of eggplant was explained by the protective function: they made it difficult to eat them. But people preferred to take seeds for planting from fruits with a small number of thorns, thin skin and plump pulp. Long-term use of this practice has transformed the prickly poisonous fruit into an oblong purple vegetable, which has about 15 varieties.

5. Carrot

The first mention of carrots can be seen in Persia back in the 10th century, only then it looked completely different from what it is now. The ancient vegetable had a purple or white hue with a thin, branched root system, in contrast to the modern root. As for the appearance of a modern red hue in carrots, not everything is unambiguous either, but the most likely version is a genetic mutation - it was as a result of this process that the vegetable turned yellow.

For many years, farmers and breeders have selected root crops that are approximately the same in shape, as well as the most attractive in color and taste. Judging by the fact that today we have exactly orange carrots on our table, it turned out to be the most preferable for people of the past.

6. Peach

The ancestor of modern peaches appeared in China about 6 thousand years ago, but their appearance was strikingly different from modern ones. Originally, the fruits were similar in size to cherries, moreover, they had a hard and dry structure, and they tasted like lentils. But the farmers decided otherwise: they chose the most acceptable fruits for planting trees, and over the years they managed to bring out the juicy and sweet fruits familiar to us.

7. Cucumber

It’s hard to believe, but the vegetable, which today is happily cut into salads, was used exclusively for medicinal purposes in the past. The thing is that initially the appearance and characteristics of the cucumber were similar to eggplant: it was also prickly and poisonous. And only the efforts of farmers and breeders have turned the unattractive inedible fruit into a vegetable loved by millions.