Polyploidy and Domestication: The Origin and Survival of Polyploids in Cytotype Mixtures

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Abstract
Mixtures of cytotypes occur in nature and are grown by man. Such mixtures are often cultivated as a landrace, i.e., the farmer does not pay any attention to the types he is growing, or, if he does, he only carries out a mild selection pressure. Of course, he is not aware of cytotypes. For example, farmers in Ethiopia grow a mixture of hexaploid bread wheat and tetraploid durum wheat. Owing to gene exchange both the cytotypes resemble each other (1), and therefore the crop is “sown as mixtures, grown as mixtures, reaped as mixtures, threshed and milled as mixtures, baked and brewed as mixtures” (1) and stored as mixtures.