Page 108 - The Error of the Evolution of Species

The Error of the Evolution
of Species

with desired characteristics are obtained by cross-breeding

different varieties of many cereals, fruits, vegetables, plants
and animals. For example, breeders employ special mating
programs in order to obtain sheep and cattle that give the
best wool, meat or milk. They obtain new strains by mating
cattle with high meat and milk productivity but with poor
resistance to natural conditions with others with low meat
and milk productivity, but which are more resistant. 123

Crops such as wheat, rice and corn, indispensable parts
of our daily lives, have also been improved thanks to their
innate genetic diversity. High-productivity varieties that are
resistant to disease, climatic conditions and drought have
been obtained by crossbreeding wild plant species. For ex-
ample, it was recently observed that Zea diploperennis, a
species of Mexican wild corn, possessed resistance genes to
seven viruses that cause disease. 124 The genetic structure of
this wild corn is worth billions of dollars a year. Resistance
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to a deadly virus carried by the genes of one African species
of wild barley and resistance to disease in a species of wild
Asian sugar cane have been used to increase the productiv-
ity of domestic varieties. One species of wild tomato dis-
covered in the Andes has been used to increase the sugar
content of other domestic tomatoes. 126 According to World
Resources Institute statistics, genetic diversity was the main

reason for a two-fold increase in the rice, barley, wheat, cot-

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