“…Blends can (a) be more stable than their component lines (ALLARD, 1961 ;FREY & MALDONADO, 1967 ;SHORTER & FREY, 1979), (b) be equal to or higher yielding than their component lines (JENSEN, 1952 ;PREY & MALDONADO, 1967 ;CLAY & ALLARD, 1969), and(or) (c) have greater protection from disease than the mean of their component lines in pure stands (FREY et al, 1977 ;WOLFE & BAR-RETT, 1980) . Because of the effects of natural selection, however, changes in the genotypic composition of mixtures do occur (HARLAN & MARTINI, 1938 ;SUNESON & WIEBE, 1942 ;SUNESON, 1949;RASMUSSON et al ., 1967;KHALIFA & QUALSET, 1974; JENNINGS & DE JESUS, 1968) .…”