The Advantages of Plant Hybridization

Hybrids are plants that result from controlled cross-breeding of two different but specific varieties or breeding lines of the same species of plant. Male pollen is transferred to the female pistil to achieve pollination, thus forming a seed. The result is what is called an F1 hybrid. This cross-breeding of carefully chosen parent plants produces a combination of consistent traits that make hybrids better performers than either parent.

Hybrid plants are usually more vigorous than their parents because the simple act of crossing different strains results in higher yields and stronger plants. Seedlings are stronger, making crop establishment in the field easier. Hybrids are also often quicker to maturity, show bigger root and foliage improvement and higher yields of flowers and fruit.

Plants, like other living organisms, are susceptible to a variety of diseases and illness such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematode infestation. Diseases result in monetary losses in agriculture due to lower yields. Some hybridization techniques focus on combining strong disease-resistant characteristics from parent plants. Commercial seed catalogues often note the type of disease resistance that a hybrid carries.

Similar to disease resistance, parent plants are also selected for their resistance to certain stressful conditions such as lack of water, extreme heat or cold, etc. Preferred characteristics include efficient photosynthesis, production of plant nodules and increased ability to hold water. Stress resistance results in reliable annual performance regardless of weather conditions.

F1 hybrids produce uniform plants, which makes managing the entire crop easier. Uniform plants are particularly desirable for the flowerbed where uniformity in size and growing habits is preferred. In vegetable production, uniformity can lead to increased yields per unit area in the same growing time with the same amount of fertilizer. Hybridization can stabilize improvements so that traits remain the same from one year to the next. Uniform growth selection often results in earlier maturity, which has positive consequences for growers and marketers.

Desired improvements can sometimes take years to develop. Unlike seeds from heirloom plants, using seeds from an F1 hybrid, more commonly known as an F2 hybrid, will not produce the same results. Plants from these seeds will randomly pick up the characteristics of the parent plants, resulting in plants of lower quality than the original hybrid. Therefore, F1 hybrids must always be pollinated by hand to produce the desired characteristic.