Discuss the role of hybridisation in crop improvement.

1. Choice of Parents:

Two older varieities of crop having different desirable characteristics, are selected. For example, if we want to obtain a variety having higher yield as well as disease resistance, we should select two existing varieties of crops, one having higher yield and the other having more resistance to diseases.

2. Cross-breeding:

The Two Parents. Pollen grains of plants of one variety are dusted over the stigmas of plants of the other variety and vice-versa. It produces a new variety which has good chacateristics of both the parents. The process of crossing plants of two varieties having different traits to produce a hybrid having good traits of both is called The crossing may be intervarietal (between different varieties), intergeneric (between different genera) or interspecific (between different species of the same genus). The most common type of breeding is intervarietal.