Criticism of hybrid seeds is getting louder, but are the prejudices justified? We'll get to the bottom of it for you.
Hybrid seeds are now an integral part of farming. With a few exceptions, for example, all sugar beet and maize fields in Germany are cultivated with hybrid varieties and they are also used in a variety of ways in the production of vegetables and ornamental plants. Not only in industrialized countries like Germany, but also in less developed countries like India, more and more farmers prefer the expensive hybrid seeds. That's why many people ask themselves: What are hybrid varieties and which seed is the right one for the hobby gardener?
What is hybrid seed?
Breeding hybrid seeds is actually not very complicated or expensive and can be done on a wide variety of plants. Here, two plant lines or populations with long-established properties are crossed. The parent plants exhibit certain traits in a stable and secure manner, but are already hampered by the disadvantages of inbreeding due to repeated mating with themselves. When mated together, they produce the hybrid generation (F1), which overcomes this so-called inbreeding depression. In the ideal case, offspring with the desired characteristics are created not only from one, but from both parents. This is where the so-called heterosis effect comes into play: the inbred parents now produce offspring that far exceed the yield, vigour, and robustness of their parents. This effect brings with it an increase in yield that the grower will want to take advantage of. Of course, not only those who have to make a living from them want more robust plants, but also the hobby gardener is happy when his plants are not overwhelmed by diseases.
It is also useful that plants from hybrid seed are homogeneous. So they're all as similar as it gets. Although this is also possible with plants from other breeding methods, it is achieved in hybrid breeding in a fraction of the time, namely with just one cross.
Tip: Hybrid breeding is just one of many methodsfor growing plants. In the past, varieties have already been created using chemical or radioactive treatments, and plant cells artificially modified in the laboratory are also used in classic line and population breeding to achieve breeding goals. Unfortunately, the term "hybrid breeding" has a bad reputation simply because of the word used, although this method offers many advantages.
Hybrid Seeds: Benefits
Hybrid strains can yield up to 30% more than their parent lines. In developing countries in particular, the nutrition of the population can be ensured in this way. The plants are genetically extremely similar, the population in the field is the same and they are ripe at the same time. The fruits harvested are also similar, so processing and packaging for sale is much easier and saves time - resulting in low prices for vegetables in our supermarkets. Another great benefit is the ability to crossbreed all kinds of disease resistance into plants in a short amount of time, without spending years solidifying those traits. There are now many tomato F1 varieties with resistance or high tolerance to typical tomato diseases such as velvet spot disease (Cladosporium fulvum), late blight (Phytophthora infestans ) or the tomato mosaic virus (TMV).
Compared to classic breeding through repeated crossing and selection, hybrid breeding makes it much easier to introduce different characteristics into a variety at the same time. Because the more properties that are to be processed in breeding, the longer the path to the finished variety in line or population breeding. As a breeder, you save up to ten years to consolidate the properties of a variety. Hybrid breeding also makes it possible to react relatively spontaneously to special events such as the appearance of a new pest or a new plant disease.
Hybrid seeds: disadvantages
Hybrid seed also has disadvantages, especially in agriculture: Because it simply outperforms other varieties due to its higher performance, it intensifies the price war on the market. Farmers who do not want to use hybrid seeds are no longer profitable because those with hybrid seeds can offer perfect crops at a lower price. A major disadvantage for agricultureis the fact that hybrid seed cannot be further propagated by the farmer himself because crossing two different inbred lines will only result in a genetic mess being passed on. The offspring of the hybrids are a motley bunch of plants with different characteristics and show reduced performance - so seed has to be bought new for each season. Unfortunately, the hybrid seed is quite expensive because the breeders can set the price themselves due to the dependence of the farmers.
For these reasons, organic farming in particular rejects hybrid breeding, also because it has the image of the "unnatural".
There is no doubt that it is very important that classically bred varieties are retained in organic farming, because they contain the valuable genetic resources from which new varieties can be bred to meet the demands of the future. Hybrid breeding, on the other hand, uses only a fraction of these resources, which creates a risk: if all growers in a region use the same hybrid variety, all of these plants are also equally susceptible to diseases, pests or adverse environmental influences - it is a strong one, so to speak intensified monoculture consisting only of genetically identical plants.
The focus of hybrid breeding on yield and disease resistance is also disadvantageous for the hobby gardener. Taste, aroma and other ingredients such as vitamins and essential oils are so often neglected, the watery supermarket tomato is a prime example of this. Older and historical varieties yield less and require more experience in the care, they often reward with unique aromas, fruit shapes and colors. Hybrid seeds easily cost a multiple of open-pollinated varieties and the selection is much smaller. In addition, every hobby gardener makes a contribution to the preservation of the variety and thus to the preservation of genetic diversity if more varieties that are open-pollinated are cultivated. What the loss of this diversity means can be seen in the example of the 'Cavendish' banana. For decades, this banana was the only one that ended up in stores and in our bellies. The world's great banana plantations were created by offshoots from a single plant, until a Fusarium fungus cracked their defenses and suddenly threatened the entire world's banana production.
If you have basic knowledge of plant breeding, then it is easily possible to grow seeds of classic varieties yourselfharvest and preserve the varietal characteristics. At the same time, of course, you also save money and preserve all of our cultural assets, which mankind has painstakingly cultivated and cared for for thousands of years.
The advantages and disadvantages of hybrid seed at a glance:
| Advantages | Cons |
|---|---|
| Higher Yield | High Prices |
| More resistant to many diseases | Seeds must be bought new every year |
| The characteristics of new varieties can be established quickly | Often little aromatic |
| Contribution to variety preservation and genetic diversity | Loss of variety and insufficient genetic diversity |
Would you like to win seeds for next year from your favorite strains but don't know exactly what to look out for? You can find everything on the subject in our special article.