Question 36: Discuss the role of hybridisation in crop improvement.
Answer:
When a plant or animal is bred with a plant or animal from a different stock, the process is known as hybridization. There are numerous reasons to create hybrids, including increasing genetic diversity and breeding for specific traits. It is frequently practiced in agriculture, to make stronger, healthier plants with desirable characteristics.
Plants hybridize much more frequently and successfully than animals do. Pollen from flowering plants dispersed widely and may land on flowers of other species. Chromosomal doubling (polyploidy) occurs more frequently in plants and facilitates the fertility of the hybrid offspring. Finally, plant forms are less stringently controlled than animal forms, and so the intermediate form of a plant hybrid is more likely to be physiologically successful.
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