Welcome to You Ask Andy

Franklin Jelsna, age 12, of Louisville, Ky., for his question:

WHAT IS HYBRIDIZATION?

Some examples of hybridization with fruits include the tanglo, which is a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine, the citrange which is made by crossing sweet and

sour oranges, and the golden delicious apple, a hybrid made by crossing a delicious apple with a Grimes delicious apple.

Hybridization is the mating or crossing of two parents of different species or varieties and developing an original. This has been done in both the anima' and plant kingdoms we find a good example with the mule which is the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. The child is sterile and cannot reproduce.

Also in the animal world is a hybrid turkey that has been developed by crossing a chicken with a turkey. The result is a smaller and fuller breasted turkey.

_Luther Burbank did much in the hybridization of plants. He experimented with potatoes, produced hybrid flowers, vegetables, trees, grains and grasses. He also originated at least 60 different kinds of plums and prunes.

A hybrid flower is produced by taking the pollen from one plant and dusting it onto the pistils of another plant. A bag is then placed over the pistils until the seeds develop. When planted, the special seeds will produce a hybrid. Crossing a white and pink rose, for example, may produce a white rose with pink stripes.

Some crosses may not work when attempting hybridization of some plants. A lack of the proper number of chromosomes in one of the parents will bring a failure.

Corn has been successfully hybridized. Two rows of different kinds of corn, planted side by side, are left almost to maturity. Then the tassels, or male flowers, on one row are cut off before they ripen with pollen. It will then be fertilized by the pollen from the other row next to it, and the resulting seed will be planted to yield improved corn.

More than 100 years ago, in 1865, Gregor Mendel discovered there is a gradual increase in the number of sterile species descending from hybrids. Hybrids, he discovered, tend to produce a larger number of malformations than will parents of the same species.

Inbreeding of animals may be used if a particular characteristic is desired. This would not be a hybrid, since inbreeding is the continual mating of closely related stock.

 

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