Interploidy hybridization is a term to describe a
hybridization (or manual cross) between two different individuals of different ploidy levels. Individuals resulting from this type of hybridization are called interploidy hybrids.
This phenomenon is often observed in
plants
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...
. Interploidy hybridizations in
angiosperms
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. T ...
often cause abnormal seed development, leading to reduced seed size or seed abortion. This
reproductive bottle neck leads to a phenomenon called
triploid block.
In
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
, development of new plant
cultivar
A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s, utilizing interploidy hybrids, is usually preceded by
interspecific cross between two closely related species with different ploidy levels.
References
Hybridisation (biology)
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