Hybrid seed F1
F1 hybrid is a term used in horticulture. It shows that a plant is created through a certain method of breeding, by combining inbreed and crossings. This results in an equally growing crop with a high yield and uniformity, but which can’t effectively reproduce itself. In the Dutch horticulture a lot of hybrid races are used.
The alternative to a (F1-) hybrid variety is a pollinated variety: that is a variety that is created by using a classical way of breeding, by crossing and selecting. In a pollinated race, plants with (almost) the same properties as the parents grow out of the seeds. The reproductive cycle can thus endlessly be proceeded, from generation to generation. This does not apply to a hybrid race: the offspring may have deviate properties.
Positive characteristics
Hybrid races exist short relatively: they mainly came up and became popular during the 20th century in the Western agriculture; especially after 1950. Hybrid races are therefore especially selected for scheduled production under controlled circumstances.
Hybrid breeding works as follows. It is first ensured that a number of different positive characteristics are captured in homogeneous heritable material by inbred in two families of plants. The characteristics of the two families complete each other. Hereafter, these two families (“lines”) are crossed. This ensures that the positive characteristics of two parental plants in the F1-hybrid are combined. On top of that, these characteristics are strengthened thanks to heterosis. “F1” means the first descendant of two inbred lines after cross pollination. (The “F” stands for filius, Latin for son.)
Seed from the F1 hybrids often is more expensive than pollinated seed because it is developed by specialized breeding companies. For the gardener it makes no sense to produce the seed from a F1 hybrid. This is because the next generation has a lot of differences in both the appearance as in quality.
