b'YOU ARE MYTH TAKENHYBRIDS EVEN SOMETHING AS COMMON AND WELL KNOWN AS HYBRID PLANT VARIETIES IS SUBJECT TO MYTHS.COMPILED BY MARCEL BRUINSDEFINITION: WHAT IS A HYBRID?MYTH: HYBRIDS ARE GENETICALLY Before anything else, a question should be answered to makeMODIFIED sure we are on the same page, namely: what are hybrids?FACT:Hybrids are sometimes considered to equate genetically Hybrids, hybrid cultivars or F1-hybrids are the product of amodified organisms (GMO), but they are two completely differ-crossing of two (or more) parent lines. In the process of creat- ent things. Hybrid breeding is based on the natural crossing of ing a hybrid variety, plant breeders will first develop a numbera male parent and a female parent to produce offspring who will parent lines with the desired characteristics, and subsequently,have the best traits from both of its parents. The genes of the they cross multiple times two selected lines to find out whichparents are combined working with the natural reproductive combination of two parent lines generate the best hybrid. Threesystems of crops. In contrast, genetic modification in the narrow technical benefits of hybrids are heterosis (hybrid vigour), traitsense entails the changing of specific gene functions to achieve stacking and uniformity, where heterosis means that the off- more desirable characteristics in an organism. This is typically spring outperforms its parents. By trait stacking, new traits aredone in a laboratory. Hybrids are widely used in Europe, whereas added to existing cultivars and uniformity indicates an overallonly a few GMOs have been approved. higher degree of sameness of plants compared to open-polli-nated varieties of the same crop. Hybrids often also have eco-nomic and seed production planning advantages. 14IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'