HYBRID SEEDS (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Agriculture)

Context: Hybrid seeds are becoming increasingly popular in India.

• The quicker harvest quality of hybrid seeds gives farmers a window to sow short-duration crops, such as potatoes, between two crop cycles.

Hybrid Seeds

• They are produced by controlled cross-pollination between different varieties of the same plant.
• F1 hybrid: It is a first-generation hybrid, which means that the seeds came from the cross-pollination of two parent plants from two different “pure” lines.

oThe origin of hybrids can be traced to India’s Green Revolution in the 1960s.

• Nature of hybrid seeds: They are quite sensitive to temperature and rain. For instance, a hybrid variety of paddy requires rainfall within 15-20 of sowing.
• Primary Producer of Hybrid Seeds: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,  Punjab and Haryana
• Haryana now grows a lot of hybrid bajra (pearl millet).
• Some of the Hybrid seed varieties: Wheat - Sonalika and Kalyan Sona, Rice - Jaya and Ratna and Cowpea - Pusa Komal.

Hybrid Seeds (Pros and Cons)

• Pros: Increased Yield, diseases resistance, improved quality and high nutrition, faster maturity, increased profitability.
• Cons: High cost, dependency, limited genetic diversity, ethical concerns, environmental impacts etc.