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Science Magazine Podcast
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The Relationship Between Hybrid Vigor and Sexual Reproduction
Everything that has been hugely important in agriculture really in the last century is a phenomenon. This mysterious called hybrid vigor. It just means that you get a plant that is really robust, grows well and generates a lot of seed. So why is there this link between hybrids and sexual reproduction? What do we know about that? There are various theories for why this is the case. But what happens is clear. You have two inbred parents. Each parent is very genetically uniform. Think of them as purebreds. If you cross them, for some reason, when you combine certain genes of the male withcertain genes of the female, you end up with a really optimal combination. And so
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