Breeding of Vegetable, Spice and Tuber crops (2+1)

Merits and Demerits Synthetic Variety

Merits

• Less costly compared to hybrids
• Farmer can maintain his synthetic variety for more seasons which is not possible in hybrids
• Because of wider genetic variety base, the synthetics are more stable over years and environments.
• Seed production is more skilled operation in hybrids where as it is not so in synthetics.
• Synthetic varieties have vast genetic variability which provides then better protection from the infestation of new races of a disease.

Demerits

• Performance is little bit lower compared to single or double cross hybrids because synthetics exploit only GCA while hybrids exploit both GCA and SCA.
• The performance of synthetic is adversely affected by lines with relatively poorer GCA. Such lines have to be included to increase the number of parental lines making up the synthetics as lines with outstanding GCA are limited in number.
• The performance of synthetic varieties is less uniform and less attractive.
• Synthetic varieties are utilized in cross pollinated species only,
• Whereas hybrids can be developed in both cross & self pollinated species