Principles of Plant Breeding (2+1)

Merits and Demerits of Synthetic variety

Merits:
1. Less costly compared to hybrids.
2. Farmer can maintain his synthetic variety for more seasons which is not possible in hybrids.
3. Because of wider genetic base the synthetics are more stable over years and environments.
4. Seed production is more skilled operation in hybrids where as it is not so in synthetics.

Demerits:
1. Performance is little bit lower compared to hybrids because synthetics exploit only GCA while hybrids exploit both GCA and SCA.
2. The performance may not be good when lines having low GCA are used.