Sybrid Population: A New Breeding Method for Often Cross-Pollinated Legumes (Leguminocea)

To enhance the productivity of often-cross-pollinated legumes, the authors hereby propose a new breeding concept to augment their crop improvement programmes. This method, christened as ‘sybrid population breeding’, is designed for those crops where a considerable hybrid vigour is present, but its exploitation is mired either by nonavailability of a stable male-sterility system or inadequate natural cross-pollination. Its breeding is done by growing two high-yielding genetically diverse but phenotypically uniform inbred lines in an isolation and exposing them to natural cross-pollination. Their bulk harvest, which include both the crossed (hybrid) and self-pollinated (inbred) seeds, is the ‘sybrid population’. This population partially reaps the benefits of pure line as well as hybrid breeding technologies, thereby capitalizing on both additive and nonadditive genetic variances. Unlike popular hybrids, the sybrid seeds are produced without using any male-sterile line, and this not only simplifies its seed production but also reduces the cost considerably. To mitigate inbreeding depression, the sybrid seeds are intended only for a single-time use, and this ensures the population to maintain its hybrid vigour and avoids negative influences of inbreeding. The sybrid seed production also yields a high seed-to-seed ratio, and this would make it an affordable new product for the farmers. In view of these benefits of sybrids, the plant breeders are encouraged to explore this innovative breeding avenue for enhancing the productivity of some often-cross-pollinated legumes.