Crossing plants with each other. Favorite flowers. Getting Your Own Hybrid Seeds

Growing plants at home is a very common hobby. But most fans do not attach importance to the rules for caring for plants. Although this care takes very little time. And the result a hundredfold pays for all the efforts spent. After all, if everything is done correctly, then the plants are healthy, grow well and please with their appearance. Therefore, every nature lover involved in growing plants needs to know the answers to at least the main questions related to this activity.

How to cross plants? Crossbreeding of plants is carried out in order to obtain a new variety with the traits necessary for the breeder. Therefore, the first step is to decide what qualities are desired in the new plant. Then a selection of parent plants is made, each of which has one or more of these dominant qualities. It makes sense to use plants that have grown in different regions - this makes their heredity richer. But still, before embarking on breeding, you should still familiarize yourself with specialized literature, for example, with a description of the methods of work of I. V. Michurin.

How to save a plant? There are times when the plant begins to die for some reason. The first sign is usually the disease state of the leaves. Then you need to check the state of the stem. If it has become too soft, brittle or rotten, then there is hope that the roots are healthy. But if they have deteriorated, then this means that the plant has died. In other cases, you can try to save him. To do this, you will have to cut off the damaged part. But the stems are not completely cut off, leaving at least a few centimeters above the ground. Then you need to place the plant so as to halve the amount of solar time it receives and water it sparingly when the soil is completely dry. Such measures will help the plant fight the disease and new shoots will appear in a few months.

How to care for indoor plants? In order for the plants to be healthy and look beautiful, you need to follow a few mandatory rules. First, they need to be properly watered. You can not flood the plant, it is better to underfill. This should be done when the ground is dry. Water should be at room temperature. It must be remembered that tropical plants also require daily spraying. Another important condition for plant life is lighting. Be sure to find out what intensity and duration of lighting is required for the plant and provide the necessary conditions for it. Temperature is the third important factor for the life and health of plants. Most of them are suitable for room temperature. But some types of colder regions need a lower temperature in winter. This can be ensured by placing a flower on a glazed balcony.

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Often, non-specialists are suspicious of hybrid plants, unaware that many of the crops they grow in their garden plots are the result of many years of work by breeders.

What is plant crossing

Hybridization or crossing of plants is one of the main methods of plant breeding. The essence of the method is the crossing of two plants of different varieties, species or genera.

The result, which directly depends on the selection of parent plants, is the production of new varieties and species.

For example, few people know that in nature there were no crops such as plums or garden strawberries. Plum was obtained by crossing blackthorn and cherry plum, and garden strawberries, or as they are incorrectly called strawberries, are the result of crossing wild types of strawberries - Virginia and Chilean.

Crossbreeding technology

Crossbreeding technology consists in the artificial or natural transfer of pollen from a plant of one variety or species to another, carried out under careful control.

During this period, it is important to isolate the flowers to prevent foreign pollen from entering.

1. Choose two plants of different varieties or species.
2. Choose the most conveniently located flowers on the mother plant.
3. Unblown (one day before blooming) buds carefully open.
4. Carefully remove all stamens with pollen with tweezers.
5. Wrap flowers with stamens removed with white thin cloth to avoid unplanned pollination.
6. The day before the removal of stamens from one plant from the second (paternal) from the buds about to bloom, collect pollen in a glass jar.
7. The jar is covered with gauze or a light transparent cloth and placed in a dry place.

The day after the removal of the stamens from the mother plant, fertilization is carried out:

• The best time is the first half of the day until twelve o'clock.
• Shake the dust can.
• The pollen that has settled on the walls of the jar is carefully applied with a cotton swab or other improvised tool (you can even use your finger) on the stigma of the pestle of the mother plant.
• Cover the fertilized flower again with a light thin cloth or gauze.
• Fertilization is repeated for 3 days.

Fertilized flowers should be covered for the entire period of growth until the fruit ripens. Extra flowers are recommended to be removed. After harvesting ripened fruits, they should be aged from several weeks to several months, depending on the time of ripening and the shelf life of the crop.

Seeds of stone fruit plants are sown immediately on the ridges, pome seeds of summer ripening after three days of drying are sown in the sand on the beds in the fall. Seeds of plants that ripen in autumn are harvested when the fruits are already beginning to deteriorate, but no later than April. After harvesting and drying, they are sown in prepared containers.

Spatial and temporal isolation during crossing

When crossing cross-pollinated crops, spatial isolation can be used: plants are grown in different areas remote from plants of a given variety. These crops include carrots, cabbage, beets, etc.

In dioecious plants, such as spinach, when grown in the same area, one of the varieties needs to remove the male plants.

Crossing cross-pollinated crops in isolated areas greatly minimizes labor costs: pollination occurs naturally - by wind or insects. In addition, it is possible to spread several plants of the same variety in one isolated area, thus increasing the number of hybrid seeds obtained. A significant drawback of this method is the impossibility of completely eliminating the ingress of foreign pollen. In addition, with natural cross-pollination, about half of the plants are fertilized with pollen from their own variety.

In regions with a warm climate, where the growing season is quite long, for plants with fast-flowering flowers, isolation in time intervals can be used: different combinations of crossing are carried out in the same area. Different flowering periods exclude unplanned cross-pollination.

In breeding practice, in the absence of sufficient space for the organization of individual plots, insulating structures are used:

• The design is made in the form of a frame, which is covered with a light transparent fabric.
• To isolate individual shoots or inflorescences, small "houses" are made of parchment paper or gauze, which are wrapped around a wire frame.

For plants pollinated by insects, when constructing insulators, it is better to use materials such as cambric or gauze, for wind-pollinated crops - parchment paper.

Benefits of crossing

The process of hybridization - crossing plants - is aimed at obtaining plant varieties that have the advantageous properties of parental varieties, such as:

• High yield
• Disease resistance
• Frost resistance
• drought tolerance
• Short maturation time

For example, if the parent and mother plants have resistance to different diseases, then the resulting hybrid will inherit resistance to both diseases.

Hybrid varieties of plants have better viability, they are less susceptible to changes in temperature, humidity, and changes in climatic conditions than their non-hybrid counterparts.

More information can be found in the video.

Man in his desire to improve nature is moving further and further. Thanks to modern achievements in genetics, farmers are getting more and more unusual and interesting hybrids that can satisfy the most daring desires of consumers.
In addition, globalization leads to the spread of plant species that are not typical for a given climatic zone. We have long gone from the exotic pineapples and bananas, hybrid nectarines and miniols, etc. have become familiar.

yellow watermelon (38 kcal, vitamins A, C)

Outside, it is the usual striped watermelon, but at the same time bright yellow inside. Another feature is the very small number of bones. This watermelon is the result of crossing a wild (yellow inside, but completely tasteless) watermelon with a cultivated watermelon. The result is juicy and tender, but less sweet than red.
They are grown in Spain (round varieties) and Thailand (oval). There is a variety "Lunar" bred by the breeder Sokolov from Astrakhan. This variety has very sweet tastes with some exotic notes like mango or lemon or pumpkin.
There is also a Ukrainian hybrid based on watermelon (“kavun”) and pumpkin (“garbuza”) - “kavbuz”. It is more like a pumpkin with a watermelon flavor and is ideal for making porridges.

purple potatoes (72 kcal, vitamin C, B vitamins, potassium, iron, magnesium and zinc)

A potato with a pink, yellow or purple skin no longer surprises anyone. But scientists from Colorado State University managed to get a potato with a purple color inside. The basis of the variety was the Andean highland potatoes, and the color is due to the high content of anthocyanins. These substances are the strongest antioxidants, the properties of which are preserved even after cooking.
They called the variety "Purple Majesty", it is already actively sold in England and begins in Scotland, the climate of which is most suitable for the variety. The popularization of the variety was facilitated by the English culinary specialist Jamie Oliver. These purple potatoes with the usual taste look great in the form of mashed potatoes, an indescribable rich color, baked, and of course french fries.

romanesco cabbage (25 kcal, carotene, vitamin C, mineral salts, zinc)

The ethereal appearance of this close relative of broccoli and cauliflower perfectly illustrates the concept of "fractal". Its pale green inflorescences are cone-shaped and arranged in a spiral on a head of cabbage. This cabbage comes from Italy, it has been widely sold for about 10 years, and Dutch breeders contributed to its popularization, slightly improving the vegetable known to Italian housewives since the 16th century.

Romanesco has little fiber and a lot of useful substances, due to which it is easily digested. Interestingly, when cooking this cabbage, there is no characteristic cabbage smell that children do not like so much. In addition, the exotic look of the space vegetable makes you want to try it. Romanesco is prepared like regular broccoli - boiled, stewed, added to pasta and salads.

Pluot (57 kcal, fiber, vitamin C)

From the crossing of such plant species as plums (plum) and apricots (apricot), two hybrids were obtained pluot, which looks more like a plum, and aprium, more like an apricot. Both hybrids are named after the first syllables of the English names of the parent species.
Outwardly, the fruits of the pluot are painted in pink, green, burgundy or purple, the inside is from white to rich plum. These hybrids were bred in the Dave Wilson Nursery in 1989. Now in the world there are already two varieties of aprium, eleven varieties of pluot, one nectaplama (a hybrid of nectarine and plum), one pichplama (a hybrid of peach and plum).
Plows are used for making juice, desserts, homemade preparations and wine. The taste of this fruit is much sweeter than both plums and apricots.

watermelon radish (20 kcal, folic acid, vitamin C)

Watermelon radishes live up to their name - they are bright raspberry inside and covered with a white-green skin on the outside, just like a watermelon. In shape and size, too (diameter 7-8 cm), it resembles a medium-sized radish or turnip. It tastes quite ordinary - bitter at the skin and sweetish in the middle. The truth is more solid, not as juicy and crispy as usual.
It looks wonderful in a salad, simply sliced ​​with sesame seeds or salt. It is also recommended to make mashed potatoes from it, bake, add to vegetables for frying.

Yoshta (40 kcal, anthocyanins with antioxidant properties, vitamins C, P)

Crossing plant species such as currant (johannisbeere) and gooseberry (stachelbeere) gave the joshtu berry with fruits close to black, the size of a cherry, sweet and sour, slightly astringent taste, pleasantly reminiscent of currants.
Michurin also dreamed of creating a currant the size of a gooseberry, but not prickly. He managed to bring out the gooseberry "Black Moor" dark purple. By 1939 in Berlin, Paul Lorenz was also breeding similar hybrids. In connection with the war, these works were stopped. And only in 1970 Rudolf Bauer managed to get the perfect plant. Now there are two varieties of yoshta: "Black" (brown-burgundy) and "Red" (faded red).
During the season, 7-10 kg of berries are obtained from the yoshta bush. They are used in homemade preparations, desserts, for flavoring soda. Yoshta is good for gastrointestinal diseases, for removing heavy metals and radioactive substances from the body, and improving blood circulation.

Broccolini (43 kcal, calcium, vitamins A, C, iron, fiber, folic acid)

In the cabbage family, as a result of crossing ordinary broccoli and Chinese broccoli (gailana), a new cabbage similar to asparagus on top with a head of broccoli was obtained.
Broccolini is slightly sweet, does not have a sharp cabbage spirit, with a peppery note, delicate in taste, reminiscent of asparagus and broccoli at the same time. It contains many nutrients and is low in calories.
In the USA, Brazil, Asian countries, Spain, broccolini is commonly used as a side dish. It is served fresh, drizzled with butter or lightly fried in butter.

Nashy (46 kcal, antioxidants, phosphorus, calcium, fiber)

Another result of crossing plants is neshes. They got it from an apple and a pear in Asia several centuries ago. There it is called Asian, water, sand or Japanese pear. The fruit looks like a round apple, but tastes like a juicy, crunchy pear. The color of nashi is from pale green to orange. Unlike ordinary pear, nashi is harder, so it is better stored and transported.
Neshi is quite juicy, so it is better to use it in salads or solo. It is also good as an appetizer for wine along with cheese and grapes. Now about 10 popular commercial varieties are grown in Australia, the USA, New Zealand, France, Chile and Cyprus.

Yuzu (30 kcal, vitamin C)

Yuzu (Japanese lemon) is a hybrid of mandarin and ornamental citrus (Ichang papeda). The green or yellow tangerine-sized fruit with a bumpy skin has a sour taste and a bright aroma. It has been used by the Japanese since the 7th century, when Buddhist monks brought this fruit from the mainland to the islands. Yuzu is popular in Chinese and Korean cuisine.
It has a completely unusual aroma - citrus, with floral hints and notes of pine needles. Most often used for flavoring, the zest is used as a seasoning. This seasoning is added to meat and fish dishes, miso soup, noodles. Jams, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, desserts, syrups are also prepared with zest. The juice is similar to lemon juice (sour and fragrant, but milder) and is the base of ponzu sauce, also used as vinegar.
It also has a cult significance in Japan. On December 22, on the winter solstice, it is customary to take baths with these fruits, which symbolize the sun. Its aroma drives away evil forces, protects against colds. Animals are dipped in the same bath, and plants are then watered with water.

yellow beets (50 kcal, folic acid, potassium, vitamin A, fiber)

This beet differs only from the usual one only in color and in that it does not get your hands dirty when cooked. It tastes just as sweet, fragrant, good baked and even in chips. Yellow beet leaves can be used fresh in salads.

But a person is only learning to transform plant species, and nature has been creating such a miracle for a long time!

Everything about front gardens, flower beds and flower beds - in photos and articles

We develop our own varieties of flowers

We will tell you how to cross between two varieties of the same plant species - this method is called hybridization. Let it be plants of different colors or differing in the shape of petals, leaves. Or perhaps they will differ in terms of flowering or requirements for external conditions?

Choose plants that bloom quickly to speed up the experiment. It is also better to start with unpretentious flowers - for example, foxglove, calendula or delphiniums.

The course of the experiment and the diary of observations

First, formulate your goals - what do you want to get from the experiment. What are the desired traits for new varieties?

Keep a notebook-diary where you write down the goals and record the progress of the experiment from beginning to end.

Do not forget to describe in detail the original plants, and then the resulting hybrids. Here are the most important points: plant health, growth intensity, size, color, aroma, flowering time.

flower structure

In our article, the hellebore flower will be considered as an example, you can see it in the diagram and in the photographs.

The appearance of flowers in different plants can vary significantly, but the structure of the flowers is basically the same.

flower pollination

1. Start by choosing two plants. One will pollinator, and the other seed plant. Choose healthy and strong plants.

2. Keep a close eye on the seed plant. Choose an unblown bud with which you will carry out all manipulations, mark it. In addition, it will have to isolate before opening- tying it in a linen light bag. As soon as the flower begins to open, cut off all the stamens from it to avoid accidental pollination.

3. Once the flower of the seed plant is fully opened, put pollen on it from a pollinator plant. Pollen can be transferred with a cotton swab, a brush, or by tearing out the stamens of the pollinating flower and bringing them directly to the seed. Apply the pollen to the stigma of the flower of the seed plant.

4.Put on the flower of the seed plant linen bag. Do not forget to make the necessary notes in the diary of observations - about the time of pollination.

5. To be safe, repeat the operation with pollination after a while - for example, after a couple of days (depending on the timing of flowering).

Choose two flowers - one will serve as a pollinator, the other plant will become a seed.

Immediately, as soon as the flower of the seed plant blooms, cut off all the stamens from it.

Apply the pollen taken from the pollinating flower to the pistil of the flower of the seed plant.

A pollinated flower should definitely be marked.

Obtaining hybrids

1. If pollination went well, then soon the flower will begin to fade, and the ovary will increase. Do not remove the bag from the plant until the seeds are ripe.

2. Plant the resulting seeds as seedlings. When will you receive young hybrid plants, then give them a separate place in the garden or transplant them into boxes.

3. Now wait for the hybrids to bloom. Don't forget to write down all your observations in your diary. Among the first, and even the second generation, there may be flowers that exactly repeat the parental properties without changes. Such copies are rejected immediately. Check in with your goals and select among the received new plants those that best fit the desired characteristics. You can also pollinate them by hand, or isolate them.

The flower of the seed plant should be protected with a textile bag.

When you get the seeds, plant them for seedlings. Place young plants in boxes.

Keep a close eye on your new hybrid, and record your observations in a diary.

If you decide to seriously engage in breeding new varieties, then you will need the advice of a specialist breeder. The fact is that you will need to find out whether you really have bred a new variety or are you following the path already beaten by someone. Competition in the field of creating new varieties is very high.

For those who decide to experiment with hybridization as a home hobby, we wish to get a lot of pleasure from this activity, make many joyful discoveries and finally give all our gardening friends a new variety of some wonderful flower named after itself.

It is called sexual crossing of two individuals that differ from each other by more or less signs. They may belong to two varieties, races, varieties of the same species, two species of the same genus, or different genera of the same family. In most cases, the closer the crossed individuals are to each other, the more likely it is to get viable and fertile offspring.

Sexual hybridization is of great importance and application in practical crop production. Very many of our cultivated plants, as has already been pointed out, are sexual hybrids, partly obtained naturally in nature and taken from there into culture, partly bred by artificial crosses.

The ability for sexual hybridization in some families or individual genera and species turns out to be greater, in others less. Sometimes hybridization between morphologically closely related species fails, while it succeeds between more distant ones.

Sexual hybridization is most easily carried out between varieties and varieties belonging to the same species. Hybrids between species are obtained for the most part small in number, not very viable and infertile in the future; hybrids between genera are obtained much less frequently and in the future in most cases are sterile.

Research by I. V. Michurin showed that the sterility of hybrids in many cases is temporary.

Often, when crossing, the first generation of hybrids is characterized by extremely powerful development, exceeding the parental forms by several times in size. This phenomenon is called heterosis. In the offspring of hybrids obtained sexually, plants usually return to the previous size of their progenitors. But if such giant hybrids can reproduce vegetatively, then the resulting gigantism will also appear in vegetatively bred offspring. In this way, large varieties of root and tuber crops, ornamental trees and herbaceous plants with very large flowers, etc. can be bred. Annual new breeding of annual heterotic plants is also possible to increase their production, for example, in Tobacco, tomatoes, corn, etc.

In some cases of infertility of hybrids, it is possible, with the help of systematic subsequent crossings, to restore their fertility.

When crossing sexual hybrids of different species with each other, it was possible to obtain forms that are hybrids between 3, 4 or more species.

The issue of dominance - the predominance in the hybrid of certain traits of the parents or their ancestors - is the most important issue in breeding, in breeding new varieties.

I. V. Michurin believed that the hybrid does not represent something in between the producers. The heredity of a hybrid is composed only of those traits of producing plants and their ancestors, which in the early

stages of development of the hybrid are favored by external conditions. The dominance of certain traits also depends on the unequal power of producers in the sense of transmitting their traits to offspring. To a greater extent, the signs are transmitted: 1) species growing in the wild; 2) an older variety by origin; 3) an older individual plant; 4) older flowers in the crown. The mother plant, other things being equal, will transfer its properties more fully than the father plant, but if the conditions for growing hybrids are more favorable for the father plant, then its characteristics may dominate.

Plants weakened by drought or cold spring have a weaker power to transmit their hereditary properties.

To overcome the non-crossing of distant systematic species, I. V. Michurin developed a number of effective and very interesting methods from a general biological point of view.

The mediator method is that if any two species do not interbreed with each other, then one of them is crossed with some third, with which both of these species can be crossed. The resulting hybrid - "intermediary" - has a greater ability to cross, and it can be successfully crossed with the second of those species that were planned for crossing. I. V. Michurin used this method when crossing wild almond (Amygdalus nana) with peach; the intermediary here was a hybrid obtained from crossing the wild almond with the North American David peach ( prunus davidiana). Further studies have shown that such complex hybrid forms have a wide ability to interbreed with those species with which their original parent forms do not interbreed.

The method of "vegetative convergence", used by I. V. Michurin to overcome non-crossing, consists in the fact that a young seedling of one of the plants to be crossed is grafted into the crown of another, adult plant, with which it is desirable to cross. This seedling, unstable as an unformed organism, gradually changes until the time of flowering under the influence of a more powerful rootstock, approaches it in properties and crosses with it in the future better than the original form without grafting. I. V. Michurin used this method, for example, when hybridizing an apple tree and a mountain ash with a pear.

A method of using a pollen mixture, which also facilitates crossbreeding, is to mix a small amount of the pollen of the mother (pollinated) plant with the pollen of the pollinating plant. Presumably, pollen from one's own species makes the stigma more susceptible to pollination by foreign pollen. These methods are now widely used in breeding work with a variety of plants. It is also used to mix pollen of a third type or variety, which can also stimulate pollination by pollen, without this method it does not give results.

An important role in the works of I. V. Michurin was played by the education of young hybrid seedlings with unstable heredity. Distant hybridization without further directed education often does not give the desired results. A targeted effect on hybrids is achieved by various methods, including by grafting, or by the mentor method, in which the hybrid is repeatedly caused to enhance certain properties. The mentor method is based on the mutual influence of rootstock and scion. It was used by I. V. Michurin in two versions. With the so-called

cuttings of a young hybrid seedling are grafted into the crown of one of its adult producers, the quality of which (for example, frost resistance) is desirable to enhance in the hybrid. The grafted hybrid, under the powerful influence of the rootstock (stand mentor), acquires to a greater extent the property desired by the hybridizer (in this example, frost resistance). Or, for example, from a seedling, a hybrid between green renklod plum and sloe, the eyes were taken and grafted: one on the renklod, the other on the sloe. In the first case, in the future, a plant with signs of renklod (Renklod thorn) was obtained, in the second case with signs of thorn (Turn sweet). The reverse effect of the scion on the stock is reflected in the so-called grafting mentor, when, for example, by grafting several cuttings of an old variety (grafting mentor), which is characterized by abundant fruiting, into the crown of a young seedling, it is possible to speed up and improve the fruiting of the stock; with other combinations of grafted plants, this method, on the contrary, succeeded in delaying the ripening of fruits, lengthening their ability to remain in bed, etc.

These new principles and methods of work, discovered by IV Michurin, are of great importance. The selection of pairs during hybridization by preliminary biological analysis of the parents, the directed cultivation of hybrids, and the acceleration of the breeding of new varieties—all this is now widely used in the breeding of new varieties of cultivated plants.

By crossing hard wheats ( Triticum durum) with soft ( Triticum vulgare) obtained some new valuable varieties of wheat. Rye-wheat hybrids have been obtained, which are of interest both by themselves and for further crosses again with wheat in order to obtain hybrids with high grain quality of wheat and cold resistance of rye. Work is underway to cross wheat with wild couch grass (N. V. Tsitsin), with perennial wild rye. By crossing potatoes with its wild relatives, varieties of potatoes were obtained that are resistant to damage by a fungus dangerous for potatoes - late blight. Work is underway to cross annual sunflowers with perennials, sugarcane, which has a very long growing season, with its wild relatives with a shorter growing season, farmed watermelons with drought-resistant wild relatives, etc. Planned management of the development of plants (and animals) and the creation of new their forms, based on a deep study of complex biological relationships and the discovery of the patterns of life, constitute the theoretical basis of Soviet breeding.

We will tell you how to cross between two varieties of the same plant species - this method is called hybridization. Let it be plants of different colors or differing in the shape of petals, leaves. Or perhaps they will differ in terms of flowering or requirements for external conditions?

Choose plants that bloom quickly to speed up the experiment. It is also better to start with unpretentious flowers - for example, foxglove, calendula or delphiniums.

The course of the experiment and the diary of observations

First, formulate your goals - what do you want to get from the experiment. What are the desired traits for new varieties?

Keep a notebook-diary where you write down the goals and record the progress of the experiment from beginning to end.

Do not forget to describe in detail the original plants, and then the resulting hybrids. Here are the most important points: plant health, growth intensity, size, color, aroma, flowering time.

flower structure

In our article, a flower will be considered as an example, you can see it in the diagram and in the photographs.

The appearance of flowers in different plants can vary significantly, but basically the same.

flower pollination

1. Start by choosing two plants. One will pollinator, and the other seed plant. Choose healthy and strong plants.

2. Keep a close eye on the seed plant. Choose an unblown bud with which you will carry out all manipulations, mark it. In addition, it will have to isolate before opening- tying it in a linen light bag. As soon as the flower begins to open, cut off all the stamens from it to avoid accidental pollination.

3. Once the flower of the seed plant is fully opened, put pollen on it from a pollinator plant. Pollen can be transferred with a cotton swab, a brush, or by tearing out the stamens of the pollinating flower and bringing them directly to the seed. Apply the pollen to the stigma of the flower of the seed plant.

4.Put on the flower of the seed plant linen bag. Do not forget to make the necessary notes in the diary of observations - about the time of pollination.

5. To be safe, repeat the operation with pollination after a while - for example, after a couple of days (depending on the timing of flowering).

Obtaining hybrids

1. If pollination went well, then soon the flower will begin to fade, and the ovary will increase. Do not remove the bag from the plant until the seeds are ripe.

2. Plant the resulting seeds as seedlings. When will you receive young hybrid plants, then give them a separate place in the garden or transplant them into boxes.

3. Now wait for the hybrids to bloom. Don't forget to write down all your observations in your diary. Among the first, and even the second generation, there may be flowers that exactly repeat the parental properties without changes. Such copies are rejected immediately. Check in with your goals and select among the received new plants those that best fit the desired characteristics. You can also pollinate them by hand, or isolate them.

If you decide to seriously engage in breeding new varieties, then you will need the advice of a specialist breeder. The fact is that you will need to find out whether you really have bred a new variety or are you following the path already beaten by someone. Competition in the field of creating new varieties is very high.

For those who decide to experiment with hybridization as a home hobby, we wish to get a lot of pleasure from this activity, make many joyful discoveries and finally give all our gardening friends a new variety of some wonderful flower named after itself.

In the 30s. of the last century N.I. Vavilov noted that the problem of creating disease-resistant crop varieties can be solved in two ways: by selection in the narrow sense of the word (selection of resistant plants among existing forms) and by hybridization (crossing different plants with each other). Plant breeding methods for immunity to pathogenic organisms are not specific. They are modifications of conventional breeding methods. The main difficulties in creating immune varieties are the need to simultaneously take into account the characteristics of plants and harmful organisms that damage them. At the moment, in breeding for resistance, all generally accepted modern methods of breeding work are used: hybridization, selection, as well as polyploidy, experimental mutagenesis, biotechnology and genetic engineering.

One of the main difficulties in plant breeding for immunity is the genetic linkage of plant traits that reflect their phylogenetic history in natural ecosystems. In the process of spontaneous domestication and the formation of highly productive and high-quality forms of plants, their immune system was weakened. In those cases where selection is carried out without attention to immunity, the weakening of the latter takes place in our time.

The most important task of breeding, genetics, and molecular biology is to find ways to combine high productivity and other economically valuable properties of plants with signs of their immunity. It is desirable that the basis of immunity be polygenic.

The simplest solution is when it is possible to isolate plants from the population of an existing variety that are highly immune to one specific pathogen. For such selection, different selection methods and analytical methods can be used, which take into account the heterosis of the variety population.

When drawing up breeding programs, the type of pollination of a plant population is very important (cross-pollination, self-pollination or the population belongs to an intermediate group). Breeding work for immunity to a pathogen should be carried out taking into account the following factors: in the population of plants of the first group, the unit of analysis is an individual plant, the other is the population (variety or line).

Traditional breeding methods in creating genotypes resistant to diseases and pests

Selection. Both in nature in general and in human breeding activities, selection is the main process of obtaining new forms (the formation of species and varieties, the creation of breeds, varieties). Selection is most effective when working with self-pollinating crops, as well as plants that reproduce vegetatively (clonal selection).

In breeding for resistance, selection is effectively used both by itself (it is the main method when working with necrotrophic pathogens), and as a component of the breeding process, without which it is generally impossible to do with any breeding methods. In practical selection for resistance, two types of selection are used: mass and individual.

Mass selection is the oldest breeding method, thanks to which varieties of the so-called folk selection were created, and is still a valuable source material for modern breeders. This is a type of selection in which a large number of plants are selected from the initial population in the field that meet the requirements for the future variety, immediately evaluating a set of traits (including resistance to certain diseases). The harvest of all selected plants is combined and sown in the next year in the form of one plot. The result of mass selection is the offspring of the total mass of the best plants selected for a certain trait (s).

The main advantages of mass selection are its simplicity and the ability to quickly improve a large amount of material. The disadvantages include the fact that the material selected by mass selection cannot be checked with offspring and determine its genetic value, and therefore, it is impossible to isolate varieties or hybrids that are valuable in breeding terms from the population and use them for further work.

Individual selection (pedigree) - one of the most effective modern methods of breeding for resistance. Hybridization, artificial mutagenesis, biotechnology and genetic engineering are primarily suppliers of material for individual selection - the next stage of selection work extracts the most valuable from the provided material.

The essence of the method lies in the fact that individual resistant plants are selected from the initial population, the offspring of each of which are subsequently propagated and studied separately.

Both individual and mass selection can be one-time and reusable.

One-time selection mainly used in the selection of self-pollinating crops. One-time individual selection provides for a consistent study in all links of the selection process, selected once for a certain plant trait. One-time mass selection is more often and most effectively used to improve the variety in seed production practice. Therefore, it is also called healing.

Multiple selections are more suitable and effective in the selection of cross-pollinated crops, their effectiveness is determined primarily by the degree of heterozygosity of the source material. Through repeated mass selection, resistance to necrotrophs is maintained - pathogens such as fusarium, gray and white rot, etc. Using this method, highly resistant to and.

Hybridization. Currently, one of the most used methods in breeding for resistance is hybridization - crossing genotypes with different hereditary abilities and obtaining hybrids that combine the properties of parental forms.

In breeding for disease resistance, hybridization is expedient and effective if at least one parental form is a carrier of hereditary factors that can provide genetic protection for the future variety or hybrid from potentially dangerous strains and races of the pathogen.

As noted earlier, such hereditary factors (effective resistance genes) were formed in the centers of related evolution of host plants and their pathogens. Many of them have already been transferred to cultivated plants from their wild relatives through distant hybridization. These are now known as crop resistance genes.

But the indisputable fact is that today most of these genes are widely used in breeding and have mostly lost their effectiveness, overcome as a result of the variability of pathogens. That's why intraspecific hybridization (between plants of the same species) in the creation of disease-resistant varieties or hybrids in some cases is unpromising. In order to obtain positive results, the breeder, involving in crossings one or another parental form, must be sure of the high efficiency of their resistance genes to the population of the pathogen in the place of future cultivation of the variety (hybrid).

Against this background, the increasing importance in breeding for resistance is becoming distant hybridization (between plants from different botanical taxa). After all, plants of wild and primitive species are characterized by the most pronounced immunity. The genomes of wild relatives of cultivated plants have been and remain the main natural source of resistance genes, including complex immunity. Crossing cultivated plants of existing varieties with wild species usually allows you to increase the immunogenetic properties. And if earlier the use of distant hybridization was not very popular due to the difficulties associated with the imbalance of the genomes of parental forms, the linkage of resistance with economically undesirable traits, now methods have been developed to resolve problematic issues.

Remote hybridization makes it possible to transfer ecological plasticity, resistance to adverse environmental factors, diseases, and other valuable properties and qualities from wild-growing plants to cultivated ones. Varieties and new forms of grain, vegetable, industrial and other crops have been created on the basis of distant hybridization. For example, the source of wheat immunity genes to, and is endemic to the Transcaucasus Triticum dicoccoides Korn.

As world practice shows, a very effective type of hybridization in the selection of self-pollinating crops for resistance is backcrosses (backcrosses) when a hybrid is crossed with one of the parent forms. This method is also called the method of "repair" of varieties, since it allows you to improve a certain variety for a particular trait that it lacks (in particular, resistance to a particular disease). But it should be borne in mind that the use of this method does not allow exceeding the productivity of a variety that is “repaired” (and according to the requirements of the State Service for the Protection of Rights to Plant Varieties of Ukraine, a variety cannot be registered if it does not exceed the standard in terms of productivity).

As a rule, in backcrossing, a disease resistance donor variety is used as the mother form, and an unstable but highly productive variety (resistance recipient) is used as the parent form. As a result of their crossing, hybrids are obtained, which are re-crossed with the parent form (backcrossing). A prerequisite is that the mother forms for each next backcross are selected from resistant hybrid plants of the previous crossing, found against an infectious background. The offspring are selected according to the phenotype of the recipient variety. Backcrosses are carried out until the genotype and phenotype of the recipient is almost completely restored, while acquiring resistance to the disease characteristic of the donor.

An increase in the efficiency of plant breeding for immunity to pests can be achieved by using previously created so-called immunity synthetics (known, for example, for corn). Mentioned synthetics are created on the basis of crossing 8-10 immune lines, characterized by different ecological plasticity and composition of immunity factors. Many of the synthetics are good sources for creating immune lines for the further development of single and double interline hybrids.

Mutagenesis. Unlike hybridization methods, they are quite laborious and require many years of work to achieve the final result, experimental (artificial) mutagenesis makes it possible to increase plant variability in a short period and obtain resistance mutations that are not found in nature.

The method of experimental (artificial) mutagenesis is based on the directed action on plants of various physical and chemical mutagens (ionizing, ultraviolet, laser radiation, chemicals), as a result of which gene mutations occur in plant organisms (changes in the molecular structure of the gene), chromosomal mutations (changes in structures of chromosomes) or genomic (changes in sets of chromosomes).

The most valuable gene mutations in terms of breeding, which, unlike chromosomal ones, do not lead to sterility of pollen, infertility or inconsistency of mutant lines. Resistance gene mutations are most often associated with either a base change in a certain region of the chromosome DNA, or its loss, addition, or displacement. As a result, there is a change in the genetic code and, accordingly, a change in the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of the cell, which leads to inhibition of the growth, development and reproduction of the pathogen.

The method of artificial mutagenesis in breeding for disease resistance is used in many countries, but it cannot be considered the main method for obtaining resistant forms of plants. This method is most effectively used when working on resistance with crops that propagate vegetatively, since their propagation by seeds entails complex segregation in the offspring due to the high degree of heterozygosity.

It is, apparently, the further improvement of existing crops grown on already developed lands. Hybrids are something that can play a key role in food security. After all, most of the areas suitable for agriculture are already occupied. At the same time, increasing the amount of water, fertilizers and other chemicals used on them is not economically feasible in many places. That is why the improvement of existing crops is of exceptional importance. And hybrids are plants obtained just as a result of such an improvement.

The goal is not only to increase yields, but also to increase the content of protein and other nutrients. For a person, it is also very important the quality of proteins in edible (including people) must receive from food the required amounts of all essential (i.e., those that they are not able to synthesize themselves) amino acids. Eight of the 20 amino acids a person needs come from food. The remaining 12 can be developed by him. However, plants with an improved protein composition as a result of selection inevitably require more nitrogen and other nutrients than the original forms, therefore, they cannot always be grown on infertile lands, where the need for such crops is especially great.

New Properties

Quality includes not only yield, composition and quantity of proteins. Varieties are being created that are more resistant to diseases and pests, due to the fruits they contain, more attractive in shape or color of fruits (for example, bright red apples), better able to withstand transportation and storage (for example, tomato hybrids of increased keeping quality), and also have other significant properties for a given culture.

The activities of breeders

Breeders carefully analyze the available genetic diversity. Over the course of several decades, they have developed thousands of improved lines of the most important agricultural plants. As a rule, thousands of hybrids have to be obtained and evaluated in order to select those few that will actually outperform those already widely bred. For example, in the United States from the 1930s to the 1980s. increased by almost eight times, although only a small part of the genetic diversity of this crop was used by breeders. There are more and more new hybrids. This allows more efficient use of cultivated areas.

hybrid corn

The increase in maize productivity was made possible mainly by the use of hybrid seeds. The inbred lines of this culture (hybrid in origin) were used as parental forms. From seeds obtained as a result of crossing between them, very powerful hybrids of corn develop. Crossed lines are sown in alternating rows, and panicles (male inflorescences) are manually cut from the plants of one of them. Therefore, all seeds on these specimens are hybrid. And they have very useful properties for humans. By careful selection of inbred lines, powerful hybrids can be obtained. These are plants that will be suitable for growing in any required area. Since the characteristics of hybrid plants are the same, they are easier to harvest. And the yield of each of them is much higher than that of unimproved specimens. In 1935, corn hybrids accounted for less than 1% of all this crop grown in the United States, and now virtually all. Now, obtaining significantly higher yields of this crop is much less laborious than before.

Successes of international breeding centers

Over the past few decades, a lot of effort has been made to increase the yield of wheat and other grains, especially in warm climate zones. Impressive success has been achieved in international breeding centers located in the subtropics. When the new hybrids of wheat, corn and rice bred in them began to be grown in Mexico, India and Pakistan, this led to a sharp increase in agricultural productivity, called the Green Revolution.

Green revolution

Fertilizers and irrigation developed during it have been used in many developing countries. Each crop requires optimal growing conditions to obtain high yields. Fertilization, mechanization and irrigation are essential components of the Green Revolution. Due to the peculiarities of the distribution of credits, only relatively wealthy landowners were able to grow new plant hybrids (cereals). In many regions, the Green Revolution accelerated the concentration of land in the hands of a few of the wealthiest owners. This redistribution of wealth does not necessarily provide jobs or food for the majority of the population in these regions.

Triticale

Traditional breeding methods can sometimes lead to surprising results. For example, a hybrid of wheat (Triticum) and rye (Secale) triticale (scientific name Triticosecale) is gaining importance in many areas and appears to be very promising. It was obtained by doubling the number of chromosomes in a sterile hybrid of wheat and rye in the mid-1950s. J. O'Mara at the University of Iowa with colchicine, a substance that prevents cell plate formation. Triticale combines the high yield of wheat with the ruggedness of rye. The hybrid is relatively resistant to line rust, a fungal disease that is one of the main wheat yields. Further crosses and selection have produced improved triticale lines for specific areas. In the mid 1980s. this crop, thanks to its high yield, resistance to climatic factors and the excellent straw remaining after harvest, quickly gained popularity in France, the largest grain producer within the EEC. The role of triticale in the human diet is growing rapidly.

Conservation and use of crop genetic diversity

Intensive crossbreeding and selection programs lead to a narrowing of the genetic diversity of cultivated plants for all their traits. For obvious reasons, it is mainly aimed at increasing productivity, and among the very homogeneous offspring of specimens selected strictly on this basis, resistance to diseases is sometimes lost. Within a culture, plants become more and more uniform, as certain of their characters are more pronounced than others; therefore crops as a whole are more vulnerable to pathogens and pests. For example, in 1970, helminthosporiasis, a fungal disease of corn caused by the Helminthosporium maydis species (pictured above), destroyed approximately 15% of the crop in the United States, causing a loss of approximately $1 billion. These losses seem to be related to the emergence of a new race of the fungus, which is very dangerous for some of the main lines of corn that were widely used in the production of hybrid seeds. In many commercially valuable lines of this plant, the cytoplasm was identical, since the same pistil plants are repeatedly used in the production of hybrid corn.

To prevent such damage, it is necessary to grow in isolation and conserve different lines of critical crops that, even if the sum of their traits is not of economic interest, may contain genes useful in ongoing pest and disease control.

Tomato hybrids

Tomato breeders have been remarkably successful in increasing genetic diversity by attracting wild varieties. The creation of a collection of lines of this culture, carried out by Charles Rick and his collaborators at the University of California at Davis, made it possible to effectively deal with many of its serious diseases, in particular those caused by imperfect Fusarium and Verticillum fungi, as well as some viruses. The nutritional value of tomatoes has been significantly increased. In addition, plant hybrids have become more resistant to salinity and other adverse conditions. This was mainly due to the systematic collection, analysis and use of wild tomato lines for breeding.

As you can see, interspecific hybrids are very promising in agriculture. Thanks to them, you can improve the yield and quality of plants. It should be noted that crossbreeding is used not only in agriculture, but also in animal husbandry. As a result of it, for example, a mule appeared (its photo is presented above). This is also a hybrid, a cross between a donkey and a mare.

Oleg asks: “Hello, Elena! Tell me, please, is the crossbreeding by scientists of various types of plants, vegetables and fruits, is it not interference in God’s creation and a sin? In time, it will be possible to cross different animals, for example, a cat and a dog. So there is a possibility that from one simpler living creature a more complex one appeared, and so on until the appearance of a person?

Greetings, Oleg!

Scientists-breeders mainly carry out intraspecific crossings (hybridization) for the appearance of desirable traits (for humans, of course) in animals, plants and microorganisms, thereby achieving the creation of new or improved breeds, varieties, strains.

Within a species, crossing of individuals is relatively easy due to the similarity of their genetic material and anatomical and physiological features. Although this is not always the case, for example, in natural conditions it is impossible to cross a tiny Chihuahua dog and a huge mastiff.

But already on the way of crossing individuals of different species (and even more so different genera) there are molecular genetic barriers that prevent the development of full-fledged organisms. And they are expressed the stronger, the further the crossed species and genera are separated from each other. Due to the significantly different genomes of the parents, unbalanced sets of chromosomes, unfavorable combinations of genes can occur in hybrids, the processes of cell division and the formation of gametes (sex cells) can be disrupted, the death of the zygote (fertilized egg), etc. can occur. Hybrids can be partially or completely sterile (sterile ), with reduced viability up to lethality (although in some cases in the first generation there is a sharp increase in viability - heterosis), developmental anomalies may appear, in particular, reproductive organs, or the so-called chimeric tissues (genetically heterogeneous), etc. Apparently, therefore, the Lord warned His people: "... do not bring your livestock with a different breed; do not sow your field with two kinds [of seeds]" ().

Under natural conditions, cases of interspecific crossing are extremely rare.

There are examples of artificial distant hybridization: mule (horse + donkey), bester (beluga + sterlet), liger (lion + tigress), taigon (tiger + lioness), leopon (lion + female leopard), plum cat (plum + apricot), clementine (orange + tangerine), etc. In some cases, scientists manage to remove the negative consequences of distant hybridization, for example, fertile hybrids of wheat and rye (triticale), radish and cabbage (rafanobrassica) have been obtained.

And now your questions. Is artificial hybridization an interference with God's creation? In a certain sense, yes, if a person creates a version that is different from natural, which can be compared, say, with the use of decorative cosmetics by women to improve their appearance. Is artificial hybridization a sin? Is eating meat a sin? The Lord, out of our hardness of heart, allows the killing of living beings for the sake of food. Probably, also due to our hardness of heart, he also allows selective experimentation in order to improve the consumer properties of products that people need. In the same row - and the creation of drugs (in this case, laboratory animals are used and killed). Sadly, all this is the reality of a society where sin reigns and the “prince of this world” rules.

Do successful crosses put creationism at risk? In no way. Against.

You know that everything multiplies "after its kind." The biblical "kind" is not the biological species of modern taxonomy. After all, a rich diversity of species appeared after the Flood due to the variability of the characteristics of terrestrial organisms from Noah's Ark and aquatic inhabitants that survived outside the Ark, while adapting them to new environmental conditions. It is difficult to outline the biblical “kind”, the genetic potential of which is significant and was originally set at creation. It may include modern taxa such as species and genus, but probably not above a (sub)family. It is possible, for example, that large cats from the modern systematic genera of the feline family go back to one original “genus”, and small felines to one or two others. It is clear that the species and genera that emerged from the biblical "genus" include their own, to some extent, depleted and altered (in relation to the original) genetic material. The combination of these not quite complementary parts (in interspecific and intergeneric crosses) encounters obstacles at the molecular-genetic level, which means that it does not allow giving rise to a full-fledged organism, although in rare cases this can happen within the biblical “kind”.

What does it say? The fact that there can be no crosses between “cat and dog” and “up to a person” in principle.

Another moment. Compare 580,000 base pairs, 482 genes in the DNA of a single-celled mycoplasma and 3.2 billion base pairs, about 30,000 genes in human DNA. If you imagine a hypothetical path "from amoeba to man", think about where the new genetic information came from? There is nowhere for it to come naturally. We know that information only comes from an intelligent source. So who is the Author of amoeba and man?

God's blessings!

Page 2 of 4

It is known that the vast majority of plants and animals reproduce sexually. Their seed offspring arises only as a result of fertilization - the fusion of male and female germ cells, giving rise to new organisms.
In contrast to the vegetative method of reproduction (by tubers, cuttings, buds, etc.), in which growing organisms continue their development from the stage to which the development of the tissue of the mother bush taken to obtain them has reached, during sexual reproduction, a fertilized egg - the zygote gives the beginning of a new plant, starting its development anew.
The process of fertilization is of great biological significance, since thanks to it, developing new organisms acquire a dual heredity - maternal and paternal, and as a result, greater vitality, which is manifested in their better adaptability to various environmental conditions.
According to Lysenko, the biological role of the fertilization process lies in the fact that by combining female and male germ cells, which differ to a certain extent in their hereditary properties, into one cell and merging their two nuclei into one nucleus, a contradictory nature of the living body is created, which is the cause of self-development, self-motion, t i.e. the life process with its inherent metabolism.
Artificial crossing of various varieties of plants and animal breeds is widely used in breeding practice.
The decisive moments in the development of new highly productive varieties of plants and animal breeds from the standpoint of materialistic Michurin biology is a meaningful and skillful selection of initial parental pairs for crossing and further control of the emerging nature of the hybrid offspring by regulating living conditions.

Through many years of persistent practical work, which has a deeply substantiated foundation, I. V. Michurin consistently, step by step, built his theory of sexual hybridization. This theory refutes the main provisions of the supporters of formal genetic science, who assert the independence of the heredity of organisms from the conditions of their life and promote the "notorious pea laws of Mendel", the application of which in the selection of perennial crops, as Ivan Vladimirovich wrote, is not even worth dreaming of. He sharply condemned those who worked according to the principle: "Rash, mix, chat, maybe something else will come out." In contrast, I. V. Michurin's motto reads: "We cannot wait for favors from nature: it is our task to take them from her."
Objecting to the views on heredity expressed by supporters of formal genetic "science", he repeatedly argued that when the same parental pairs are repeatedly crossed, their successive offspring will never have the same number of hybrids, which would always be dominated by strictly defined characters. father or mother according to the Mendelian law 3:1. The resulting plants in all cases of crossing the same parental pairs are not identical in their morphological and biological characteristics, because the inheritance of the characteristics of the parents depends both on the selection of the crossed varieties, and on many other reasons.
The correct selection of parental pairs is impossible without knowledge of the biological patterns of inheritance by hybrid offspring of the signs and properties of parents and the presence of deep relationships between the emerging nature of plant organisms and the conditions for their upbringing, established by I. V. Michurin, T. D. Lysenko and their followers.
1. In order to obtain a new variety with the desired qualities, it is necessary first of all to select for crossing such plants that have economically valuable traits that correspond to the selection task.
IV: Michurin has repeatedly emphasized the idea that modern breeders, as a rule, do not need to repeat the path that has been traveled before them; due to the presence of heredity in organisms, they must use the results of the work of many generations of their predecessors.
The same idea was carried out in his writings by Luther Burbank. He figuratively compared the choice of plants for crossing with the work of an architect. Just as an architect selects a building material that corresponds to the ideological concept of the future building, so the breeder plans plant forms for crossing that have the characteristics that he wants to see in the future variety. At the same time, the breeder has at his disposal an incomparably richer and more diverse material that he can bring to work for the realization of his plan than the amount of minerals or wood species known to the architect.
When breeding new varieties, as T. D. Lysenko points out, it is very important to select the initial forms according to the principle that they have the least number of negative qualities that could limit the development of the best traits and properties of the parents in the offspring under given specific conditions.
2. I. V. Michurin attached great importance to the varietal and individual history of the maternal and paternal plants, since knowledge of it makes it possible to foresee the possible nature of the inheritance of the characteristics of parental forms by hybrid offspring.
“The most energetic ability to transfer their properties,” Ivan Vladimirovich pointed out, “is possessed, firstly, by all plants of pure species growing in the wild, and secondly, all old cultivars of plants are distinguished by greater energy, and the weakest in this respect need count recently bred young varieties of fruit trees and berry bushes" *.

* I. V. Michurin, Selected Works, 1948, p. 69.

The dominance of the traits of wild plants when they are crossed with cultivated ones is due to the presence of a much more conservative heredity in them than in the cultural forms formed later in the process of human activity.
Charles Darwin also noted that in plants and animals distributed in natural conditions, such sharp and sudden changes are not observed as are known in domesticated animals and cultivated plants. It must be assumed that the very fact of cultivation, i.e., the transfer of plants from natural conditions to new - artificial ones, and their cultivation for many generations under the influence of certain methods of agricultural technology and phytotechnics contributes to the formation of more plastic heredity in them and their more active reaction to change environmental conditions than wild forms.
3. To obtain hybrid offspring with plastic heredity, which is most capable of succumbing to directed education and giving the richest material for subsequent selection in terms of diversity, I. V. Michurin recommended the use of geographically and genetically distant crossbreeding.
As a rule, with distant (interspecific or intergeneric) hybridization, the resulting hybrid offspring adapt relatively easily to the living conditions that are provided to it.
On the basis of extensive practical material, I. V. Michurin proved the possibility of crossing distantly related forms of plants and widely used distant hybridization in his practical work when breeding well-known varieties: apple trees - Bellefleur-Chinese, Kandil-Chinese (hybrids between domestic and Chinese apple trees), Bellefleur red, Belfleur record (hybrids between domestic apple tree and Nedzvetsky apple tree), Tayozhnoye (hybrid between Kandil-Chinese and Siberian apple tree); pears - Bere winter Michurina, Tolstobezhka, Rakovka (hybrids between ordinary - cultivated pear and Ussuri); cherries - Beauty of the North, Bastard cherries (hybrids of cherries with cherries); new plants - cerapadus (hybrids of steppe cherry with Japanese bird cherry); plums - Transparent yellow (hybrid of plums with apricot), Turnklod thorn, Turn sweet (plum hybrids with wild thorns); grapes - Russian Concord, Metallic, Buytur (hybrids between American and Amur species), Korinka Michurina (hybrid between Amur and cultivated grapes). Its varieties are also known - hybrids of mountain ash with medlar, mountain ash with hawthorn, raspberries with blackberries, etc.
The method of remote hybridization has found wide application in the work of Soviet breeders, since it opens up great possibilities for obtaining new forms of useful plants.
Plants distant by kinship can also be distant by geographical origin and by the environmental conditions in which each of them was formed.
Crossing geographically distant plants and raising their hybrid offspring is desirable to carry out in new natural conditions, alien to both maternal and paternal parents. In this case, according to Michurin's teaching, those conditions that are necessary for a strong manifestation in the offspring of the signs of the nearest ancestors are, as it were, excluded. A classic example of the practical use of this provision is the production by I. V. Michurin in the conditions of the Tambov region of a new high-quality winter pear variety Bere winter Michurina.
For a long time he failed to obtain a new variety of pear with fruits of good taste, suitable for long-term winter storage. To this end, he carried out numerous crossings of high-quality Western European winter pear varieties (Bere Dil, Bere Clerzho, Bere Ligelya, Saint-Germain) with local varieties (Tonkovetka, Tsarskaya, Bessemyanka). However, the grown seedlings did not have the desired property due to the dominance of early fruit ripening in the offspring, which is characteristic of local pear varieties. Only by crossing the Italian pear variety Bere Royale with a young, first flowering seedling of the Ussuri pear (the birthplace of this type of pear is the Far East), he received hybrids with fruits of summer, autumn and winter ripening. One of them turned out to be especially valuable, as it inherited the best properties of both parents - the frost resistance inherent in the Ussuri pear, and the size of the fruits, their excellent dessert taste, as well as the ability to keep fresh for a long time, inherent in the Bere Royal variety.
4. On the basis of many years of experiments and observations, I. V. Michurin discovered another important pattern: in the process of crossing varieties that are equivalent in terms of heredity conservatism, the maternal organism, being a natural mentor, as a rule, more fully transmits its characteristics and properties to offspring than the paternal .
Guided by this regularity, Soviet breeders, when carrying out crossings in the role of the maternal parent, often select the plant whose economically valuable traits and properties it is desirable to see in the offspring. If, however, it becomes necessary to weaken the individual power of the hereditary transmission of the maternal parent, then it is necessary to select a young seedling that blooms for the first time, with heredity already shaken by preliminary hybridization, in the role of mother.
5. Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin - the first breeder who used a mixture of pollen of various varieties for crossing. True, he used the pollen mixture method, mainly in order to overcome non-crossing in the hybridization of plants distant in a related relationship, but his followers proved the expediency of using a mixture of pollen from a number of varieties in ordinary crosses.
Darwin also noted that the crossing of individuals exposed to various conditions throughout the life of previous generations has a beneficial effect on the offspring, since in this case their germ cells are differentiated to one degree or another. With self-pollination of flowers, such differentiation of sexual elements is not observed, therefore its effect on offspring is unfavorable.
This observation served as the basis for another important conclusion of Charles Darwin about the presence of mandatory selectivity of the sexual elements of plants in natural conditions. I. V. Michurin and T. D. Lysenko developed the Darwinian position on the presence of selective fertilization of plants and proved that the inheritance of parental traits by offspring during artificial hybridization is highly dependent on the selective nature of the fertilization process, and this dependence has a dual character.
Not every pollen grain biologically corresponds to a certain egg, therefore, the more pollen grains of different varieties are applied during pollination on the stigma of a castrated flower, the more opportunity is given to the mother plant to choose the most acceptable of them. Numerous experiments of the Michurinists have shown that if there is a large selection of pollen by flowers, fertilization occurs more actively, the seeds that set turn out to be much more viable and richer in nutrients, and the plants grown from them are more productive.
In addition, during pollination with a mixture of pollen, as a result of the interaction of pollen grains of different varieties, a qualitatively new physiological environment is created, more favorable than during conventional pollination.
IV Michurin drew the attention of breeders to the other side of this process. By far not always with artificial hybridization one should expect to obtain relatively more viable offspring. After all, often biologically non-corresponding plants are involved as parents, the crossing of which is forced. For example, with distant hybridization, plants are sometimes obtained that are not capable of building even the most vital organs. Nevertheless, T. D. Lysenko emphasizes that the selective ability of plants must be used to obtain drastic changes in heredity through forced crossing with those individuals whose pollen would not have been chosen by the mother organism under natural conditions.
In this area, the Michurin agrobiological science puts forward new, as yet unresolved problems of great theoretical importance.
For practical breeding work, the pollen mixture for crossing is selected according to the same principles that were noted earlier, i.e., the breeding task, the economically valuable qualities of the parent varieties (including several paternal ones), their biological characteristics and history of origin are taken into account.
6. It is not always possible for a breeder to obtain hybrid offspring with the desired traits by a single crossing of parental pairs pre-selected, taking into account the indicated patterns of heredity dominance, the breeder. In order to achieve its goal, it is sometimes useful to resort to recrossing the best hybrid plants obtained with one of the parents or with some other variety that has the desired qualities.
Attaching exceptional importance to the re-crossing of the first hybrid generation of fruit crops obtained in central Russia with southern varieties, I. V. Michurin persistently pointed out to breeders: “Next, the third method should be considered the most important in breeding new varieties of fruit plants - crossing hybrids with the best cultivated (and foreign) varieties ... Here, in most cases, we will get a significant general improvement both from the influence of the variety introduced into the crossing with new good properties, and from the easier susceptibility of the hybrid at its young age and, moreover, still rooted " *.

* I. V. Michurin, Soch., vol. 1, 1948, pp. 496-498.

At the same time, he warned against using seedlings of the second or even third generation from natural pollination in harsh climatic conditions, because the new forms obtained in this way deviate mainly for the worse due to the repeated negative influence of local environmental factors on the dominance of parental traits.
The patterns of plant heredity dominance established by I. V. Michurin, T. D. Lysenko and their students also apply to the culture of vines.
Many years of research conducted by the department of selection and variety study of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking named after. Tairov (P.K. Ayvazyan) found that in the first and second seed offspring of sexual hybrids, a rather complex pattern of inheritance of parental traits is observed. In some seedlings, the traits of one parent may predominate, in others - the other, in others - intermediate inheritance of traits may take place, and, finally, cases are known when completely new traits and properties appear in hybrid offspring that were completely absent in the original parental pairs.
As a rule, wild-growing forms of pure species turn out to be the most constant in terms of heredity: Vitis Riparia, Vitis Rupestris, Vitis Labruska, Vitis Amurenzis, etc. rootstock varieties and grown under normal agrotechnical conditions, predominantly inherit the characteristics of wild parents. At the same time, most of the plants that morphologically deviated towards wild forms inherit from mother plants (European varieties) resistance to mildew damage and low frost resistance, and from paternal varieties (wild forms) - poor crop quality. Seedlings approaching cultivars in terms of morphological features are inferior in yield quality to the parent cultivar.
A small number of interspecific hybrids with practical resistance to mildew and frost, in terms of their morphological characteristics (shoots and leaves), as well as the quantity and quality of the crop, are close to wild species. Such seedlings are of interest for repeated and vegetative hybridization.
Studies have also shown that in interspecific hybridization, it is best to take old native grape varieties with good crop quality as mother plants. Such varieties, formed under local conditions and having a more stable heredity, more easily transfer their characteristics and properties to hybrid offspring than introduced ones.
In hybrid progeny obtained from repeated crossings of interspecific hybrids with high-quality varieties, as expected, a significant proportion of seedlings are wild forms. In this case, too, a large number of seedlings, deviating in their characteristics from cultivated plants, can be explained by the fact that wild varieties took part in the origin of one of the parents, which, due to the prescription of their existence, are distinguished by their exceptional ability to preserve their hereditary properties.
Within the same hybrid combination, under the same environmental conditions, the variety more fully transmits its characteristics and properties to the offspring (yield, growth force of bushes, size of clusters and berries, color of berries and juice, crop quality, plant resistance to adverse conditions, etc.) in the event that it is taken as a mother plant. Providing the hybrid embryo at its youngest age, starting from the moment of the formation of the zygote, with the necessary nutrients, the maternal organism as a mentor accordingly influences the formation of the heredity of the offspring.
The correct selection of initial parent varieties for crossing is only the first stage of breeding work, ending with the production of hybrid seeds. The subsequent process of formation of heredity in seedlings is a very complex biological phenomenon, which takes place under the influence of environmental conditions and is often accompanied by the manifestation of a number of profound changes in them.