Development Economics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Nat Plants. 2022 May;8(5):463-473. doi: 10.1038/s41477-022-01142-w. Epub 2022 May 5.
There is an ongoing societal debate about plant breeding systems and their impact on stakeholders in food systems. Hybrid breeding and hybrid seed have become controversial topics as they are believed to mostly serve high-tech agricultural systems. This article focuses on the perspective of commercial plant breeders when developing new cultivars of food crops. Arguably, hybrid breeding is the most effective breeding system for genetic improvement of crops, enhancing yields, improving product quality and increasing resistance against (a)biotic stresses. Nonetheless, hybrid breeding is not commercially applied in all crops. We analyse how biological and economic factors determine whether a commercial plant breeder opts for the hybrid system or not. We show that the commercial feasibility of hybrid breeding depends on the crop and business case. In conclusion, the commercial application of hybrid breeding in crops seems to be hampered mostly by high costs of seed production. Case studies regarding the hybrid transitions in maize, wheat and potato are included to illustrate these findings.
关于植物育种系统及其对食品系统利益相关者的影响，社会上一直在争论不休。杂交育种和杂交种子已经成为有争议的话题，因为人们认为它们主要服务于高科技农业系统。本文主要关注商业植物育种者在开发新的粮食作物品种时的观点。可以说，杂交育种是提高作物遗传改良、提高产量、改善产品质量和提高（生物和非生物）抗逆性最有效的育种系统。然而，杂交育种并不是在所有作物中都有商业应用。我们分析了生物和经济因素如何决定商业植物育种者是否选择杂交系统。我们表明，杂交育种的商业可行性取决于作物和商业案例。总之，杂交育种在作物中的商业应用似乎主要受到种子生产成本高的阻碍。本文包含了关于玉米、小麦和土豆杂交转变的案例研究，以说明这些发现。
