If you're like me, you've probably looked at a seedless fruit and wonder how its even possible to grow them. we all know that seeds come from fruits, fruits come from plants, and plants come from seeds. well.. if seedless fruit have no seeds, and it came from a plant, but that plant doesn't produce seed.. it just doesn't make sense!
in order to answer that question, lets first have a look at F1 hybridisation. If you're reading this, you're probably interested in plants, and so you've probably heard the term 'F1 hybrid'. the term 'hybrid' describes a plant that resulted from a cross between 2 parent plants with different genetic traits. 'F1' tells us that its the first generation resulting from the cross.
in plant breeding, parent plants that a homozygous for certain traits are crossed to create an F1 hybrid that bears genetic material responsible for the desirable traits in both parents. for example, if plant 1 is homozygous for redder fruit, and plant 2 is homozygous for big fruit, a cross between the 2 would result in an F1 hybrid with large fruit that are also redder. this is, of course just a simple example and is much more complicated in reality.
in any case, an F1 hybrid is a cross between 2 homozygous plants in order to combine the desirable traits into one super plant. they are generally more vigourous, more uniformed, exhibit better characteristics, and in some cases resistance to disease or drought tolerance.
keep in mind though, that the offspring from an F1 hybrid will not 'hold on' to these traits due to reasons that are a bit too complicated to discuss here. because of this, its never a good choice to save seed from an F1 crop.
now that we've settle this, you've probably guess that seedless water melons are hybrids. if you did, go get some chocolate as a reward for your good thinking! seedless water melons are, in fact, a hybrid, albeit a slightly different one. one parent of the hybrid melon possesses 4 copies of each chromosome while the other possesses 2. this results in a offspring with 3 chromosomes that does not provide seed!
in order to answer that question, lets first have a look at F1 hybridisation. If you're reading this, you're probably interested in plants, and so you've probably heard the term 'F1 hybrid'. the term 'hybrid' describes a plant that resulted from a cross between 2 parent plants with different genetic traits. 'F1' tells us that its the first generation resulting from the cross.
in plant breeding, parent plants that a homozygous for certain traits are crossed to create an F1 hybrid that bears genetic material responsible for the desirable traits in both parents. for example, if plant 1 is homozygous for redder fruit, and plant 2 is homozygous for big fruit, a cross between the 2 would result in an F1 hybrid with large fruit that are also redder. this is, of course just a simple example and is much more complicated in reality.
in any case, an F1 hybrid is a cross between 2 homozygous plants in order to combine the desirable traits into one super plant. they are generally more vigourous, more uniformed, exhibit better characteristics, and in some cases resistance to disease or drought tolerance.
keep in mind though, that the offspring from an F1 hybrid will not 'hold on' to these traits due to reasons that are a bit too complicated to discuss here. because of this, its never a good choice to save seed from an F1 crop.
now that we've settle this, you've probably guess that seedless water melons are hybrids. if you did, go get some chocolate as a reward for your good thinking! seedless water melons are, in fact, a hybrid, albeit a slightly different one. one parent of the hybrid melon possesses 4 copies of each chromosome while the other possesses 2. this results in a offspring with 3 chromosomes that does not provide seed!
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