What is the Difference Between Hybridization and Cross Breeding

The key difference between hybridization and cross breeding is that hybridization is the mating of two different species while cross breeding is the mating of two different strains or breeding lines of a species.

Breeding is the mating and production of offspring by animals and plants. Hybridization and cross breeding are two different breeding technologies. Hybridization is involved in both plant breeding as well as in animal breeding. However, cross breeding is more common in animal breeding rather than in plant breeding. Hybridization involves the crossing of related species. Some examples include crossing striped bass with white bass, channel catfish with blue catfish, or Nile tilapia with blue tilapia. On the other hand, cross breeding occurs when lines or varieties of the same species are crossed.  A common example of cross breeding is mating between two different strains or lines of Tilapia nilotica.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Hybridization 
3. What is Cross Breeding
4. Similarities – Hybridization and Cross Breeding
5. Hybridization vs. Cross Breeding in Tabular Form
6. FAQ – Hybridization and Cross Breeding
7. Summary – Hybridization vs. Cross Breeding

What is Hybridization?

Hybridization is the process of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants to produce hybrids. Hybridization is considered as inter-specific. Hybridization offers various benefits, such as providing a rapid pre-selection method, enhancing productivity, integrating into a selection program as a final step for grow-out animals, creating new breeds or strains, ensuring uniform product outcomes, generating sterile individuals, and contributing to the improvement of wild fisheries.

There are different types of hybridization techniques: two-breed crossing, top crossing, and backcrossing. Furthermore, a good example of hybridization is mating between Tilapia nilotica and Tilapia hornorum.

What is Cross Breeding?

Cross-breeding is a process that involves the mating of two different strains or breeding lines of a species. Therefore, cross-breeding occurs within a species. Therefore, it is an intraspecific process. Unlike hybridization, which involves human intervention, cross-breeding takes place naturally whenever it gets a chance to mate.

The cross-breeding technique is more common in animal breeding, whereas it is uncommon in plant breeding. There are hybrid animals like cats, dogs, horses, cattle, sheep, etc. Crossbreds are normally not sterile. Furthermore, one of the well-known examples of cross-breeding is mating between two different strains or lines of Tilapia nilotica.

What are the Similarities Between Hybridization and Cross Breeding?

• Hybridization and cross-breeding are two different breeding technologies.
• Both processes are widely involved in animal breeding.
• They improve genetic variability.
• Both processes are performed by breeding experts.

What is the Difference Between Hybridization and Cross Breeding?

Hybridization is the mating of two different species, while cross-breeding is the mating of two different strains or breeding lines of a species. Thus, this is the key difference between hybridization and cross-breeding. Furthermore, hybridization is an interspecific technique, while cross-breeding is an intraspecific technique. Hybridization is mostly involved with human intervention while cross-breeding mostly occurs naturally. Moreover, hybridization has a wider application than cross-breeding. In addition, hybridization increases genetic variability and is thus involved in evolution compared to cross-breeding.

The infographic below presents the differences between hybridization and cross-breeding in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

FAQ: Hybridization and Cross Breeding

What is the meaning of cross-breeding in agriculture?

In agriculture, crossbreeding is the process of breeding animals of different breeds or varieties to produce offspring with desired traits from both parents.

What is cross-breeding and its advantages?

Cross-breeding involves the mating of superior males of one breed with superior females of another breed. Cross-breeding allows the combination of the desirable qualities of two different breeds for the purpose of commercial production.

What is the difference between a cross and a hybrid plant?

 A cross involves the pollination of two plants of the same species but different varieties, resulting in offspring with mixed traits. A hybrid, on the other hand, is the result of crossbreeding two plants from different species or varieties to create a new plant with specific desired characteristics.

Summary – Hybridization vs. Cross Breeding

Hybridization and cross-breeding are two different breeding technologies. In animal breeding, crossbreeding is the crosses within a single species, while hybridization is the crosses between different species. In plant breeding, cross-breeding terminology is uncommon. However, hybridization terminology is more commonly used in making plant hybrids. Hence, this is the difference between hybridization and cross-breeding.

Reference:

1. “Hybridization.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
2. “Crossbreed.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Dahlia pinnata hybrids-33-yercaud-salem-India” By Yercaud-elango – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Rusty” By Hydrangea – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia