Question

What are intervarietal and interspecific hybridization?

Answer 1

Hint: Just look at the words, the clue for the answer is right there. Intervarietal means between the two varieties and interspecific means within two species.

Complete answer:
The word hybridization actually signifies a hybrid (in general meaning it is something which is formed by a combination) which is formed by a cross of our desire.
Hybridization is a process we use for improvement in food resources and animal husbandry in which we cross organisms with different qualities in order to get a desired outcome as per our need.
In the interparietal hybridization, as the word intervarietal suggests, the cross is between two varieties of the same species to form a hybrid. (inter means between and varietal means varieties, that means within varieties).
Interspecific hybridization as the name suggests involves mating of male and females of two different species under the same genus. Here, the progeny will combine desirable characters of both the parents and it will also be of a considerable economical value.
For example: Saccharum barber originally was growing in the northern part of India but it had poor sugar content and yield whereas saccharum officinarum (which is actually a tropical sugarcane has a thicker stem and higher sugar content, it grows normally in tropical areas. So, A cross was made between these two species and the hybrid variety, combining the desirable qualities of high yield, thick stems, high sugar content and the ability to grow in the sugarcane areas of Northern India.
Another example is of a cross between male donkey and female horse, the progeny produced here is known as Mule.

Note: Never confuse both the terms, just break the words into two halves and try to gather the meaning from the word itself.