Question

The crosses made between two different species of the same genus are known as
A. Interspecific hybridization
B. Intraspecific hybridization
C. Intervarietal hybridization
D. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: When two organisms of different breeds, species are crossbred for their qualities it is called hybridization. It helps in the production of offsprings superior to both parents. It also increases the yield of plants and produces disease-resistant offspring.

Complete answer: The process of combining the qualities of two organisms belonging to different breeds, species or genus through sexual reproduction is called hybridization. When two different species mainly belonging to the same genus are crossbred together is called interspecific hybridization. The offspring produced by this method may be sterile and are not able to produce functional gametes. In plants, interspecific hybridization helps in creating new plants with the desirable characters of both the plants. Mule is an example of an interspecific hybrid of donkey and horse and is sterile.
i. Intraspecific hybridization is a hybridization between two subspecies belonging to the same species. Example: Bengal tiger with a Siberian tiger. Offspring can be fertile, partially fertile or sterile. It leads to evolution
ii. Intervarietal hybridization is the hybridization between two plants of the same variety. Chances of evolution are less than the other forms of hybridization.
Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note: In plants, hybridization helps in increasing the yield, produces more fertile plants, introduces adaptive variation into the population, produces offsprings superior to parents, disease-resistant plants, etc. In animals, hybridization is used for producing sterile animals, to increase environmental resistance, increase the growth rate, and improve the sex ratio. Hybridization plays an important role in the evolution of species.