There is much confusion going around about these terms, what
they mean and what difference it makes. Often you will hear that heirloom
produce is healthier, that hybrids are GMO, that hybrids are sterile and unable
to reproduce or that hybrids are bad just because they are bred by man. I hope
to clear up some of the misconceptions here.
Open Pollinated-
any seed variety that will reproduce true to type. This means that if you were
to plant an open pollinated variety of zucchini you could then save seed from those
zucchinis, replant them the next season and harvest zucchinis very similar to
what you started with. Although you would have to take precautions not to let
the zucchini cross with your pumpkins or any other zucchini or you would end up
with hybrid seeds which may or may not have desirable traits. You see, open
pollinated seeds have a gene pool that has been limited through selective
breeding to the point where the resulting offspring are very similar to each
other in much the same way animals such as dogs are bred to create specific
breeds that will have offspring with characteristics like the parents, these
dogs are selectively bred until the gene pool is limited to the point that
genetic variability will allow very few options for the offspring. The
advantage of open pollinated seeds (and heirloom as all heirlooms are also open
pollinated) is they are often more affordable, and if you wish to save seeds
rather than buy them it is a lot easier to produce your own open pollinated
seeds. The disadvantage of open pollinated plants is that often they will not
yield as well as hybrids, or produce the consistency and uniformity that most
people have come to expect of vegetables. All seeds Hybrid and Open Pollinated
require a certain amount of human effort in their breeding and selection.
Heirloom- there
is not a hard and fast definition of this but heirlooms are basically seed
varieties that have been around a while and often have been passed down through
generations. Heirlooms are also always open pollinated (but all open pollinated
varieties are not heirlooms). One advantage of using heirlooms is that of
pushing back against seed company monopolies as heirloom seeds are unable to be
owned or controlled.
Hybrid- The
result of a cross between two different varieties of the same species by means
of sexual reproduction. Hybrids happen naturally all the time in the wild as
well as in most gardens. There is nothing inherently unnatural about hybrids.
That said it is more work to produce hybrid seeds (which is why they cost more),
they are carefully bred in a manner that ensures that they are all crossed the
same so the seeds will be uniform in genetic makeup. You can save seed from
hybrid varieties but they won’t be true to type and you would get a wide
variety of plants because while the first cross gives a specific genetic
balance subsequent breedings will produce variations in the genetics of the offspring
and the fruit from such plants could be excellent or terrible. For this reason
most people buy hybrid seeds every year rather than save their own, if you are
gardening on a smaller scale and high yields and perfect fruits are not the
priority heirlooms or open pollinated seeds may well be your main focus.
Hybrids are bred in a way that give the best of two different varieties, they
can be bred for various characteristics such as size, uniformity, flavor,
shipping quality or storability, depending on what a specific hybrid was bred
for tells a lot about it. For example if a plant was bred for storability it
may not have the flavor of an heirloom. But hybrid does not always mean less
flavor, it all depends on the particular hybrid variety.
GMO- GMO seeds
have been manipulated in a laboratory in a way that would never happen in
nature. Often DNA of unrelated species has been combined to produce GMO seeds, for
example inserting genes from the bacteria BT into corn seed so the plant becomes
a poison to corn earworms and other caterpillars. Natural BT is a very safe bacterium
used to kill caterpillar type worms as it only will survive a day or two under
normal conditions and is completely harmless to mammals and most other animals.
But it is somewhat concerning when the BT genes are inserted into a plant where
the BT toxin is able to persist and kill in a way it was never intended to in
nature. GMO seeds are not allowed in Organic production.
So to recap
Open Pollinated-
the product of two plants of the same variety and species. The result will be
nearly identical to both its’ parents. Think of a Golden Retriever bred with
another Golden Retriever.
Heirloom- an Open
Pollinated variety that has been around for a good length of time
Hybrid- the
product of two different varieties of the same species, the result will be
different from either of its’ parents hopefully carrying the best of each.
Think of a Golden Retriever bred to a Poodle.
GMO- usually the
product of two different species. Think of a Golden Retriever engineered to
have some characteristics of a Persian cat.
article copyright by Andrew Engell 2013
