Botanical principle that the
offspring of a
cross displays greater
mass,
yield, disease
resistance, or other desired characteristic than its parents. The hybrid is
heterozygous with respect to the
parents, meaning it has multiple versions of the same gene. (It has multiple
alleles on its
homologous chromosomes).
Based on research by Gregor Mendel with pea plants. Related to the idea that that when plants of the same strain are repeatedly crossed (inbred), recessive (usually undesirable) traits are reinforced, while crossing different strains demotes the recessive traits.