Editing Polyploidy (section)

==== Crops ====
The induction of polyploidy is a common technique to overcome the sterility of a hybrid species during plant breeding. For example, [[triticale]] is the hybrid of [[wheat]] (''Triticum turgidum'') and [[rye]] (''Secale cereale''). It combines sought-after characteristics of the parents, but the initial hybrids are sterile. After polyploidization, the hybrid becomes fertile and can thus be further propagated to become triticale.

In some situations, polyploid crops are preferred because they are sterile. For example, many seedless fruit varieties are seedless as a result of polyploidy. Such crops are propagated using asexual techniques, such as [[grafting]].

Polyploidy in crop plants is most commonly induced by treating seeds with the chemical [[Colchicine#Botanical use and seedless fruit|colchicine]].

===== Examples =====

* Triploid crops: some [[apple]] varieties (such as [[Belle de Boskoop]], [[Jonagold]], [[Mutsu (apple)|Mutsu]], [[Ribston Pippin]]), [[banana]], [[citrus]], [[ginger]], [[watermelon]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Karp |first1=David |title=Seedless Fruits Make Others Needless |url=https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2007/03/25/seedless-fruits-make-others-needless/25840915007/ |work=The Ledger |agency=The New York Times |date=25 March 2007 }}</ref> [[Crocus sativus|saffron crocus]], white pulp of coconut
* Tetraploid crops: very few [[apple]] varieties, [[durum]] or [[macaroni]] [[wheat]], [[cotton]], [[potato]], [[canola]]/[[rapeseed]], [[leek]], [[tobacco]], [[peanut]], [[kinnow]], [[Pelargonium]]
* Hexaploid crops: [[chrysanthemum]], bread [[wheat]], [[triticale]], [[oat]], [[kiwifruit]]<ref name=kiwifruit />
* Octaploid crops: [[strawberry]], [[dahlia]], [[pansies]], [[sugar cane]], oca (''[[Oxalis tuberosa]]'')<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Emshwiller E |year=2006 |title= Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms |chapter= Origins of polyploid crops: The example of the octaploid tuber crop ''Oxalis tuberosa'' |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA | veditors = Zeder MA, Decker-Walters D, Emshwiller E, Bradley D, Smith BD |isbn=978-0-520-24638-6 |pages=153–168 }}</ref>
* Dodecaploid crops: some [[sugar cane]] hybrids<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Le Cunff L, Garsmeur O, Raboin LM, Pauquet J, Telismart H, Selvi A, Grivet L, Philippe R, Begum D, Deu M, Costet L, Wing R, Glaszmann JC, D'Hont A | display-authors = 6 | title = Diploid/polyploid syntenic shuttle mapping and haplotype-specific chromosome walking toward a rust resistance gene (Bru1) in highly polyploid sugarcane (2n approximately 12x approximately 115) | journal = Genetics | volume = 180 | issue = 1 | pages = 649–660 | date = September 2008 | pmid = 18757946 | pmc = 2535714 | doi = 10.1534/genetics.108.091355 }}</ref>

Some crops are found in a variety of ploidies: [[tulip]]s and [[lily|lilies]] are commonly found as both diploid and triploid; [[daylilies]] (''Hemerocallis'' cultivars) are available as either diploid or tetraploid; apples and [[kinnow|kinnow mandarins]] can be diploid, triploid, or tetraploid.