In rare cases, a new somatic hybrid may have
direct utility as an improved cultivar; however, the most
important application of somatic hybridization is the
building of novel germplasm as a source of elite breeding
parents for various types of conventional crosses for both
scion and rootstock improvement. Somatic hybridization is
generating superior allotetraploid breeding parents for use
in interploid crosses to generate seedless triploids. Seedlessness
is a primary breeding objective for new fresh fruit
citrus varieties, and several thousand triploid hybrids have
been produced using somatic hybrids as the tetraploid
parent.