Why developing hybrid breeding populations?Sweetpotato is a highly heterozygous clone hybrid crop and with hybrid breeding populations we achieve (i) yield increase, (ii) ease to stack simple inherited traits such as quality and disease resistance, and (iii) elevated yield stability. Achieving these goals is much more effective by offspring-parent analysis and heterosis exploitation than increasing current breeding efforts. Can current polycross breeding be the best for sweetpotato breeding? Hybrid breeding is different to polycross breeding with respect to the development of heterotic groups, controlled crosses, data management and intensive offspring–parent analysis.