1) Synthetic and composite varieties are developed in cross-pollinated crops by mixing seeds from multiple parental lines and allowing open-pollination.
2) Synthetic varieties are produced by evaluating parental lines for general combining ability and mixing seeds in a controlled manner, while composite varieties simply mix seeds without evaluating parental lines.
3) Both synthetic and composite varieties allow farmers to use saved seed for a few years and are maintained by open-pollination, providing more yield stability than hybrids.