Variability in breeding programmes for self-fertilised crops is created by crossing, and if the value of the crosses cannot be predicted in advance then this uncertainty means that a strategy of making many crosses is appropriate. However, since there is a limit to the capacity of a breeding programme, the more crosses that are made the smaller the size of each cross (F2 population size or numb...

Cross-breeding has been used for the purpose of recombining the best characteristics of two or more breeds in the formation of a new breed. This is a process that requires many years of continued selection. A second purpose in cross-breeding is to obtain immediate offspring possessing more desirable characteristics, such as greater size, more economical feed utilization, or more rapid growth, t...

Prediction of single-cross performance has been a major goal of plant breeders since the beginning of hybrid breeding. Recently, genomic prediction has shown to be a promising approach, but only limited studies have examined the accuracy of predicting single-cross performance. Moreover, no studies have examined the potential of predicting single crosses among random inbreds derived from a serie...

Wheat ( L.) breeding programs test experimental lines in multiple locations over multiple years to get an accurate assessment of grain yield and yield stability. Selections in early generations of the breeding pipeline are based on information from only one or few locations and thus materials are advanced with little knowledge of the genotype × environment interaction (G × E) effects. Later, la...

For many crops, the benefits of traditional breeding practices are difficult to achieve because the crops have long juvenile periods that necessitate long breeding cycles, desired genotypes for a cross do not have synchronized flowering because of photoperiod or vernalization requirements, or preferred lines are propagated asexually and have limited flowering potential. In light of these limita...

For many crops, the benefits of traditional breeding practices are difficult to achieve because the crops have long juvenile periods that necessitate long breeding cycles, desired genotypes for a cross do not have synchronized flowering because of photoperiod or vernalization requirements, or preferred lines are propagated asexually and have limited flowering potential. In light of these limita...