Читать книгу Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding - George Acquaah - Страница 151

Biometrical genetics is concerned with the inheritance of quantitative traits. As previously stated, most of the genes of interest to plant breeders are controlled by many genes. In order to effectively manipulate quantitative traits, the breeder needs to understand the nature and extent of their genetic and environmental control. M.J. Kearsey summarized the salient questions that need to be answered by a breeder who is focusing on improving quantitative (and also qualitative) traits:

1 Is the character inherited?

2 How much variation in the germplasm is genetic?

3 What is the nature of the genetic variation?

4 How is the genetic variation organized?

By having answers to these basic genetic questions, the breeder will be in a position to apply the knowledge to address certain fundamental questions in plant breeding.